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June already! Summer concert season is in full effect!
Let’s take look at the Kansas City/ Lawrence KS metro musical happenings from June 1st-8th.
THURSDAY JUNE 1
Aladdin (musical), continuing thru-June 4, Music Hall, $35-$125.
From the producer of The Lion King comes the timeless story of Aladdin, a thrilling new production filled with beauty, magic, comedy and breathtaking spectacle. It’s the theatrical event where one lamp and three wishes make the possibilities infinite.
Aladdin features all your favorite songs from the Disney film versions as well as new music written by Tony® and Academy Award® winner Alan Menken with lyrics penned by the legendary Howard Ashman (Beauty and the Beast), Tony Award winner Tim Rice (The Lion King, Aida), and book writer Chad Beguelin (The Wedding Singer).
Directed and choreographed by Tony Award winner Casey Nicholaw (The Book of Mormon, Something Rotten!), this new musical boasts an incomparable design team, with sets, costumes and lighting from Tony Award winners Bob Crowley (Mary Poppins), Gregg Barnes (Kinky Boots), and Natasha Katz (An American in Paris).
McBride and the Ride, Knuckleheads,$30
Only recently reuniting, the hardworking country band played their first Nashville concert in 20 years last Feb and are on the road on tour again. Acclaimed vocalist, guitar player and songwriter Terry McBride hails from Lampasas, TX, following in the musical footsteps of his father, the late Dale McBride with a singing and also very successful songwriting career. 
Haken w Up to Eleven, Arch Echo, Granada- Lawrence, $25
The Prog rockers are on the road again supporting their seventh studio album Fauna, which came out in March—described as their "most genre-busting and conceptually fascinating album to date."
About the album, vocalist Ross Jennings has said "The premise of the album when we started writing it was that every song would have an animal assigned to it. They all have something related to the animal kingdom that we could write about, but they also connect to the human world. Each track has layers, and some of them are more obvious than others.”
Spanish band Up to Eleven and US prog metallists Arch Echo make it a full evening.
FRIDAY JUNE 2
America, Ameristar Casino, $60-$189
The perennial classic-rock favorites hit the road in 2023, celebrating their 53rd Anniversary and still riding that horse with no name. Founding members, Gerry Beckley and Dewey Bunnell (along with former band mate, the late Dan Peek) met in high school in London in the late ‘60s and harmonized their way to the top of the charts with their signature song "A Horse With No Name." America became a well-known band and paved the way with a string of hits following the success of their first #1 single. Fifty plus years later, the pair and band are still making music together and touring the world.
Bad Omens w Invent Animate and Erra, Uptown. Sold out. 
Long sold out, the alt metal band have a busy year ahead as they tour in support of 2022’s The Death of Peace of Mind, which extends into a Fall tour dubbed Concrete Forever, but this is a chance to catch the rising band at a relatively small venue.
SATURDAY JUNE 3
The Big Slick benefit show T-Mobile Center,$75 and up
The biggest and best annual charity event in the metro, Big Slick is an annual fundraising event hosted by some of Kansas City's most famous funny people and their friends. All proceeds go to Children's Mercy Hospital and expect laughs, skits, and surprises from the likes of Jason Sudekis, Rob Riggle, Paul Rudd, David Koechner, Eric Stonestreet, and newly added to the group, KC’s own Heidi Gardner. (The celebrity softball game was the previous day, for a fun and worthy weekend).
Sparta w/ zeta and Geoffrey Rickly, recordBar,$25
Returning to the road to celebrate the (belated) 20th anniversary of their debut album, Wiretap Scars (which features the single “Cut Your Ribbon” and fan favorite “Air”), the alt rockers’ jaunt will also feature support from Thursday singer Geoff Rickly, and zeta.
All Time Low with Mayday Parade and Games We Play, Midland. $38.50-$58.50
The multi-platinum-selling rock band hit the road for leg one of "Tell Me I'm Alive On Tour" with support from Mayday Parade and Games We Play. The 25-city North American Trek includes two special shows that quickly sold out - the iconic Red Rocks Amphitheatre in Morrison, CO which they are headlining for the first time on May 23; and a special unplugged performance at Nashville's Ryman Auditorium on May 18.
Their latest studio album Tell Me I'm Alive was recently released via Fueled By Ramen and the 13-track collection marks All Time Low's first full-length album in three years.
Radkey with The Phantastics, The Many Colored Death, Drop a Grand, Lemonade Park. $25.49-$31.16 
A one-day music event jam-packed with some of the best local and regional artists. This throwdown will go down at Lemonade Park, located in the West Bottoms heart of the city.
Trivium w Beartooth, Malevolence, Archetypes Collide, Uptown,$37-$75
BEARTOOTH and TRIVIUM have joined forces for a U.S. co-headlining tour this spring. The 29-city tour kicked May 1 in Stroudsburg, PA before wrapping up on Thursday, June 15 in Seattle.
TRIVIUM is stoked about this bill, saying: "TRIVTOOTH! We are elated to announce our co-headlining monster of a tour with the incredible BEARTOOTH. We have been fans of what they do, and pals with them for ages — so it's great we're finally doing something so massive together. TRIVIUM and BEARTOOTH are both bands supported by each of our wonderful fanbases — so we know these shows are going to go off. Add in MALEVOLENCE, one of our favorite bands on the planet, and ARCHETYPES COLLIDE, one of BEARTOOTH's favorites, and we have a hell of a bill."
The Brummies, Encore at Uptown Theater, $20
The Nashville-based Brummies are John Davidson, Jacob Bryant and Trevor Davis. And have new single "Sunshine" out now! Independent artists, Davidson and Bryant have already had major songwriter success with The Band Perry and Kacey Musgraves and are out forging their own path. Debut album is called Eternal Reach and their name is U.K. slang for a resident of Birmingham UK. 
Parker Millsap, Knuckleheads, $20
The singer-songwriter quickly made a name for himself with his live performances, soulful sound, and character-driven narratives. He's shared the stage with folks like Jason Isbell, Shovels & Rope, Patty Griffin, Houndmouth, and many others.
Parker’s early releases showcased his acoustic folk rock, with their flourish for revelation and fiery dynamics. Be Here Instead, Millsap’s 2021 release hinted at the wildness to come while exploring newer, more personal songwriting styles. Parker's newest album, Wilderness Within You, is a natural step in his musical evolution interweaving threads of his musical past and newer influences. A duet with Gillian Welch is recently out as well.
Trixie Mattel, KC Live! $25-$75
Trixie Mattel has redefined what it means to be a “drag queen” by releasing three charting albums (‘Two Birds’, ‘One Stone’, and most recently, 2020’s ‘Barbara’), launching a successful cosmetics company, Trixie Cosmetics, co-authoring “Trixie and Katya’s Guide To Modern Womanhood”, raising over $100k for numerous charities and organizations in 2020 through her “Twitch Tuesdays” video game livestreams, all while winning the third season of RuPaul’s Drag Race All Stars.
Buckcherry, the Hat-Manhattan,$25
The LA rockers formed way back in 1995 by frontman Josh Todd and guitarist Keith Nelson and made a huge splash on rock radio with their 1999 self-titled debut LP and hit single, “Lit Up”.
They’ve since survived lineup changes, the perils of rock n roll, and an extended hiatus, to still be on a comeback roll, which may have started with lewd but addictive single, “Crazy Bitch”.
Hellbound was released to positive reviews in 2021, and keeping momentum going, the band’s upcoming Vol. 10 releases this June. Live on this The Gang’s All Here Tour, they’ve been opening with “Lit Up” (talk about getting the crowd going from the start!) and be grateful they’re playing sweaty intimate clubs, as we last saw them from the upper deck supporting Kiss. Playing in the Little Apple, this tour is taking them everywhere!
SUNDAY JUNE 4
MONDAY JUNE 5
Shakey Graves, The Truman,$30-$60
Alejandro Rose-Garcia (aka Shakey Graves) announced his newest album Can't Wake Up (out now on Dualtone) and after this solo run, will finish the rest of the summer co-headlining with Lucius, at mostly larger outdoor venues. 
TUESDAY JUNE 6
WEDNESDAY JUNE 7
Nascar Aloe, The Bottleneck-Lawrence, $17-$20
With a great sounding moniker, the Los Angeles-based musician and rapper has announced a new EP called HEY A$$HOLE, just out on Epitaph Records on May 26.
With the announcement of the EP came the release of the first single called “DON’T 4GET DA NAME.” “It’s shouting at the kids that I still exist, as brash as possible,” the alt-rapper says about his new single. “Even though I might be banned from Instagram and I don’t really care, I’m still making works of art like the rest of these social media-first artists.”
Brit Floyd, Midland. $45-$79.50
The lunatic is still on the grass – the top-notch tribute band returns to the stage in 2023 to perform a brand-new production celebrating 50 years of the ground-breaking and iconic musical masterpiece The Dark Side of the Moon. We saw Aussie Pink Floyd in 2016 in Minneapolis and were impressed, and this Brit Floyd show looks to be as good or better.
THURSDAY JUNE 8
Illenium, Azura Amphitheater. $39.50-$59.50 
Possibly the biggest and most buzzing tour of the Spring – his single entitled “Luv Me A Little” featuring Nina Nesbitt made a splash and precluded the awaited fifth full-length self-titled album, ILLENIUM, which released April 28th.
To make things even better, we see ILLENIUM go on a massive 2023 headlining world tour called “ILLENIUM LIVE”, which promises amazing visuals and a truly immersive audio visual dance experience.
Sisters of Mercy, Uptown, $39.50-$79.50
The legendary goth-rockers just returned to the US to kick off their first state-side tour in nearly 15 years. Playing to a full house at The Fillmore Silver Springs two weeks ago, the band delivered with a 23-song set, featuring 10 previously unreleased tunes.
Opening with the new song “Don’t Drive On Ice,” they did include some of their classic hits, like “Lucretia My Reflection,” “Temple of Love,” “More,” “Dominion,” and the new songs, show off songwriter Andrew Eldritch’s recent creative output, despite having not released an album since 1990, so may mean a new studio release is forthcoming.
If it’s been this long since the band has toured the States, you don’t want to wait on another chance and because of the long absence, this has been one of the most anticipated tours of the year.
Deana Carter, Knuckleheads. $35-$55
The Country songstress made most of her hits in the 90’s, but like a few other acts, has returned on a second life of sorts, with her music reaching a new generation. 
Warrant, Prairie Band Casino-Mayetta,SOLD OUT
The Down Boys are still serving up their brand of cherry pie and rock debauchery, decades later, and their string of radio hits (most completely written by late singer Jani Lane) is rather impressive. Always entertaining live, ex-Lynch Mob singer Robert Mason remains vocalist, and all other members are the originals (hard to say that with many of their day). We caught them live last in 2016 in Minnesota.
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