Going to a concert to see a great band is exciting in and of itself. However, it’s even more exciting when a tour comes around with a double headliner. That’s exactly what Wavves and Best Coast are bringing with a reprise of their Summer Is Forever tour that they initially embarked upon five years ago. The Californian rockers are a natural fit to tour together again as they are both musically and romantically attached. Last year saw the release of Wavves’ V and Best Coast’s California Nights (REVIEW), not to mention a new split single from each band. Thursday night at Stubb’s saw a massive crowd of both old and young dancing, singing, crowd surfing and moshing to the first night of a one-month tour.
The energy on a Best Coast album is infectious when only performed by songwriter, guitarist and vocalist Bethany Cosentino and guitarist and multi-instrumentalist Bobb Bruno. When you get a full band behind the duo, a new form of energy is injected into the performance. Songs that usually have a more ethereal feel like “When I’m With You” become straight ahead rockers, and already upbeat tracks like “The Only Place” become almost surf-punk. This might be attributed to the fact that California Nights has a lot more energy than the previous two albums. New songs like the single “California Nights” and “Feeling OK” had the crowd jumping and crowd surfing. The climax of the set was introduced by Cosentino telling the crowd that Nathan Williams of Wavves was finally her beau before launching into the breakthrough single “Boyfriend”, causing practically every woman in the crowd to start singing along at the top of their lungs.
After a fantastic performance by Best Coast it was up to Wavves to show that they could be a contender. After walking onstage and launching into the punky “Lunge Forward” from Afraid Of Heights, Williams and Co. showed the crowd that they are not a band to be upstaged. The pure, straight ahead rock and roll of their new album shines through as they performed “Heavy Metal Detox” and “All The Same” from their new LP. While the band played many older songs as well like “Afraid of Heights” and “Nine Is God”, the main highlight of the night were the songs from different collaborations that were being performed for the first time. “No Life For Me” from an album of the same name was recorded with Cloud Nothings and “Dreams of Grandeur” comes from the aforementioned split single with Best Coast. By the time they closed their set with the single “King of The Beach” the crowd was in a frenzy and yelling for more.
Though the tour is being billed as Best Coast Vs. Wavves, it is clear that these are two bands that fit naturally together onstage. The energy and stage presence that both singers bring is enough to keep even the most casual viewers’ attention. The mutual respect also could be seen in the crowd as audience members that came to watch Best Coast stayed for Wavves and those that came for the headliner showed up early to watch the other California rockers.
