Best Coast at the Midland, 2/26/16
When watching an indie rock show, I know the feeling I am trying to find. I want my indie sensors to start tingling. The music hits you right in the enjoyment zone, those internal buzzers fire up. It is a feeling that lights you up and makes your soul rise up with joy. California-based bands Best Coast and Wavves brought their Summer is Forever II co-headlining tour to Kansas City February 26th. They filled the Midland with an evening of fuzzed out surf rock and indie goodness.
I have been wanting to see Best Coast and Wavves live for eight years. Nathan Williams (of Wavves) and Bethany Cosentino (of Best Coast) are an indie rock power couple. They represent a style of indie that is popular with a slightly older crowd. Both bands are strangely underrated.
Met a fan with a tattoo of the album art for Best Coast’s The Only Place.
For example, Best Coast’s second album sold over 500,000 copies in it’s first week. The local indie/alternative radio station can park their van out in front of the show, but that doesn’t mean they are playing Wavves and Best Coast on the radio. Some critics bag on Cosentino for her lyrical simplicity, but there are a lot of indie bands out there that wish they could write a song as quality as “Sun Was High (And So Was I).”
Cherry Glazerrat the Midland, 2/26/16
Up-and-coming band Cherry Glazerr started off the night with spacious, trippy indie vibes. The young band shows a lot of promise with a live show that held the crowd’s attention.
Wavves at the Midland, 2/26/16
Wavves hit the crowd hard with scuzzy indie vibes. The set focused on tracks off of their latest album album, V. Lead singer/guitarist Nathan Williams’ aggressive guitar work whipped the audience into a frenzy. The crowd was dancing and indie moshing it up all throughout the band’s hour-long set. Wavves closed with the vicious rocker “Demon To Lean On.”
Best Coast at the Midland, 2/26/16
The tighter, hook-laden songs of Beat Coast served as a nice counterpoint to the sprawl of Wavves. The band closed out this date of the tour. The newer tracks off of last year’s California Nights have more grit and punch live than their studio versions. Songs like “In My Eyes” swing for the indie pop fences and sound even bigger and better live. The uptempo surf rock vibes of “When I’m With You” had the crowd joyously bouncing and singing along. Best Coast finished the hour-long set with their lo-fi, reverb-laced classic “Boyfriend.”
From the hard-hitting to the sublime, the Summer is Forever II tour showcases an excellent combination of indie bands that crush it live. Wavves and Best Coast brought the indie rock joy to Kansas City.
Here’s a snippet of Best Coast performing “When I’m With You” at the Midland:
Tags: 2016, Best Coast, concert review, review, Summeris Forever II, Wavves
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