Bethany Cosentino is a vision. Bobb Bruno is a master. 

This is how the Los Angeles duo known as Best Coast brings California surf pop to an international audience – they merely exist. So often they have been noted as a band that has rooted a lot of great singles. And they are, but they also bring untangled authenticity when delivering a live performance. The clan took to Austin’s iconic outdoor stage at The Mohawk on Sunday evening under the blistering summer sun. Orange County’s Lovely Bad Things opened with a surprisingly melodic and caffeinated performance. Identifiable for raw vocals and inherently chaotic enthusiasm, Lovely Bad Things really set the stage with new release The Late Great Whatever. 

Best Coast was greeted with the crowds wild enthusiasm of multiple shouts of “I love you!” and unabashed applause. Opening with “Sun Was High” the band soon moved into fan and critical favorite “Crazy for You.” The lengthy setlist, (nearly reaching twenty songs) was composed of their most celebrated pop tunes, “When I’m With You,” “Boyfriend” and “The Only Place.” The summery structure of Best Coast, full of reverb-heavy guitars and consistent nods to ’60s pop, was relaxed and reached that “endless summer” mentality. With Best Coast as your friend, you’ll always hear the charm of sweet summertime. This is the agreeable quality that Best Coast is most celebrated for – that expected sizzling sunny pop and Cosentino’s raw honesty. While onstage, Cosentino admitted a previous Austin gig was interrupted by a little too much alcohol and made note to step away from the booze this time around. Well, whatever the culprit, it was apparent that trace was far gone this time around. Austinites greeted Best Coast as they greet their summer with bring it on – we will love you till the fall comes attitude. As the band returned for an encore to play beloved “Boyfriend,” the mega-hit that put the band on our radar, the crowd at Mohawk sang along and swayed to the celebrated single.

It is apparent Best Coast will continue to breath new life into the indie-pop sphere. They are really doing something right – a very specific kind of right that speaks to you when you’re lonely, when you’re bored, when you’re up and ready to surpass that thing that ails you. It appears that this band is breaching songwriter territory, moving away from their garage-rock fuzz into a new musical quality and yet their live performance keeps an equal balance of what they’ve done and what their doing and hey, we dig it.