"And to whoever stole my favorite sweatshirt during the concert – fuck you."

Saturday’s sold out show at the Bluebird Theater was a much anticipated ticket featuring a trio of beachy California bands: Wavves, Best Coast and the quickly rising Cherry Glazerr. This tour was the second iteration of the Wavves and Best Coast featured “Summer Is Forever” tour.

While I was certain the show was going to be rowdy AF, I underestimated how far it would go. In front of the stage, I found myself drowning in a sea of denim clad underage punk rock kids — easily identified by the large black “Xs” scrawled on the tops of their hands. Though I could have hung out further from the stage to avoid the moshing and multiple dropped beers, where’s the fun in that?

The young turnout surprised me initially, though it probably shouldn’t have. The opening band, Cherry Glazerr, is young themselves, with some of their members just recently graduating high school.

Though less experienced, Cherry Glazerr has the chops of a much older act. It’s been rapidly growing a fan base following the release of their critically acclaimed first album “Haxel Princess,” which showcases a perfect mix of surfy pop vibes with driving garage riffs. Despite the bands lead singer, Clementine Creevy, saying she had just gotten over a bout of Laryngitis, the band was visibly excited for its first show in Denver, stating: “We heard you guys go off.”

Which proved to be very true.

So true in fact, that throughout the show the tour manager kept running onto the stage to push stage divers back into the crowd. The manager, who looked like an overwhelmed substitute teacher, seemed unenthusiastic about the Bluebird’s laissez-fare approach to crowd control. But everyone in the crowd seemed to love it.

Creevy, in a badass polka dot onesie, had the stage presence of someone who has been touring much longer. The songs each member played ranged from its hard-hitting song “Whites Not My Color This Evening”, the raw emotive song “Had Ten Dollaz”, to more melodic beachy sounds with “Gilled Cheese.” By the end of the set it seemed like no one in the crowd, or the band members themselves, wanted them to leave the stage. They exited the stage with Creevy proclaiming it had been their favorite set of the tour by far. Good job, Denver.

Since forming in 2009, Best Coast has been undeniably leading the pack of surf-pop bands coming out of California. With three studio albums under its belt along with a number of EPs and collaborations, Best Coast is clearly a well-established surf-pop factory.

Best Coast lead singer, Bethany Cosentino, came on stage wearing an oversized vintage Sublime t-shirt. The band played for an hour with a fair mix of upbeat and relaxed songs. The stage was dimly lit throughout the set, and the mellowed vibe was welcomed following the rowdiness of Cherry Glazerr and before the onslaught that would be Wavves. Of course the band played the crowd favorites “When I’m With You,” “Boyfriend,” and “California Nights.” Though Best Coast played a mellower set than Wavves and Cherry Glazerr, all its songs were noticeably grittier when performed live than studio recordings.

Wavves has gained a huge following over for the past few years for the way it effortlessly blends punk and surf rock into a unique sound that is distinctly its own. Also, its one of the few bands that publically embraces the party lifestyle that other rock bands envy. Why start a rock band if you’re not going to party?

Following the Best Coast set, Wavves lead singer, Nathan Williams, came on the stage beer-in-hand to much enthusiasm from the crowd. Williams, whose many tattoos resemble the doodles you’d find in 7th grade math notebooks, is well known for his rock ‘n’ roll lifestyle and all around IDGAF attitude. Williams opened the show addressing the crowd, and apologizing to “the like 25 people” that have already been kicked out of the show.

Wavves played an extremely energetic set that lasted for well over an hour during the late-night concert that ended just before 1:00 am. The band played a mix of songs from its 6 studio albums, including two songs included in the Grand Theft Auto V soundtrack, : “Nine is God” and “Leave.”

At some points, the band seemed overwhelmed with what to play, seemingly picking songs at random. Though that didn’t stop the members from playing a perfect mix of older songs such as “Paranoid” and “Post Acid,” with new songs tossed in, “My Head Hurts” and “Way Too Much.”

The crew ended the show with their most famous song, “King of the Beach,” sending the crowd into an absolute frenzy. If we could have somehow harnessed the energy of that song, the state could have easily provided electricity to the entire Front Range for a week or more.

In true Wavves fashion, the band posted a picture of them taking mushrooms after the show, too. Absolute savages.

And to whoever stole my favorite sweatshirt during the concert – fuck you.

Photo Credits: @leighwestmusic, @wavves