Gig: Best Coast

Best Coast (Male Bonding)

Lee's Palace. Saturday, September 25, 2010.

Saturday night at Lee's, and what would later be a packed, sold-out house was semi-full with curiosity-seekers checking out openers Male Bonding. Though hailing from London, the band has a very "American" sound — more specifically, their debut full-length Nothing Hurts reminded me a lot of some of the bands that Sub Pop signed in the post-grunge goldrush. I'm thinking specifically of Seaweed here, but there were a lot of other bands mining the same seam back then. It works out sort of tidily, in a things coming full circle sort of way, that Male Bonding are now signed to Sub Pop, keeping the label's discordant rock rep alive amongst a sea of gentle guitar-strummers that are also calling the label home these days.

Live, the trio stepped on to a rather spartan stage and it felt right that the band looked the part — Arthur Webb (guitar) and Kevin Hendrick (bass) coming across, variously, as lanky, shaggy and be-toqued. It was as if, save for the accents, they could have stepped out from the pages of Buddy Does Seattle. They launched into "Crooked Scene", followed by "Weird Feelings", which on the album feels like a hit. Live, the sound was far mushier and less compelling than the album, the songs a bit harder to tell apart. The band looked a bit off their game a couple times, too, having to stop and confer occasionally as to how the songs went, and abandoning one rather quickly that wouldn't get off the ground. They channelled that into a sort of half-hearted alienation affectation — "stop fraternizing with us... that's why we're fucking up," commented Webb at one point to the enthusiasts up front.

The set's last song broke the mould a little with Ali Koehler coming out to add some backing vox. There were some songs here that worked but on the whole, the band didn't live up to the promise shown on their album.

Listen to a track from this set here.

When I had come into the venue I'd noticed Best Coast guitarist Bobb Bruno was manning the merch table. And now, getting set up between sets, he was up on stage, not only tuning his own guitars, but doing the same for frontwoman Bethany Cosentino's coral green Mustang. I was wondering to myself if this was a bit of a diva move for a singer whose buzz prestige had shot up even more since the last time I'd last seen 'em, with their full-length Crazy for You getting a lot of attention.

But rather than rockstar hubris, Cosentino's waiting until the set's beginning to make an appearance had a less glamourous explanation. "I'm sure you all read my twitter," she explained as she emerged, (and, um, no) "I'm very sick.... I'm going to try the best that I can to bring all that I have for you Toronto." Indeed, she looked not at all well, but from the outset she had the crowd onside, whether they were handing her cat-related novelties or celebrating her stoner-friendly lyrics by lighting up their joints.

"This song goes out to the homies smoking weed in the front," she said, introducing "Sun Was High (So Was I)". In retrospect, given her outspoken pro-ganja lyrics and sentiments, I guess I shouldn't be surprised by all the potsmoking, but still, it's pretty annoying to have to breathe in other people's stinking fumes. During "Goodbye", the guy in front of me blazed up just in time to celebrate the stonerrific sentiment "I wish my cat could talk", and I just shrugged and went with the flow — or was getting relaxed from second-hand smoke as the haze overhead was making the room look more like a Cypress Hill gig.

Given Cosentino's condition, it was a little hard to get a full grip on how the band was progressing overall. Recently-added drummer Ali Koehler (ex-Vivian Girls) definitely looked the part to be playing with the band and her playing fit nicely, though the added potential for her to add in some more backing vox wasn't tapped. And although she wasn't feeling well, Cosentino was probably in a better voice than during NXNE, when she was fighting a sore throat. Bruno, meanwhile, stoically kept cranking out the leads on song after song.

"It smells so good in here — it's making me feel better," Cosentino commented by mid-set. And after another song, she gave in to the urge to self-medicate, accepting a joint handed up from the front row. ("Hope you don't get sick!" she said, passing it back.) Declaring this "the first time in the history of Best Coast I ever smoked weed on stage," she got a bit of a second wind — as well as some mellow wisdom, declaring a couple songs later, "this is a house of weed. You should all be stoned."

But by "I Want To" she was barely holding it together, soliciting the crowd to sing along for that and "When I'm With You". When the set closed with "Something in the Way", I thought for sure that'd be it, but the band returned to play the subjunctively-dubious "Wish He Was You". Bruno, killing time while waiting for Cosentino to return to the stage, endeared himself to the crowd by talking about how much Best Coast like playing in Toronto, perplexing Cosentino, who commented, "you don't know what that means... that man has never spoken on stage before."

Under the conditions, a pretty good show, and a generally memorable one. In the end we got a full set, seventeen songs in fifty minutes. We can hope that Cosentino is at full strength when Best Coast makes their return, already upsizing themselves to the much more spacious Phoenix.

Listen to a track from this set here.