Neon Knights @ GIGS Courtyard 3/15/24

On a Friday night back in March, the Neon Knights lit up Antique Row in Kensington.

With more than 10 members, the band itself was large but managed to create an even larger event that clearly means a great deal to the city. With a packed crowd under multiple tents and impressive production in the Courtyard space behind GIGS music school, the atmosphere felt more like a mini music festival than anything else. We are excited to see more performances in this seasonal pop-up space!

The perfect combination of detail and excess defined the band onstage. In order to fill out classic hits to their highest potential, Neon Knights had not one, or two, but three percussionists in tow playing everything from a traditional drum kit to bongos, congas, shakers, and so on. A three-person horn line lent authenticity and liveliness to many of the blues, funk, and pop songs. Lead guitarist Jonathan Sloane rocked a well-loved Fender Strat and sunburst Gibson 335 most of the night, bringing his own sense of soul and pocket to the group. A Fender Jazz Bass held down the low-end most of the night. And finally, they had two lead singers sharing and swapping duties to keep the energy up for hours on end.

The audience was passionate and engaged – mirroring the band’s neon and glittery attire in droves while singing along to every single song and dancing even into the far back corners. The artists onstage offered up the kind of top-notch musicianship necessary to nail covers spanning seven different decades while also handing out props and goodies to get the crowd in the right mood for each change of style. They covered everything from The Jackson 5, Bruce Hornsby, U2, and Paul Simon to modern artists like Dave Matthews Band, Cake, and Harry Styles. A standout for us was a particularly funky rendition of Peter Gabriel’s “Sledgehammer” which came towards the end of the night.

Our time at GIGS Courtyard can be summarized with one short word – fun. It felt like a concert for the community by the community. The music was bumping, the crowd was dancing, the production was immaculate, and the energy was joyous. This is everything one could you want out of live music.

Blog by Juliette Bell/Photos by Emory Hensley