DIIV, Those Darlins and Best Coast Play at Royale Boston Nightclub

Lo-fi, garage and grainy surf pop tunes filled the air at Royale Boston Nightclub on July 18 as DIIV and Those Darlins opened up for Best Coast.

First to take the stage was DIIV (pronounced "dive"), a New York band that sounds like a post-punk Smiths that discovered reverb. The band, lead by Zachary Cole Smith, played their singles from their debut full-length "Oshin," including "How Long Have You Known," "Air Conditioning" and "Human." After the guitarist's string broke, DIIV, who all look like they've yet hit puberty, smoothed over the incident by playing a Nirvana cover while the guitarist tended to his broken string.

Although all members of DIIV look extremely young they professionally showcased their shoegaze tunes to a mostly unfamiliar audience. The group was a bit awkward at times -- they shuffled around on stage and most of them had hair covering their faces but it only added to their charm. Even when a heckler yelled, "SHOW YOUR FACE!" Smith quickly shout back, "SHUT UP, WE'RE DIIV!"

Next to take the stage was Those Darlins -- a country/garage trio lead by Jessi and Nikki Darlin. Their set was far too long, and clocked in at about an hour. At times, the band tried too hard to be weird as Jessi Darlin would shoot creepy daggers at the audience and scream like a banshee. During a sultry song about halfway through their performance, Nikki and Jessi engaged in a tender moment and almost kissed, which riled up the audience and caused them to hoot and holler.

Those Darlins finally finished up a forgettable set, after what seemed like an eternity, and made way for the California band, Best Coast. The duo, which consist of mastermind Bethany Cosentino and guitarist Bobb Bruno, opened up with the crowd pleasing "Crazy For You" from their 2010 LP with the same name. The audience was ecstatic and incredibly enthusiastic to hear Cosentino sing "Our Deal," "Summer Mood" and tracks from Best Coast's latest record "The Only Place." But Cosentino wasn't as interactive as expected -- she is after all, one of the most recommend musicians to follow on Twitter, according to Pitchfork and Rolling Stone. She did crack a joke about eating too much California Pizza Kitchen, however, and was able to keep the crowd of mostly young college girls satisfied by playing "Why I Cry," "Do You Still Love Me Like You Used to," and "When You Wake Up."

Best Coast's set did hit a speed bump early on when the band played a number of sleepy songs one after the other. Cosentino even warned the eager crowd and said "OK, we're going to play a couple of slow songs now but don't worry."

The group came back for an encore and played their two most popular songs: "When I'm With You" and "Boyfriend," which was easily the highlight of the show. The crowd responded enthusiastically and the concert ended on a high note.