This is long overdue. Sorry about that.

It’s not like it wasn’t worth writing about. In fact, it was a good night all around. Consider…

Before the signatures were applied.

We took advantage of happy hour at Red’s Ale House in North Liberty. Even though they didn’t have any Golden Nugget on tap, it’s not like the joint was dry. And the buffalo chicken flatbread? Shiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiit….

The show was in a church. So now I can tell people that I’ve been to church this year, and not for some “everyone goes” event like Easter or Christmas, either.

The sound was good. The setlist was good. The sightlines weren’t bad, considering that the band wasn’t exactly on an elevated platform.

Good mix of songs from the two albums, as well as the Record Store Day single and some new material.

Bethany looked and sounded great. Bob rocked out. Even though the set wasn’t the longest in the history of live music, I felt I got my fill.

As those of us who follow Best Coast on social media already knew, they had hit the town the night before and got crunk on jello shots. They recapped the night out between songs. They praised Joe’s Place. They slagged off the Airliner. They forgot the name of the third bar, which I later gathered was the Summit from their description of the place.

(Their description, you ask?)

Yeah, so during the show they asked the crowd where they should go out afterward. A few people yelled out “Deadwood,” a venue that has Golden Nugget on tap, if you must know. So our gang figured we’d head over there post-show.

Post-show hangout at Deadwood.

And sure enough, they came by. Everyone else was busy doing other things when they came in (peeing and playing air hockey…separately, of course), except for me and our friend Michelle. So the two of us stepped over to them, praised them for taking the advice of post-show venue, complimented them on the show, talked about their exploits from the night before, complimented them again, and went back to our booth in the corner (the “Corleone booth,” I like to call it) to brag to Jess and Jen and Tracy about our new friends.

The ladies ran over and sort of hovered around; Tracy broke the ice and snapped pictures of Bethany with Jess and Jen. Jess also got her recently pilfered show flier signed by the whole BC gang. They were super nice and down to earth, which is fun; hell, they said goodbye to us as we left, rather than forcing us to act like super dweeb fans all over again. Since Deadwood doesn’t have a popcorn machine, I don’t know where Todd hid while Bethany was in the bar.

Anyway, I’m glad they made the trip to Iowa. I’m glad I got to see them after the show, Bethany in her full denim-jacket-with-Metallica-patch-on-back glory.

The new song, “Who Have I Become”:

“Last Year” from The Only Place:

“I Want To” from the first album:

Let’s try that stage jump again: