REVIEW: Lost Kings @ The El Ray Theater 1/18

By Grace Lauson

Lost Kings have just started out on their very own tour called “The So What Tour”. Their Los Angeles show at the El Rey Theater was their second stop along the way. They will be coming to Boston on January 24th. Tickets are available here.

The duo consisting of Robert Abisi and Nick Shanholtz gave a fantastic and extremely high energy show. Their dancing and ability to get the crowd very involved in the music was incredible. They had two different artists open for them. Shaggy was the first of the two. He had a very different style of music that got many in the crowd ready to dance. Kream followed with a very upbeat kind of music, similar to the style of Lost Kings, which gained a positive response from the audience.

Lost Kings came on leading the crowd to hysteria. Throughout the night they played all the songs from their new EP, “Paper Crowns,” which includes features from Tove Styrke, Jesper Jenset, Norma Jean Martine, Loren Gray, Wiz Khalifa, and Social House. This EP consisted of the single “When We Were Young” which definitely was the hit song of the night. They had major success with this song gaining upwards of 34 million streams on Spotify. Their most famous song, “Phone Down” (2016), was also a major hit with the crowd as everyone knew the words and was able to sing and dance along.

Lost Kings’ high energy was impressive, causing the crowd to dance just as much as them. They released a song the day of the show called “FU4E,” which was exciting for the crowd to hear for the first time ever.  They brought out singer Loren Gray who they had recently collaborated with on a track called “Anti-Everything.” She appeared to have a lot of fans in the crowd as well and the dynamic between Lost Kings and her was very natural. She danced along with the guys and gave a great performance as well.

Their song “Don’t Kill My High (feat. Wiz Khalifa and Social House)” was a highlight of the night. Smoke machines and strobe lights were used often, enhancing the performance quite a bit. Their new music matched with a few of their old songs made for a perfect mix between songs many people knew and their newer material. Lost Kings were clearly enjoying themselves, feeding off the audience’s energy.

They continued to bounce around the stage, dancing and singing along to their music through the end of the show. They saved many of their best songs for last which made for a very high energy crowd though the very end of the last song. The concert was a blast and brought in a very fun mix of people. Keep an eye out in 2019 for Lost Kings.