The King Park Gazebo is about to get a little moodier. On Friday, August 15, from 5 to 7 p.m., the New England Music Organization and Friends of the Waterfront continue their outdoor concert series with a set from Pets—a Brooklyn-born, genre-blurring trio whose music lands somewhere between a midnight confession and a slow-burn film score. And the best part? It’s free.
Formed in 2021, Pets is the brainchild of brothers Jonny and Nick Campolo and multi-instrumentalist Chase Ceglie—a Newport native whose fingerprints are all over Rhode Island’s music scene. Onstage, Ceglie’s saxophone floats like cigarette smoke over the Campolos’ piano, guitar, and modular synths, conjuring an atmosphere that feels equal parts intimate harbor-side jam and cathedral-sized drama.
Their debut album, the cryptically titled 🌀❓(Spiral Question Mark), is a lush, ballad-heavy experiment in contrast—where Carole King’s melodic warmth rubs shoulders with Arthur Russell’s avant-garde spirit, and where Leonard Cohen’s lyrical gravitas melts into ambient swells. You hear the Great American Songbook in their DNA, but also the restless pulse of modern New York.
Live, Pets leans into the cinematic. One moment you’re wrapped in a hushed, late-night reverie; the next, you’re hit with a tidal wave of layered electronics and woodwinds. It’s music that rewards stillness as much as movement, making Newport Harbor the perfect backdrop.
More at petsportal.net and @pets.nyc. Bring a blanket, bring a friend, and prepare to be swept out to sea—without ever leaving the shore.
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