The Mowgli’s and Colony House @ The Sinclair

The Mowgli’s with Colony House and DREAMERS
October 4th, 2016 at The Sinclair
By: Ashley Juliano and Sam Serio

On October 4th, The Sinclair hosted the Mowgli’s, Colony House, and DREAMERS. DREAMERS kicked off the night with a rock solid set, playing songs like “Never Too Late to Dance” and “Drugs”. Those who showed up early really got a taste of how this rock trio can bring the house down. Despite the lack of stage area that DREAMERS were allotted – the littering of instruments from them, second openers Colony House, and the Mowgli’s filled up just about the entire stage – the guys made the most of it and lead vocalist Nick Wold even hopped off the stage and jumped along with the crowd during “Pain Killer”, a song similar in tone to the rest from their debut album, This Album Does Not Exist. Ending the set with new song “Sweet Disaster”, the crowd was more than warm for next openers, and personal faves, Colony House.

Colony House brought their loud, bright sound up from Nashville with their energy, stage presence, and personality rocking the Cambridge crowd and showing how much this band can deliver as they approach the eve of their second album. Their stage personality perfectly blended their upbeat indie rock with southern subtleties. Their jumping, glow, and passion infected the crowd, setting a standard of dance and good vibes for the rest of the night.

The group of four filled the stage with confidence and movement from their first song to their last. They rocked out to some of their classic songs like “Silhouette” and “Second Guessing Games” as well as one of my favorites of the night, “Caught Me By Surprise.” Their songs held a more complex structure, rejecting the boiler-plate method of using one rhythm iterated throughout the song for a more interesting model utilizing multiple rhythmic concepts to build on the base rhythm. They broke out one of their new songs “You & I” to the crowd’s delight, and slowed things down with their acoustic version of “Moving Forward.” The song that I enjoyed the most was “2:20,” which displayed their pure rock ties through the crunchy but flowing riffs.

I felt as if I left this concert with a tan because The Mowgli’s radiate the California sun from the stage. To kick off a night full of positivity, they played fan-favorite “Whatever Forever”, coming out to a stage adorned with big red balloons in matching blue jeans and white t-shirts. All I could focus on was how adorable it was – in true Mowgli fashion. New tracks, “Spacin’ Out”, “Bad Dream”, and, my personal favorite from the new album, “Bad Thing” followed suit as they consistently played upbeat song after upbeat song, keeping the audience intrigued and energized. Although “Where Did Your Weekend Go?”, the band’s third studio album, came out only at the end of last month, the crowd already seemed to know all the words, and the current of the band kept even those who didn’t know the lyrics bopping around and singing along.

Halfway into the set and song “Love is Easy”, a throwback from first album “Waiting for the Dawn”, lead vocals/guitar Colin Dieden and bassist Matt Di Panni randomly decided to switch instruments, having fun while demonstrating prowess. The set continued with a mix of new and old as “So What”, “Monster”, and “Say It, Just Say It”, as the crowd roared into each song with as much liveliness as the entire preceding set. Nothing but good vibes were flowing throughout the room as vocalist, and only female in the group (#girlpower), Katie Earl reminded the entire crowd to wake up every morning, look in the mirror, and say “I’m Good”, before swinging into that bop of a song, which had the whole crowd screaming in affirmation. As if this six-piece didn’t fill up the stage enough, when the beginning chords of “San Francisco” began to play, the stage almost broke under the weight of not only this massive headliners, but Colony House and DREAMERS, as they flooded the stage during the encore for a crazy finale. This band has been touring for a number of years now, and they not only knew what to expect of the crowd, but they knew what is to be expected of them, and they surely did not disappoint as the crowd left feeling high. As Katie explained, “When we come to your city to play a show, our main goal here is to make sure that when you guys leave tonight, you feel a lot better than you did when you came in”; I can definitely say that they accomplished their mission.