Normally I wouldn’t think to describe a tour that has shoegaze and lo-fi garage rock as the type of show that gives warm fuzzies. But warm and happy was exactly what I was feeling when my night with Best Coast, Wavves and No Joy at Omaha’s the Waiting Room was over. Sure, the show marked the start of the temperature climb in the Midwest, but the music itself was just full of good, happy vibes. 
No Joy started the night off. The group describes their sound as “party anthems for depressed people.” Now, I don’t think you have to be depressed to like them, but you do have to like shoegaze. So expect a wash of instrumental music with a mumble over it aka no discernible lyrics – which for this act is beneficial since I don’t know how you would hear the lyrics through the mop of hair covering their faces even if they were trying to enunciate. I’m not really a huge shoegaze fan because it can get a little tedious, but for the brief opening set this act played, I could get behind it. I love seeing women wield a guitar and these girls and guy could play some mean riffs.
Cali’s noise pop act, Wavves, followed No Joy. The band is a trio, but it is essentially the brainchild of Nathan Williams.
“You know, the guy from Wavves is dating the Best Coast girl,” I heard one guy whisper to his friend. 
Normally I don’t care for music relationship gossip, but his fact is fairly well-known and I think adds yet another reason for the whole good vibe of the show. Plus, if you didn’t already know it or hear it from those guys in the crowd, it wasn’t long before Nathan was sharing the information himself. His stage chat consisted of him giving out an insane amount of dedications before songs or rushedly saying the title of the next tune – “This one’s for the shout-y gut up front…This one’s for Steve…This’ one’s also for Steve,” but it worked for his personality and came off as quite charming.
My main quip with Wavves is that there isn’t enough variation between the style of the songs. They start to blur together and the chorus to one could easily still be the chorus for the next, but with different words. However, I still loved the music and it did make me want to dance and sing along to hits such as “King of the Beach,” “Green Eyes” and more.
Remember how I said earlier that I love seeing girls who can wield a guitar? Well, if you’re like me and you like ladies that can rock then you must see Best Coast at some point in your life. The indie rock trio has two ladies that just own their parts. You have the fantastic frontwoman, Bethany Cosentino on vocals and guitar joined by drummer Ali Koehler (you might know her from her previous work in Vivian Girls), and multi-instrumentalist Bobb Bruno who is just as talented as the girls. 
Best Coast headlined the show playing all of Crazy for You and a few new songs, as well as some great covers. I especially loved the Loretta Lynn song they performed – I’m sure it is floating around YouTube. If you haven’t heard Best Coast before, the sound is fuzzy, surf rock – fitting for a band with the word ‘coast’ in its name. You can’t go wrong listening to any of the tunes, but “I Want To” really stood out live and of course, the single, “Boyfriend” is a must listen.
