Kongos w/ Mother Mother
Showbox, Seattle, WA
05.14.17

If the opportunity to see a band called Mother Mother on Mother’s day comes about, you pretty much have to take it. Their fantastic set opened the night before KONGOS headlined the Seattle’s Showbox on their Egomaniac Tour with an even better one.

Fans–along with their mothers–enjoyed Mother Mother’s alt-rock set. Their sound is a bit Muse-meets-Cold War Kids, but the band puts their own spin on it. They played mostly tracks from their latest album, No Culture, released in February, but some of their older songs were obvious crowd favorites. “Hayloft,” from their 2008 release had many fans singing along to the chorus and head banging during guitar solos.

Headlining their US tour, KONGOS opened their set, against ominously dark lighting, with “Repeat After Me,” a slightly spooky, uneasy track from the Egomaniac album. The last time Seattle saw KONGOS was August for 107.7 The End’s Summer Camp at Marymoor Park, which occurred shortly after the band blew up with their track, “Come With Me Now.” While their performance then was good, and that song undeniably got everyone singing along, it was nothing super memorable and wasn’t really a highlight from the mini festival.

Nine months and many tour stops later, KONGOS returned to the PNW and quickly established themselves as an incredible act. The performance opened with a lot of songs that carried the same kind of feel as “Come With Me Now,” but slowly outshone that one hit track.

The end of their performance packed great songs back-to-back that got the crowd dancing and singing along passionately. “Take It From Me” was a wonderful way to end the set. In some ways, it had a pretty basic alt-rock instrumentation vibe, but then KONGOS added in their accordion and an almost hiccup-y way of singing the chorus that added unique interest.

The band actually chose to end with a cover of “Blue Monday,” a New Order song that sounds very 80’s, but the way KONGOS redid it, you’d really never guess it wasn’t their song unless you knew the original. It fit flawlessly with their set, bringing the outdated song back to life as the perfect set closer.

After a pretty mediocre performance in Seattle last August, KONGOS returned to prove they are definitely a force to be reckoned with. Playing an incredible set filled with songs that truly put “Come With Me Now” to shame, fans happily danced along to the passionate songs of band that certainly needs to come back ASAP.

Review and Photos by Lulu Dawson

Kongos


Mother Mother