Nashville indie-rock band COIN offered a non-stop jolt of music at The Wiltern Saturday night for their sold-out stop, nearing the halfway point of their Rainbow Dreamland tour. Canadian pop/rock foursome VALLEY had the opening honors and likely brought in a massive crowd for themselves prior to COIN’s set. VALLEY took off with 2020 hit “nevermind” followed by summer 2021 dance-pop song “Tempo”. Lead singer Rob Laska sported his light pink hair and encouraged the whole crowd to sing along to the catchy “Oh shit…are we in love?” with drummer Karah James shining on the vocals alongside Laska. It must be stated and it’s entirely refreshing for a young pop band that guitarist Mickey Brandolino and bassist Alex Dimauro sing along for much of the time.
VALLEY’s newer song “Society” about the opposing forces between making money vs. making art got everyone dancing and then 2020 pop smash “hiccup” took hold of the audience. The feels concluded from VALLEY with their nostalgia-filled ballad “Like 1999”, with supporting vocals from who else but the fans, a huge applause and the four musicians arm in arm. Though tracks like “There’s Still A Light In The House”, “A Phone Call in Amsterdam”, “Push For Yellow (Shelter)” and “Park Bench” from their formative years didn’t make the cut on the short set, the band will hopefully play some older hits on a future headlining tour.
COIN entered the stage in a fog with four square screens spaced perfectly across while a variety of images glowed throughout the night, from tripped-out smileys to nature and mountains to glowing cherubs to the name COIN emblazoned in blue. Flashing hearts and a stage washed in red kicked things off with COIN crushing hard on “Chapstick” as the standing musicians played confidently while drummer Ryan Winnen smashed the drums. The lights went dark and The Wiltern was roaring for more. They followed it with the equally lively “Into My Arms” with lead singer Chase Lawrence working the synthesizer and bopping around the stage decked out in a denim jacket and t-shirt glowing with neon while lead guitarist Joe Memmel matched his energy and enjoyed a massive guitar solo.
The inescapable “I Want It All” had fans’ hands up and bodies jumping for the entirety of the pop/rock song, followed by one of COIN’s most dancey bops to date, “Simple Romance” as Lawrence worked the stage with his dance moves and a don’t-blink-or-you’ll-miss-it MJ moonwalk moment. The new wave-y “I Don’t Wanna Dance” kept things moving and the momentum was still high for “Growing Pains”. The anthemic “Nobody’s Baby” showcased some serious indie-rock vibes and “ayy ayy ayys” from the band, echoed by the audience.
The 80s-flavored “Valentine” was next after Lawrence asked the crowd, “Do you ever love someone so much it hurts”?, a lyric from the song. The three standing musicians (which included bassist Matt Martin) were singing on this one and Lawrence enthusiastically blew a kiss to the crowd at the end. Lawrence embodied the music and it was especially apparent on the mid-tempo ballad “Cemetery”, which ended with a huge rock instrumental and a collective shriek. The slow jams continued with “Babe Ruth”, which sounds inspired by Phil Collins or like it was pulled from The 1975’s playbook (in the best way). Lawrence stepped away from the synths at one point to give an air swing with an imaginary bat. A huge roaring applause took over The Wiltern and Lawrence addressed his crowd again in appreciation, “We’re COIN, how’s it going? You could have been a lot of places on a Saturday night”.
Lawrence pulled a yellow raincoat over himself with a haze of fog billowing over the band for a couple of songs including the stadium-ready, cathartic “Let It All Out (10:05)”, shining on both the ballad-like melodies and the emotional chorus by song’s end. “Malibu 1992” of course started like a dream and ended like the badass indie-rock song that it is with flashing red lights to cap it off.
The raincoat came off and “You Are The Traffic” was a true highlight of the evening, a total FU song for anything wrong with people or things in the world right now with some standout guitar moments. The synthy sounds of “Youuu” was next, followed by the falsetto-led “Sprite” and then another big moment happened for COIN with “Crash My Car”. Strobe lights flashed and Lawrence spread his arms out to the crowd as he and Memmel got them singing in unison. On “Fingers Crossed”, Lawrence threw himself on the floor at one point during the punky song, he jumped up on the keyboard by the end and threw some flowers between his teeth. The Wiltern went nuts and the band exited the stage into the darkness.
For the encore, Faye Webster unfortunately did not grace the stage with her presence, but guitarist Memmel made it up with a wonderful vocal complementing Lawrence on the feel-good love ballad “Sagittarius Superstar”. COIN did not disappoint for a moment throughout the show and they brought the heat on their cheeky smash “Talk Too Much”, with hands flailing everywhere and the crowd getting in their last dance steps. The guitars shined once again, the crowd clapping in unison and a burst of confetti floated onto fans. COIN clearly know how to make it rain.
