Photos By: Summer Luu
By: Amanda Martinek
The Fullerton native indie rock band Cold War Kids have been recording albums and churning out hits for over 10 years now.
But only part of their success and relevancy is due to that. The major reason they’ve been able to captivate audiences when so many of their peer bands of that era have been long forgotten is because of their phenomenal live performances. A performance that I finally got to witness at the Observatory North Park last week.
They kicked off the show with high energy, bouncing all around the stage jangling percussion instruments, dancing with fancy feet moves, striking piano keys like lightning and filling the theater with raw liveliness. They powered through hit after hit, surprising me with how many popular, well-known songs they have on the roster. Tracks off their debut EPs like “We Use to Vacation”, “Hang Me Up to Dry” and “Hospital Beds” continue to be crowd favorites, while newer singles like “All This Could Be Yours” off 2014’s Hold My Home was accepted with just as much enthusiasm.
The only downside of this show has nothing to do with the bands stellar performance and energy, but from the apparently lack of energy from the crowd. All-ages shows bring with tweens and grams out alike, but this crowd seemed more interested in snapchatting the entire performance than actually watching it. San Diego music scene issues aside, Cold War Kids hit homeruns every time they perform (even with lead singer Nathan Willet slightly losing his voice). Please do yourself the honor of seeing them live next time they swing into town.
