Review | Nothing Tops TOPS at The Roxy in Los Angeles

For the longest time, TOPS was a faceless pop band to me. I’d been hyper-fixating on their song “Petals” since the day I first heard it, but I never dug deeper. For a bit too long, I comfortably hid behind the wall of a single, promising song.

The band rose from Montréal’s DIY scene in the early 2010s, crafting a synth-heavy sound that blends dream pop and indie rock. Their lyrics are deceptively simple, often carrying double meanings that reveal themselves the deeper you listen. Before I did some sleuthing, I mistakenly thought “Petals” was a love song, with the lyrics:

“Last night on earth today
I’ll make it worthwhile
If you promise to do the same”

But in reality, the song is a sharp critique of Los Angeles’s cutthroat social scene. Still, if you think it’s a love song, with those lyrics, it’s your love song. I must have needed a love song then.

TOPS has made some widely loved tracks like “Dayglow Bimbo,” “Way to Be Loved,” and “Petals,” but a quick Reddit search will tell you that TOPS fans like everything, each having scattered favorites. I was super curious to know what they’d be cooking up for us at the show.

That Friday night, November 8, Sunset Boulevard wore its usual jacket of grit; the sidewalk in front of West Hollywood’s Roxy Theater was claimed by TOPS fans. The show had sold out long ago, and no one was reselling.

The Roxy, a 500-capacity venue with standing-room only, was packed wall to wall. The crowd spoke amongst themselves freely, awaiting the quintet, and slyly attempting to inch themselves forward.

Starting with “Pirouette,” a song from their most recent album I Feel Alive, bandmates David Carriere (guitar), Riley Fleck (drums), Marta Cikojevic (keyboards), Mitch Davis (bass), and Jane Penny (lead vocals and flute) played a rich setlist, pulling from their albums timelessly spanning across the last decade. The crowd erupted with excitement when the band teased new music, debuting the unreleased track “Call You Back,” which was brimming with emotional crescendos, signature synths, playful guitar melodies, and, above all, careful intentionality. Four, almost five, years have passed since their last album release, and fans have been hungry for more ever since.

This band has the stage presence of people who know they are making beautiful music. There’s nothing extra, no theatrics. They show up, play what they feel, and leave the rest to their listeners.

Their song “Circle the Dark,” or as Penny put it, “songs from the deep cuts that nobody asked for,” was a highlight for me. The breakdown near the end is my favorite part: “Ooh baby, don’t let it die / I know that you and I can make it alright.” They play it like it’s on a loop, a hypnotic cycle, calling back to the song’s title. I realized that this song is one of my own obscure favorites. When I looked around, not too many people near me knew it. And of course, as true Fan behavior goes (capital F, thank you), I’m going to take a little pride in that.

I love discovering new songs live. Even though I’d heard “Too Much” a few times, it wasn’t until I saw it performed that I truly felt it. The song starts off slow, seductive, then builds into an emotionally charged wave. “Come on, take me for granted / When did our love make me this way?” That urgency, that rawness — hearing it live made it hit harder.

We knew we were nearing the end when they played “Way to Be Loved” and “Petals.” Absolutely no one wanted the night to end. Fans began calling out songs they wanted to hear, holding onto the night for as long as the band would allow.

For the encore, they settled on “Perfected Steps,” ending it officially with “Colder & Closer.”

I think the consensus is clear: you walk into a TOPS concert and leave already craving the next one. With the recent announcement of their spot on the 2025 Coachella lineup, I know I’ll be forever grateful to have caught them at such an intimate show. As much as we want to gatekeep our national treasure, it’s about damn time they play Coachella. It’s many years overdue.

If somehow, by the grace of God, I do make it to Coachella, you’ll know where to find me. And if not, I’ll be hovered over a computer screen somewhere in Santa Barbara, trying to catch the performance from someone’s crappy live taping. May I remind you — true Fan behavior. 😉

Some are born great, some achieve greatness, some have greatness thrust upon them, and then some have all three.

Nothing tops TOPS.