The setting was as low-key as the band’s style. The set of bright spotlights on stage emitted soft greens, magentas and blues that washed the band in color, creating an understated ambiance. As Best Coast performed at the Westcott Theater Friday night, lead singer Bethany Cosentino crooned the audience with her soothing voice.

Opening with ‘Wish He Was You,’ Best Coast established a relaxed atmosphere that echoed throughout the entire show. A distorted, fuzzy guitar opposite a mellowed out, snare-friendly beat provided an inescapable sense of nostalgia.

Best Coast, from Los Angeles, rose to mainstream fame in the summer of 2010 after releasing its first album, ‘Crazy for You.’ The album gained much acclaim, winning the hearts of both indie scenesters and renowned critics.

Only when Best Coast broke into two of their most popular songs — ‘Boyfriend’ and ‘When I’m With You’ — did the crowd abandon its hipster nonchalance and show its true enthusiasm. 

Opening acts Sarah Aument and Animal Pants provided a great local complement to Best Coast. Indie singer and songwriter Aument, a Syracuse University senior, backed up her melodic vocals with dreamy guitar tracks, hitting the folk end of the indie spectrum.

‘It’s good to see another SU student get recognized and open for a big act,’ said Sarah Mozenson, a freshman acting major. ‘It’s a rare opportunity.’

Animal Pants were more experimental than the other two bands and had more of a soulful vibe. Their drummer and lead singer traded in vocal call-and-responses for a number of mellowed-out tracks and provided a nice ease into Best Coast’s set.

There were no turf wars despite one crowd member screaming: ‘East Coast!’

‘What was it that Thumper said?’ Cosentino asked, in a reference to the Disney animated classic Bambi. ‘If you don’t have anything nice to say, don’t say anything at all.’

Still, Cosentino didn’t fully exclude any East Coast influence — for the final song, she donned a ripped off midriff tank with Otto the Orange on the front and a plaid flannel shirt as a scarf that concertgoers managed to throw onstage.

The only downside to the show was that, for nearly half of the tracks off of their first album, the songs are almost indistinguishable. Were it not for the breaks and claps in between, Best Coast may have led a concert more akin to a run-on sentence than a summer novella.

‘All the songs seemed like they were all molded into one. They were very similar,’ said Lauren Murphy, a sophomore in the College of Visual and Performing Arts. ‘It’s a totally different experience live.’

The two new tracks that Best Coast debuted at the show also seem like they could have fit on ‘Crazy for You.’ But Best Coast isn’t a band that aims to produce songs with profound meaning or any deep social commentary, but rather a tribute to the ease of summer.

‘This song is about summer, which is almost over, but it doesn’t have to be,’ Cosentino said before serenading the audience with the aptly titled ‘Summer Mood.’

Thanks to Best Coast, Syracuse got to hold on to that summer feeling for just a bit longer.

bjweight@syr.edu

Published on September 11, 2011 at 12:00 pm