Here’s the pitch: It’s 4 brothers from South Africa, infusing rock, funk, neo-soul, and rhythm. Sounds promising, right?

KONGOS are a band of brothers. Their last name is literally Kongos- Johnny, Danny, Dylan, and Jessie- Kongos. So it’s fitting that their name is KONGOS; although The Kongos or The Brothers Kongos or The Kongos Family Band would’ve sufficed too. It’s just a cool name to have in the first place.

The sound quality these brothers brought together was pretty tremendous. The basslines were heady and full-bodied, and ontop, crazy drum rhythms being laid down by basically the bassist’s twin.

KONGOS guitarist features an instrument that I realized is a guarantee crowd slayer. The guitar slide. Any damn time this guy put that piece on his hand, he was like Peter Frampton on some Hendrix -level acid. The bending of notes made for powerful and intense guitar solos that were absolutely insane paired with the accordion.

Oh yeah, did I mention one of the brothers plays a fucking ACCORDION?! Yeah, you don’t come to a rock show in Lawrence, Kansas on a Wednesday and expect to see a kick ass accordion. That didn’t stop my man up there from laying down some of the wildest accordion solos I’ve ever heard. It was like a polka rave.

The songs the band played had very interesting qualities in each, and there were parts that showed incredible potential of being something really big. They’re creating original, catchy, and rhythmically powerful rock music. It’s infusing so many different styles and influences, plus the band chemistry between 4 brothers is something that cannot be replicated. The show felt more like the crowd was in KONGOS’ family garage next to Aunt Susan and the kettle cooked chips.

The only thing that threw me off on the night was the crowd. I need to preface this by saying I love elderly people. The average age of the crowd at this concert was probably 45. There was me and my buddy Sam, both 22. Then there were some high school kids, probably 10 X’ed out hands total. Then MAD OLD PEOPLE. Like 60-70 year olds. Like they got the night out at the home and went to a KONGOS show. I’ve never seen anything like it. The crowd at this show would look at the attendants of a Rolling Stones concert and be like “those crazy kids.”

There are some shows where you walk away learning something new about music, and this was one of those. I don’t exactly know what it is, I can’t put my finger on it. I think it’s something about integrity in music and pushing ones’ boundaries. I’ll track it down soon. But I know that last night, I learned that KONGOS is a name that should be remembered.