Best Coast @ The Thekla, Bristol, UK 01/05/2011

Openers Parrington Jackson's brand of Fugazi meets Bloc Party post-punk (with a side order of post-rock) is received well by a thawing audience. Their 30 minute set is just enough to whet the appetite of the crowd, and didn't suffer too badly from support band bar syndrome. They sounded professional, just polished enough to sound tight, but not too much as to sound over-rehearsed and had a good presence onstage, with all members looking useful and fronted well. However, their music didn't really fit in with the dreamy surf pop of the headliners, but it seems they were a fill in for the touring support who had been left in London to play the famous Camden Crawl.

Parrington Jackson

Bristol's seafaring venue du jour for the hippest of the hip unsurprisingly finds lo-fi surf pop upstarts Best Coast serenading its packed hull. The band split opinion - some find the their brand of bubblegum pop too saccharine, while others revel in the breath of fresh air offered by the sun drenched tunes. When frontwoman/guitarist Beth Consentino, lead guitarist Bobb Bruno and drummer (and former Vivian Girl) Ali Koehler take to the stage however, the charm on offer is enough to melt hearts of the most cynical of listeners.

Best Coast: Beth Consentino, Bobb Bruno & Ali Koehler

While Consentino is naturally the focus of attention with her pin-up looks and unashamedly simple romantic lyrics, but the whole band is solid. Koehler's drumming provides a heavy set backbone and Bruno's surfy solos sound great in a live setting. On some songs however, Consentino struggles to transfer the vocals found in the studio versions of songs when playing live (a fate notably befalling Death From Above 1979), but this doesn't really detract from the show. The band obviously enjoy being onstage, cracking jokes (the frontwoman remarks about her fear of boats and ad libs 80's pop songs) and jamming on a few tracks. The band play their way through the entirety of "Crazy For You" (with Pitchfork approved single "Boyfriend" in early on, perhaps before the band hit their stride), a selection of older tracks (including the irrepressible "When I'm With You") and throw in a few promising sounding new songs.

Best Coast: In a boat.

The band's sugary repertoire lends them to the hour set afforded to them by the Sunday curfew in place, the old adage of having too much of a good thing holds sway. Whilst splitting the last few songs into a short encore may have been recommended, the crowd leave satisfied. On an uncharacteristically balmy early May evening, Best Coast are the perfect soundtrack.

The Thekla in green

Words/photos (c) Daniel Cove 2011