Best Coast lead singer Bethany Cosentino addresses the crowd at Stony Brook University. (Photo by Klara Huszar/Think Magazine)

A rousing audience of Stony Brook students was treated to the lo-fi beats of indie pop trio Best Coast. The band enthralled an audience of the hipster variety with a 50 minute set featuring some of their biggest hits.

Best Coast began their breezy and melodic set with “Wish He Was You,” off the Crazy For You LP. Best Coast’s enumerable 50s/60s inspired melodies pay direct homage to the Beach Boys. ‘Wish He Was You’ benefitted from the charismatic stage presence of lead singer Bethany Cosentino and the moody bass lines and leads of Bobb Bruno on his baritone guitar.

Boyfriend, perhaps their biggest hit, typifies the soothing vocals of Cosentino and the unique juxtaposition of lyric choice, and creates a nostalgic feel to the album. Cosentino’s lyrics dwell on absurdism, periods of self-doubt and unrequited love, though not always with humans: she dedicated a song to her cat “Snacks” on stage during “Goodbye.”

The trio started off a bit subdued, having just gotten off a cross-country flight. But by the end of the set, Cosentino was hopping around stage and energizing the crowd. Cosentino personally thanked a fan for his persistent tweeting to the Best Coast Twitter account. The infectious rhythms and lyrics of Best Coast reached a peak, as attendees participated in rambunctious clapping and slow sing-alongs towards the concert’s closure, giving drummer Ali Koehler a chance to showcase her talents displayed in the slower tracks.

At a press conference after the event, Cosentino and Koehler recounted a wild concert at Reed College in Portland (“it was bonkers”) and an underwhelming performance in front of a home crowd at UCLA (“one of the most uncomfortable, awkward performances ever”), reassuring Stony Brook that the venue and audience were at their best.

The band is just starting an East Coast tour that includes stops at Wellesley, Smith and Georgetown before joining Weezer for a few shows and heading back West.

Wednesday’s show was put on by the Undergraduate Student Government, which harkened back to the University’s iconic musical heyday of the 1970s and chose to revive the Stony Brook Concert Series.

The infrastructure needed to revive the concert series has been in place since the restructuring of the now defunct Student Brook Activities Board. In its place is the new Student Programming Agency. The rich tradition of legendary artists like The Grateful Dead and the Allman Brothers Band descending upon the Stony Brook campus years ago came full circle as Norm Prusslin spoke. Prusslin, President of the Intercollegiate Broadcasting System, called for students to attend future Concert series events and restore the music scene on Long Island to it’s glory days.

The success of the Best Coast event was a good start, said Moiz Khan, Director of Event Programming.

“Stony Brook’s music scene has been dead for too long. It’s about damn time we have good music again,” he said.

For fans of Best Coast’s modern lo-fi band vocals, check out Beach House’s ‘Teen Dream’ album. The Drums and Surfer Blood are similar bands that resonant with the laid back feel of Best Coast’s “Crazy For You” LP.

Check out Best Coast’s performance of Boyfriend:

America the Beautiful, the Star Spangled Banner and Bruce Springsteen all took a back seat this July 4 in Battery Park in favor of a pair of indie crooners.

Fans at the River to River Festival on July 4

Conor Oberst and Jenny Lewis, perhaps better known as the vocalists of Bright Eyes and Rilo Kiley, lent their services to this year’s River to River Festival, the summer long series of free concerts, performances and other events in New York City.

And neither artist disappointed the hundreds of fans who turned up—in some cases hours early—to celebrate Independence Day.

Lewis opened the afternoon with See Fernando, a super-catchy tune off her latest solo album Acid Tongue. And while the performance was energetic and well done, Lewis suffered the pitfalls of working a crowd that didn’t pay for their tickets: a call and response that wasn’t…well, responded to.

But Lewis recovered, and finished out her set which included Born Secular, Jack Killed Mom, and Rise Up With Fists!!, all tracks from her two solo albums.

Conor Oberst took the stage with his new accompaniment, the Mystic Valley Band, and opened, predictably, with NYC-Gone, Gone, a short but entertaining anthem off of his eponymously titled solo album.

As the afternoon progressed, Oberst and the band seemed to gain momentum, ultimately peaking with an encore rendition of I Don’t Want to Die (In the Hospital) that had most of the crowd dancing on the lawn.

Despite Oberst’s recent decision to perform and release work under his own name rather than the Bright Eyes moniker, it was a performance of Air Mattress by Mystic Valley Band guitarist Taylor Hollingsworth that proved to be one of the highlights of the afternoon.

In addition to Air Mattress, the set featured several songs from Outer South, the first album from Oberst and the Mystic Valley Band, including Nikorette and Ten Women.

Oberst also included several songs from his self-titled album. Cape Canaveral, Souled Out!!!, and Moab, which he dedicated to opening act and girlfriend Jenny Lewis, were all crowd favorites.

Audiences can’t always count on quality performances from free shows. But River to River’s organizers have a knack for selecting artists who know how to put on a show. Oberst and Lewis are just the latest examples of that.