Kevin Bronson on March 3rd, 2017

0

Mondo Cozmo — aka Joshua Ostrander — gave in to a bit of nostalgia Wednesday night at the sold-out Troubadour, admitting to the sold-out crowd that he’d opened for a whole slew of bands at the historic West Hollywood venue over his years fronting the criminally overlooked Eastern Conference Champions. Indeed, some long-timers could count at least nine times Ostrander had wielded his weathered Gretsch on that stage.

To cop the title of their hit song, Wednesday was Mondo Cozmo’s turn to “Shine.”

Playing as a seven-piece that included two horn players, Mondo Cozmo gave a rousing, uplifting performance, highlighted by the new song “Automatic,” their first tune “Hold On to Me” (which debuted almost a year ago with a video featuring Anna Faris), the “underground” hit “Plastic Soul” (which borrows heavily from a ’60s classic) and, of course, “Shine.” The hour-long set, during which Ostrander soldiered through problems with a balky pedal board, also included a cover of Radiohead’s “No Surprises” and, to finish, a revved-up take on the Verve’s “Bittersweet Symphony.”

The openers, art-punk outfit Sego, played as if their day would come too. It’s almost a year to the day since their album “Once Was Lost Now Just Hanging Around” was released, and Spencer Petersen’s wordplay has lost none of its shine. Their dance-punk numbers got the crowd bounding, while first-timers probably wished for a lyric sheet.

Photos by Jessica Hanley