JOYWAVE TOUR DATES Apr 28 Fox Theatre Boulder, CO
Apr 30 Treefort Music Hall Boise, ID May 2 Ace Of Spades Sacramento, CA May 3 Pappy + Harriet's Pioneertown, CA May 5 191 Toole Tucson, AZ May 6 Meow Wolf Santa Fe, NM May 7 Beer City Music Hall Oklahoma City, OK May 9 Eastside Bowl Madison, TN May 10 Saturn Birmingham, AL May 11 Vinyl Music Hall Pensacola, FL May 13 Culture Room Fort Lauderdale, FL May 15 Jannus Live St. Petersburg, FL May 16 The Albatross Jacksonville, FL May 17 Music Farm Charleston, SC May 19 The Grey Eagle Asheville, NC May 21 White Eagle Hall Jersey City, NJ May 22 Sherman Theater Stroudsburg, PA Jun 27 Hard Rock Outdoor Arena Cincinnati, OH Read More
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Someone should have posted a sign: “Caution- Big Beats Ahead”-
When both bands on the bill position their drum kits up front along the stage edge, you get a pretty good idea that percussion and rhythm will be key, and some big beats will be dropping.
That turned out to be the case as the pride of Rochester NY, electro alt-pop rockers Joywave returned to Kansas City on their “Here to Perform Tour” at The Truman downtown, in support of last May’s “Permanent Pleasure” album (via Cultco, their own imprint on Hollywood Records).
The evening began with a well-received forty-minute set from Dallas alt-rock trio, little image, in support of their 2023 major label debut album, cleverly named Self Titled (via Hollywood Records).
The three (Jackson Simmons- vocals, guitar; Brandon Walters- bass, synth; Troy Bruner- drums) have been a band since high school and remembered their last time in town was at this same venue supporting Colony House in 2023. When Simmons asked if anyone was at that show, the response was mostly crickets, but he rebounded by saying that they hope to see us all at their next time through.
The set began with new single, “The Pressure” released in January and expected to be on their next album, and they also played other yet-to-be-released cuts, so seem very eager to let the new songs out into the wild.
The band’s alternative sound features a very caffeinated drummer in Bruner (who even set up part of his kit into some audience members’ hands, so he could play in [or would that be on?] the crowd), a touch of synth embellishment from Walters, and arrangements and vocals that are similar to Walk the Moon, Wheatus, and Phoenix and they still have a lot more to say, with Simmons promising the crowd they’d return.
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For Joywave, from the stage it looked like a night off at home. The stage was dimly lit and the curled up cat from the new album’s cover, was reproduced as a large inflatable that would sometimes rotate on a lazy susan type platform.
We say ‘night off’ because when we saw them live last time (co-headlining in 2022 in Lawrence), they were all ‘at work’- dressed in matching car wash attendant jumpsuits to support their previous album, ‘Cleanse’. This time, the band dressed in matching striped navy pajamas (one could say the “cat’s pajamas”, haha) which also seemed very comfortable to perform in.
The eighty-minute set began with one of the two singles that preceded the new album, “Scared”, then rarely-standing-still singer Daniel Armbruster introduced “Buy American” from the previous ‘Cleanse”’ as “the only song about tariffs- ever!”, getting the crowd to clap along with a simple wave of his hand.
Armbruster immediately endeared himself to the crowd, stating the band had extensively toured last year, but got home and realized they hadn’t played KC yet, so were back for another tour leg (jokingly mentioning the others on the schedule were just ‘fill dates’).
Despite a nagging sinus infection, Armbruster and the band (guitarist Joe Morinelli and drummer Paul Brenner; along with Kevin Mahoney- bass; Taylor Dubray - guitar, keys) were all musically locked in, especially on older classics like 2015’s “Somebody New” from their debut album, “How Do You Feel Now?”, which was just re-issued on Record Store Day with an additional song.
They played that bonus track, “Life in a Bubble I Blew” which was interesting to hear live, a decade-old track most just heard for the first time two weeks ago (though it was on the end of their 2016 EP SWISH). In addition, a deluxe version of the new record has also just been released, with a handful of live recordings and one new track, “Yellowish Sunbeam” (the image of which warms the cat on the album cover and was also performed live).
Armbruster announced that their longtime live engineer, James a KC native, was retiring at the end of the tour, to return home, to presumably start mixing jazz. He also mentioned his favorite song happened to be “Wishing Well” by Terence Trent D’Arby (from his 1987 debut, “Introducing the Hardline...”) and a song he would often cue up as the outro music for the band. A copy of the album appeared from backstage to be given to James, as a band ‘thank you’ but since he was manning the board in the back; it was transferred hand-by-hand by the audience, like a crowd surfer from the stage to him.
Armbruster announced the last four songs as “the hits section” and the introductory throb of their breakthrough hit with Big Data, “Dangerous” set the crowd loose. The quirky but catchy “It’s a Trip!” from 2017 followed, with “Swimming in the Glow” from the new album next, maybe not a true ‘hit’ yet, but some wishful thinking.
Unabashedly, Armbruster asked the crowd that wouldn’t like they like the night to end with ”the greatest song ever written!?!” as the band launched into “Destruction” ...played not once, but twice – “Double Destruction!!!” which had the crowd clapping along the whole time and even the most sheepish and shy, irresistibly drawn into dancing and head-bobbing. “Why be credible when you can be incredible?” reads the tracklisting of their SWISH EP that features nine versions of the song, and incredible it was, to hear it played live back-to-back.
Joywave was “Here to Perform” (living up to the tour’s title) and with an evening filled with big beats, a giant cat, playing in unified PJs, and a tribute to the greatness of Terence Trent D’Arby’s first record, the ‘pleasure’ felt after the show may not be ‘permanent’, but is likely one to remember for a long time.
(click on any image to enlarge and to see in full)
JOYWAVE at The Truman, Kansas City MO (2025-04-26)
JOYWAVE at The Truman, Kansas City MO (2025-04-26)
little image at The Truman, Kansas City MO (2025-04-26)
John C ♥ weheartmusic.com ♥X / twitter.com ♥ bsky.ap |
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