Photo by Nick Raygun
We’ve braved through the below zero weather–the only touch of it this winter–and emerged on the other side, though not exactly victorious. Winds still bluster through Boston, so the sunny grace of a harem of born and bred Californian bands made for quite the treat at the Royale on the 19th.
Photo by Nick Raygun
Burger Records homies Cherry Glazerr kicked off the night with their subdued brand of punk. Frontwoman Clementine Creevy teetered in and out of clarity throughout the set, her voice at times sweet and clear, and at others, gristly and throaty, doused in fury. Powering through some fan favorites like “Had Ten Dollaz” and “Trick Or Treat Dancefloor,” the group truly shined on their newer tracks. Pulling out a handful of never-before-heard songs, their set reached a crescendo with their grittiest sound yet, Creevy and the band bursting at the seams with energy. The track, “Sip ‘O Poison,” embodied the girlish character Creevy has cultivated for herself in Cherry Glazerr, and added a dose of poison to her saccharine voice. There were moments the music was so fuzzy the guitar blended indistinguishably with the vocals. Thrashing about the stage, her hair flying back and forth on her head, it stood as the highlight of their set. They closed out with “a song about a sandwich,” as Creevy called it: “Grilled Cheese.”
Photo by Nick Raygun
Nodding towards professional wrestling, the tour–dubbed “Summer Is Forever II”–modeled itself, at least aesthetically, after the sport. (Er…”sport?”) Featuring Bethany Cosentino of Best Coast as The Undertaker and Nathan Williams of Wavves as the Ultimate Warrior (and Cosentino’s cat, Snacks, as Paul Bearer) on the poster, Best Coast were the ones to take the gesture in full stride, entering the stage to Stone Cold Steve Austin’s theme song.
But Cosentino wore a simple white dress, and dove face first into “When I’m With You,” a lamentation of a lover lost, and perhaps summer itself. Theatrical vocals buoyed off of vibrant, fast-strummed guitar riffs make up the typical sound for Best Coast, and a live show is no exception. Cosentino’s voice filled the Royale, while the band struggled to keep pace with the accelerating rhythm of the songs.
Their set was blurred at the edges, each song smoothly transitioning into the next. When most of your songs are about California, the summer, or love, how could it not? But Best Coast works to accentuate the however subtle differences in their tracks, and they do this well. While the opening guitar in “Do You Love Me Like You Used To” easily blend with those in “The Only Place,” the restrained rhythm in the former places it at a greater emotional resonance than the latter. “The Only Place” inspired the first noticeable bouts of crowd surfing and moshing, to the approval of the band. Some new tracks were peppered in their set, but the familiar ones were where Best Coast seemed most at ease, comfortable in their own sound.
Photo by Nick Raygun
If all hell hadn’t broken loose before, it sure did as soon as Wavves took the stage. The surf punk band of misfits emerged with floppy hair and goofy, dopey smiles, as relaxed and at home as they might be high on the beach. Plowing through their fast-paced songs at a level outmatched by the audience, Wavves took it upon themselves to kick things up a notch. “Let’s see how many of you can crowd surf!” Williams yelled, releasing a bundle of silver balloons and inflatable aliens. They launched into “Post Acid,” and through the panicked scrambling of security guards, dozens of tie-dyed dudes and dudettes appeared floating on top of the sold out crowd, waving their bracelet clad arms in the air.
Unrelenting, hardly even stopping to catch their breath, Wavves’s set harnessed the energy that had emerged behind it, and destroyed it in its wake. Their set was powerful and persistent, though hit a flatline pretty early on. When your music peaks within the first couple of songs, it’s no wonder you feel the need to barrel through it. So when they made the decision not exactly to forgo an encore, but to simply include it as part of–and to bookend–their set, it was a little in poor taste. Wavves was capitalizing on the energy that had accumulated throughout the concert. This I do not shame them for. But the purpose of an encore is to put a pause on that energy, let it sink in, then come back twice as hard. And so, “Green Eyes” didn’t have the same satisfying effect it might have as a proper encore and endcap.
