Best Coast are on tour with Wavves for the second Summer Is Forever tour. They played Toronto's Danforth Music Hall last night with Cherry Glazerr opening things up. I think that Best Coast are a fantastic band and I've missed out on seeing them live for way too long, including their show at NXNE last summer, so I was pretty excited to catch this show.
The band sounded great and Bethany's voice sounded true and powerful. The great vibe was not lost on the band as at one point in the latter half of the set, Bethany remarked that the energy was great for a Monday, and then she corrected herself, that it was great energy by any measure. It seemed that Best Coast and Toronto had formed a mutual admiration society for good reason. The crowd was super into the show, having a great time, while the band delivered an awesome-sounding set of fantastic tunes.
Check out some of my favourite tunes from their setlist.
I feel like 2015 has flown by and I have missed a lot of the music it had to offer. I've seen a lot of shows by a lot of great bands. Not as many as in 2014 mind you, and I've purposely slowed down in the past month or so, but still a lot. There's so much great music that was produced this year, and there's so much that I've yet to discover. Every year, I bookmark the best of lists from other sites and I don't look at any of them until after my own list is up. Most years, I don't get through reading all the others, either.
Follow the links in the song titles below to listen to the tunes, and click the links in the artist name to get to my posts of concert coverage and pictures of the artists. In some cases, where I've seen a band multiple times and they've got multiple songs in the list, the links are distributed. In cases where I've seen a band more than once but they only have one song below, you'll see a second link. Please click away and have fun!
All the best to everyone for 2016. May there continue to be more great music that brings smiles to our faces, joy to our hearts and gets our bodies moving. And more great artists that indulge my desire to photograph them delivering that music. Happy 2016 everyone!
NXNE storms into Toronto from June 17 through 21. As usual, it will feature the most up-and-coming grass-roots bands along with huge stars, all covering a wide range of genres. The big, free shows at Yonge-Dundas Square get lots of attention. Last year I was in the crowd for St. Vincent and Spoon's Yonge-Dundas Square performances. The year before, I joined the crowd for The National's performance.
This year, the night of Saturday June 20 features four great bands. Headlining is Canadian indie-rock / power pop supergroup The New Pornographers along with retro indie pop heroes Best Coast, Toronto's own Dilly Dally and Montreal writer, visual artist, and multi-instrumentalist Little Scream.
I've seen The New Pornographers at The Ex and Riot Fest. Their albums, especially Twin Cinema, Mass Romantic and Electric Version are among my favourite albums ever created.
"Dancehall Domine" from their latest Brill Bruisers
"Your Hands (Together)" from Together
"Twin Cinema" from Twin Cinema
"Sing Me Spanish Techno" from Twin Cinema
"The Laws Have Changed" from Electric Version
"Mass Romantic" from Mass Romantic
Best Coast are from California and they tend to sound that way. They have a timeless quality that harkens back to pop songwriting of a bygone era. I've grown to enjoy them more and more over the years and I'm looking forward to catching them live.
"Heaven Sent"
"California Nights"
"Feeling Ok"
"Boyfriend"
"Crazy For You"
Dilly Dally are from Toronto. They play indie rock / alternative music with a sprinkling of grunge and the distinctive vocals of Katie Monks, who growls, yearns and explodes. I have a feeling their music's going to be especially powerful from the YDS stage.
"Candy Mountain"
"Alexander"
"Next Gold"
"Green"
Little Scream's first album The Golden Record garnered tons of critical acclaim and she's finishing her second album Dance In A Void now. It features appearances from Bryce and Aaron Dessner, Sharon Van Etten, and Sufjan Steven.
On a recent episode of True Blood, the track "Let's Boot and Rally" by Iggy Pop and Bethany Cosentino (of Best Coast) was performed. Listen, it's cool!
