Review: Kid Congo & The Pink Monkey Birds at Rosemount Hotel

Kid Congo & The Pink Monkey Birds at Rosemount Hotel
w/ Little Things
Sunday, April 21, 2024

Kid Congo & The Pink Monkey Birds hit Rosemount Hotel on Sunday night as part of their national tour.

Local four-piece Little Things kicked off the night with a swirling, trance-like suite of songs that brought to mind a less druggy Velvet Underground, with guitars, drums and violin all whirling around like the trippy lights. Made up of members of legendary Perth acts The Rosemary Beads and Red Jezebel, there was plenty of musical pedigree on display, and their earnest set was an enjoyable warmup for the main event.

Kid Congo & The Pink Monkey Birds set up next, one bassist down on their new album That Delicious Vice, but one Mick Harvey up on this tour—famously Kid’s bandmate in his Bad Seeds tenure back in the bad old days. Harvey dedicated the show to Brian Hooper (Bad Seeds, Beasts of Bourbon, Kim Salmon & the Surrealists, amongst others), gone six years ago yesterday. Rock in Peace.

Kid Congo Powers—ex-Gun Club, The Cramps, The Bad Seeds, and leader of The Pink Monkey Birds for over twenty years—presented stylishly in a white suit, smart pink shirt, and an epic red and white cape—not to mention almost as much neck jewellery as Mr. T.

The set started with the new tracks Silver For My Sister and The Boy Had It All, followed by Psychic Future and the wonderful Sean Delear, named for a friend and transmuted into “hanging from the chandelier” for lyrical purposes.

A smattering of Cramps t-shirts throughout the crowd was inevitable, and Kid Congo is not one to disappoint, so from his old band, he offered New Kind of Kick (now the title of his memoir) and Goo Goo Muck. Swamp boogie sleaze offerings in the best possible way, their primitive groove rendered onlookers incapable of standing still.

If anyone was unfamiliar with the new album—just hatched two days ago—they didn’t show it. There was dancing, moving, grooving, gyrating, shaking, tapping, nodding, and, oh yeah, cheering to The Smoke Is The Ghost and Ese Vicio Delicioso, a mexi-go-go party that Kid exhorted the crowd to “sing along to in Spanish, or dance along to in any language.”

“I’m going wild now,” he laughed as he took a swig of water while Harvey and guitarist Mark Cisneros played the riff to Tequila. “Oh no, no tequila,” laughed Kid Congo delf-deprecatingly, “because you know who drank it all—La Araña,” referencing the spider trickster in Chicano culture and the next song from their 2016 album.

He Walked In from the Swing From The Sean Delear EP was a highlight in all its slinky, sexy, seventeen-minute glory. The track has a bit of everything and is enticingly engaging, from the Mexi-prog flute solo to its hypnotic slow-burn climax. The Pink Monkey Birds, rounded out by long-time drummer Ron Miller, played every note with exquisite taste.

The flamboyant frontman was obviously having a hoot and a holler, throwing shapes, waving his hands around as he danced, and engaging in friendly banter with the crowd. It’s clear that, having kicked all the bad vices, music is Kid Congo’s most enduring and, yes, most delicious vice.

Gun Club classic, She’s Like Heroin to Me, was followed by more new tracks, Wicked World and A Beast, A Priest, before he teased us all: “Are you looking for trouble? You’ve come to the right place; just listen to the bass.” And what a treat it is to have the meticulous Mick Harvey on that case. Instrumental Bubble Trouble closed out the main set as Kid waved us off, saying, “Thank you, sexy people of Perth. You’re so cool. Good night!”

Powers and his band had been in an irresistible groove from the very first note, and if there’s one small disappointment, it’s the surprise omission of anything from Powers and Harvey’s time with The Bad Seeds. Perhaps they thought that would be too obvious? It’s a minor issue, of course, and nobody has any grounds for complaint from such a night of wonderful music.

“Let’s not talk. Let’s just do this!” Of course, the show was not yet over. Another Gun Club classic, Sex Beat, thrilled the crowd before the “muey romantic” Never Said from the new album closed out the night, and—ever at one with his fans—Powers wasted no time taking pride of place at the merch desk to sign CDs, records, and t-shirts and take photos with a long queue of eager, happy punters.

SHANE PINNEGAR

Photos by Linda Dunjey