Bethany Costentino and Bobb Bruno of Best Coast returned to the Bay Area with a sold-out show at Cornerstone Berkeley a couple of weeks ago. It wasn't too long ago when they opened for Wavves at The Independent in SF in the Spring of 2016 but it's been a bit since we've seen Best Coast headline a show in these parts.
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| Best Coast @ Cornerstone Berkeley Photo by Marc Fong |
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| Best Coast @ Cornerstone Berkeley Photo by Marc Fong |
It was a Monday night and the music venue that's tucked away behind the new brewery on Shattuck was bustling with fans packed in to see the old indie favorite. With doors at 7:30, a readiness strewn thick in the air after the openers, The Birth Defects as the room waited for the headliners who took to the stage closer to 10pm.
Cheers rose as the dim venue darkened, making way for Best Coast who kicked things off with a Crazy for You classic, "Goodbye". Next, they played the title track from that same album (their first of three thus far) and didn't stop after that with title track from their second album The Only Place. Minus the grit and dirty fastness, their songs are short like good ol' punk songs and while Bobb and the band cranked one out after another without pause, Bethany laid down morose vocals.
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| Best Coast @ Cornerstone Berkeley Photo by Marc Fong |
Amusing the crowd a few songs in, she teased new music but not before playing more oldies. Fuzzy lo-fi made warm with undertones of surfer rock play into the theme of yearning heard across their catalog. Her melodic singing style could be construed as monotonic but it's inundated with emotion. It reminds me of The DumDum Girls, heavy and seemingly cold like something you'd hear on the 80's cult classic, Heathers.
Bethany's stage presence came off as guarded and a part from Bobb's soft head-banging and swirling of his long hair, overall they aren't a real lively bunch. But I think that's what makes Best Coast, Best Coast. Eight years strong and they're still indie kids at heart. Seen and heard.
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| Best Coast @ Cornerstone Berkeley Photo by Marc Fong |
9/25/2017 set-list
1. Goodbye
2. Crazy For You
3. The Only Place
4. Heaven Sent
5. So Un-Aware
6. Fear of My Identity
7. Fine Without You
8. California Nites
9. No One Like You
10. Let's Go Home
11. When I'm With You
12. Do You Love Me?
13. I Want To
14. In My Eyes
15. Jealousy
16. Feeling OK
17. Our Deal
18. Boyfriend
19. When Will I Change
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