Johnny Cosmic and KBong bring the Stick Figure family to The Republik

The reggae producer and multi-instrumentalist plays Honolulu on Sunday, Jan 31, with Oahu-raised KBong alongside him.

For KBong, a Honolulu show is a homecoming. For Johnny Cosmic, it's a chance to play the music he helps make in the place where so much of it feels at home. The two are booked together: Johnny Cosmic plays The Republik on Sunday, Jan 31, 2027, with KBong. The show starts at 8 p.m., tickets are $40 through See Tickets, and the date was announced Oct. 22.

If the name Johnny Cosmic doesn't ring a bell, his work probably does. He's a Chicago-born reggae artist, producer and multi-instrumentalist, and a member of Stick Figure, one of the biggest bands in American reggae. Behind the board, his credits include SOJA's Grammy-winning album Beauty in the Silence. He also produced KBong's second album, 2018's Easy to Love You, and the two have been working side by side ever since. This past August they toured together, with stops including Seattle and Bend, Oregon.

KBong's ties to the islands run deep. He's an American reggae singer, songwriter and keyboardist from Hawaii, raised on Oahu, and he plays keys in Stick Figure alongside Cosmic. He's been based in San Diego, but a Republik show brings him back to the island that shaped his sound. When the Bend Bulletin previewed one of his shows, it called the music "island grooves," and in Honolulu that isn't a metaphor.

In Honolulu, "island grooves" isn't a metaphor.

Why this room? The Republik holds about 1,000, a good size for an act built on Stick Figure's following but still playing its own bill. It's big enough to bring a proper sound system for bass-heavy reggae and small enough that a Sunday-night crowd still fills it. Expect a set that leans on deep grooves and dub-wise production, the sound Cosmic is known for in the studio.

When to get tickets: there's a single $40 price through See Tickets, so there's no cheap tier to wait for. With almost three months until the show, there's time, but reggae shows with local ties in Honolulu tend to draw a crowd that buys early. If you know you're going, there's no reason to wait.

One practical note: it's a Sunday at 8 p.m., so plan for a Monday morning that comes early. That's a small price for a night like this.

Mark Jan 31 on the calendar. Bring the friends who've had Stick Figure on repeat in the car, and welcome KBong back home.

Sources: KBong & Johnny Cosmic (Music Coast) (musiccoast.com); KBong & Johnny Cosmic (Everwild Festival) (everwildfestival.com); Kala Artist: KBong (kalabrand.com); KBong brings island grooves to Domino Room (Bend Bulletin) (bendbulletin.com); KBong: Songwriting With A Smile (Audient) (audient.com); KBong on Bandcamp (kbong.bandcamp.com); JamBase: Johnny Cosmic at The Republik (jambase.com)