The southern Californian lo-fi band Best Coast played The Granada in Lawrence, KS on Sunday night, with Nashville’s JEFF the Brotherhood as their openers. For a Sunday night, the show was rather packed. JEFF opened the show with a beyond stellar set, almost making you wish they were the headlining band. Jake Orrall with his three-stringed guitar with his brother Jamin Orrall playing ferociously on drums, the sibling duo ripped through their set without apologies. Even with the time constriction of an opening slot, the two were still able to hit some of the highlights off their previous albums Heavy Days and We Are The Champions. Songs like “Hey Friend”, “The Tropics” and “Heavy Days” were crowd pleasers, meanwhile still introducing us to new songs from their forthcoming album Hypnotic Nights, which is schedule to be released July 24 on Warner Records. The highlight of their set was the final song that lasted nearly 10 minutes. To say the song was epic is a serious understatement. The crowd was completely transfixed watching the Orrall brothers play off one another’s cues and enter their own world. By the end of their set, JEFF the Brotherhood left the crowd wanting more, proving yet again that they are a force to be reckoned with and that we have a lot to look forward to from these two brothers in the future.
Next was Best Coast. The band’s sun drenched, melodic tunes seemed to win over the crowd for the most part. Yet, 20 minutes into their 90-minute set, the audience seemed to start to wane. Best Coast played their new album The Only Place in its entirety which was ambitious and tiring. After a while, one song seemed to blend into another and the set began to lose its luster. It’s not to say that Bethany Cosentino hasn’t grown as a songwriter but choosing to play as much of the new material that they did back to back seemed a bit overwhelming and lacked variety. Yet, just when you thought you were about to give up hope, Best Coast came back for an encore with songs from 2010’s Crazy For You. Crowd favorites like ‘The Sun Was High’, ‘When I’m With You’ and ‘Boyfriend’ quickly rejuvenated the audience by transporting us back to those lazy summers, being wild and free with your friends. But what the audience wasn’t prepared for was their cover of Fleetwood Mac’s ‘Storms’. This truly showcased Costenino’s vocal abilities.
At the end of the night Bethany Costenino has become somewhat of a heroine for teens and the twenty-something’s age range. She’s the every-girl. Lyrics about pinning away for boys, feelings of alienation and insecurities about one’s looks and intelligence resonates deep with a lot of Best Coast fans. It seems the band is trying to move beyond their catchy innocuous bedroom pop sounds that made them popular to begin with and move towards a more mature sound. Yet unfortunately, The Only Place seems to leave the listeners feeling a bit underwhelmed.
Best Coast has a tour filled summer covering a majority of the US, a few dates in Canada and even a leg of shows overseas. (see tour dates below)
Best Coast Tour Dates
May 30 St Louis Firebird
June 1 Dallas Granada
June 2 Houston Free Press Fest
June 3 Austin Chaos in Tejas
June 16 Glasgow Garage
June 17 Manchester HMV Ritz
June 18 Birmingham Academy
June 20 London SBE
June 21 Brighton Coalition
June 22 Isle of Wight Festival
June 24 Orion Music Festival with Metallica, Bader Field Atlantic City NJ
July 9 Orlando The Social
July 10 Miami Grand Central
July 12 Atlanta Variety
July 13 Carrboro Cats Cradle
July 14 Wash DC 9:30 Club
July 16 Philly Union Transfer
July 17 New York Terminal 5
July 18 Boston Royale
July 20 Montreal Le National
July 21 Toronto Phoenix
July 23 Columbus Newport Music Hall
July 24 Cleveland Beachland Ballroom
July 25 Madison Majestic Theater
July 27 Chicago Vic Theatre
July 28 Minneapolis Sound Town Festival
