Coasts @ the Waterfront

Coasts have come a long way since their humble beginnings in London and Norwich. But after pushing back the release date of their, at best mediocre, debut record, their homecoming show at the Waterfront was a wasted opportunity to prove themselves worthy of the pop frenzy they’ve seen grow and diminish around them.

Expecting the support acts to be common or garden, middle of the road pop bands, Dive In were a pleasant surprise, a breath of fresh air from a smartly dressed, 80s inspired four-piece. Change In the Weather is the one to check out. The Hunna followed with a just as entertaining but significantly less sophisticated act, not so different from the alt-pop sounds of the Kooks or Catfish and the Bottlemen.

Coasts soon arrived, unlike the majority of the audience it seemed, as the empty room made apparent. Undeterred, they energetically opened with the synth-dripping Wallow, followed by the tropical surf anthem Your Soul and Modern Love. Unimpressed by Coasts on record, I thought their live show would be more interesting, but the majority of the gig sounded like they’d just pressed play and lumped poorer vocals on the top. As the dim light brightened I began to spot more and more members within the smoke, inducing hazy flashbacks to cringe-worthy X Factor series long gone. “This is our next single, have you heard it?” frontman Chris Caines smirked, before playing You. For anyone who hadn’t heard it, the live version was identical to the recorded one, but the passionate (if small) audience waved and danced at every opportunity.