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Best Coast In Concert

By Stephen Thompson
Published July 15, 2012 at 6:02 PM EDT
Best Coast, performing live at the 9:30 Club in Washington, D.C.
1 of 9  — Best Coast, performing live at the 9:30 Club in Washington, D.C.
Best Coast, performing live at the 9:30 Club in Washington, D.C.
Best Coast, performing live at the 9:30 Club in Washington, D.C.
2 of 9  — Best Coast, performing live at the 9:30 Club in Washington, D.C.
Best Coast, performing live at the 9:30 Club in Washington, D.C.
Best Coast, performing live at the 9:30 Club in Washington, D.C.
3 of 9  — Best Coast, performing live at the 9:30 Club in Washington, D.C.
Best Coast, performing live at the 9:30 Club in Washington, D.C.
Best Coast, performing live at the 9:30 Club in Washington, D.C.
4 of 9  — Best Coast, performing live at the 9:30 Club in Washington, D.C.
Best Coast, performing live at the 9:30 Club in Washington, D.C.
Best Coast, performing live at the 9:30 Club in Washington, D.C.
5 of 9  — Best Coast, performing live at the 9:30 Club in Washington, D.C.
Best Coast, performing live at the 9:30 Club in Washington, D.C.
Best Coast, performing live at the 9:30 Club in Washington, D.C.
6 of 9  — Best Coast, performing live at the 9:30 Club in Washington, D.C.
Best Coast, performing live at the 9:30 Club in Washington, D.C.
Best Coast, performing live at the 9:30 Club in Washington, D.C.
7 of 9  — Best Coast, performing live at the 9:30 Club in Washington, D.C.
Best Coast, performing live at the 9:30 Club in Washington, D.C.
Best Coast, performing live at the 9:30 Club in Washington, D.C.
8 of 9  — Best Coast, performing live at the 9:30 Club in Washington, D.C.
Best Coast, performing live at the 9:30 Club in Washington, D.C.
Best Coast, performing live at the 9:30 Club in Washington, D.C.
9 of 9  — Best Coast, performing live at the 9:30 Club in Washington, D.C.
Best Coast, performing live at the 9:30 Club in Washington, D.C.

When it first emerged in 2010, the California garage-pop band Best Coast was all primitive charm: The duo of singer-guitarist Bethany Cosentino and multi-instrumentalist Bobb Bruno used simplicity as a weapon, eschewing metaphor or nuance in favor of songs built around sentiments like "When I'm with you, I have fun" and "I wish he was my boyfriend." The hooks helped the songs verge on irresistibility, but the music was trifling by nature — songs built for the beach rather than the brain.

Cut to this year's Jon Brion-produced The Only Place, which gives Best Coast's music a pleasing coat of sparkle while highlighting the winsomeness bubbling under the surface of Cosentino's wryly cheerful delivery. ("Why I Cry," from the new album, is like a three-minute guided tour of clinical depression.) A massively accessible jewel of a pop record, complete with stridently ringing guitars and choruses suitable for singing along, The Only Place also runs a little deeper than early fans might have expected.

In this Saturday-night performance at Washington, D.C.'s 9:30 Club on July 14, Cosentino didn't shy away from the new album's moodier material — midway through, she sings "No One Like You," "How They Want Me to Be," "Why I Cry" and "Dreaming My Life Away" back-to-back-to-back-to-back — but the overall tone remained one of smiley celebration. Buoyed by a full band, a sold-out crowd and a small throng of relentlessly enthused fans in the front row, Cosentino led Best Coast through an effervescent 20-song set spanning both of its albums, a few early singles and the Tusk-era Fleetwood Mac cover "Storms." For all the creative growth Best Coast has undergone in the past couple years, Cosentino and Bruno still know well enough to wind down a live set with the rollicking, joyful directness with which they made their names.

Set List

  • "The End"

  • "Crazy For You"

  • "Goodbye"

  • "Last Year"

  • "Summer Mood"

  • "The Only Place"

  • "No One Like You"

  • "How They Want Me To Be"

  • "Why I Cry"

  • "Dreaming My Life Away"

  • "Let's Go Home"

  • "Our Deal"

  • "When The Sun Don't Shine"

  • "Do You Love Me Like You Used To"

  • "Something In The Way"

  • "I Want To"

  • "Sun Was High (So Was I)"

  • "When I'm With You"

  • "Boyfriend"

    • Note: Permission limits prevent us from including Fleetwood Mac's "Storms," which Best Coast performed during this concert.

    Credits

    Audio engineer: Kevin Wait; Photos: Michael Katzif

    Copyright 2021 NPR. To see more, visit https://www.npr.org.

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    Music News from NPR
    Stephen Thompson
    Stephen Thompson is a writer, editor and reviewer for NPR Music, where he speaks into any microphone that will have him and appears as a frequent panelist on All Songs Considered. Since 2010, Thompson has been a fixture on the NPR roundtable podcast Pop Culture Happy Hour, which he created and developed with NPR correspondent Linda Holmes. In 2008, he and Bob Boilen created the NPR Music video series Tiny Desk Concerts, in which musicians perform at Boilen's desk. (To be more specific, Thompson had the idea, which took seconds, while Boilen created the series, which took years. Thompson will insist upon equal billing until the day he dies.)
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