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Read more Kansas City Music Guide.
With the holiday season in full swing, this is likely the last busy live music week of the season (in terms of national touring bands), so find a show while you can. The weather is cooperating so far too, with temps swinging up from the 60s down to the 20s, but more constant cold and snow & ice will be more of a thing soon.
Here’s what’s happening in the Kansas City metro December 5th-11th.
(Several artists are still requiring precautions for entry, so check with the venue and/or assume vaccination proof, might still be required)
MONDAY DEC 5
The Piano Guys, The Midland. $44.50-$84.50
The instrumental group (Jon Schmidt, Steven Sharp Nelson, Paul Anderson and Al van der Beek) has been touring extensively, in support of their latest studio album '10', released in Nov. 2020 as a celebration of their 10-year anniversary. The newest album follows up 2018's 'Limitless' which reached #1 on Billboard's New Age chart. Their debut self-titled album was released back in 2012 and was certified Gold by the RIAA and the group performs a mix of classical crossover, orchestral pop and cello rock.
TUESDAY DEC 6
Kansas City Jazz Orchestra, “The Family” featuring Lonnie and Chloe McFadden, Kauffman Center. $33.50-$68.50
Swing into the holiday spirit with the Kansas City Jazz Orchestra and KC's beloved father-daughter duo, Chloe and Lonnie McFadden! The McFaddens are considered local jazz royalty and sharing their story are Lonnie and Chloe, inviting us all to an illustrative "holiday dinner" where everyone is welcome.
Wet Leg, The Truman, $25-$44
Finally, KC gets their chance to recline on the Chaise Lounge! Rhian Teasdale and Hester Chambers each wear a small gold necklace made by Hester: one that says Wet, and one that says Leg. The duo only released their debut single, “Chaise Lounge”, in June 2021, but its dry wit and thumping indie-disco beat turned it into a runaway hit.
We caught them relatively early, in March in Minneapolis and since then, have supported acts from CHVRCHES to Idles, sold out their entire 2022 tour with only two songs out (“Wet Dream” followed in September) and now, with latest single “Too Late Now,” an album on the horizon and having been ranked #2 in the BBC Sound of 2022 list, their future only looks brighter.
WEDNESDAY DEC 7
Amon Amarth with Carcass, Obituary, Cattle Decapitation, Uptown. $39.50-$97.25
This headbanging Fall 2022 North American tour in is support of their newest album The Great Heathen Army, which was released in August and the lineup for the Great Heathen Army Tour is stacked, with fellow death metallers Carcass, Obituary, and Cattle Decapitation filling out the bill.
Lemonheads, Bass Drum Of Death, On Being An Angel, Madrid Theater, $30
Thirty years later, It’s still a shame about Ray.
Evan Dando and company return to play the fabled album in its entirety, along with numerous other hits. Live, the show moves seamlessly from opening as a trio, to Dando alone with an extended acoustic set, to the full band performing the album, and even Dando solo on drums. We caught Lemonheads last, pre-pandemic in Minneapolis in 2019 but also saw them back in 2011 when they also played the fabled album in full.
Bass Drum of Death is a garage punk band from Oxford, Mississippi currently signed to Fat Possum Records and On Being an Angel aka Robert Dallas Gray plays “rackety mid-fi melodies with a beautifully sad and understated vocal”.
Kansas City Ballet Presents The Nutcracker December 7-24, Kauffman Center, $64.50-$258.50
An annual holiday tradition! The classic, Victorian-era story by E.T.A. Hoffman features Clara, the Nutcracker Prince, Dr. Drosselmeier and the Sugar Plum Fairy and is a magical theatrical experience wrapped with memorable costumes, grand sets, and captivating choreography. Thru Xmas Eve.
THURSDAY DEC 8
The 1975, Cable Dahmer Arena- Independence, $160-$450
We knew them when… We’ve seen the still-buzzing Manchester UK band live pretty regularly since their initial US appearance at SXSW 2013 and can safely say they’re still growing bigger, even a decade since they made that memorable initial first impression.
The band recently released “Happiness,” the harmonic new single from newest album, Being Funny In A Foreign Language, which came out in October. The new album is the band’s fifth release and first since 2020’s Notes on a Conditional Form and after having to cancel a planned 2021 tour, the band has embarked on their At Their Very Best North America tour
FRIDAY DEC 9
Switchfoot, Uptown Theater, $25-$75
The Grammy Award-winning rock band has a brand-new holiday record, this is our Christmas album, infusing their signature West Coast sound to a number of holiday classics and five, new original Christmas songs.
“Christmas is an emotional treasure chest for a songwriter to pull from,” lead Singer Jon Foreman says. “It’s a season stretched tight with contradictions: celebrating the free gifts of love and grace with an outburst of materialist capitalist consumption. An emotional roller coaster of family and friends, hopes and scars- bringing out the worst and the best in all of us.”
We caught them live back in 2015 and with a Christian slant to many of their songs, a holiday tour celebrating the reason for the season, seems on point.
Aaron Lewis, Ameristar, $73-$95
It’s been a while… since Aaron and band Staind have hit stages, but he’s ably filled his time with a country-tinged solo career – on this Acoustic Tour, "Frayed at Both Ends," expect plenty of solo songs with a few band songs peppered in, all stripped down.
“Jurassic World,” Dec. 9-11, T-Mobile Center. $17-$115
The movie mythos comes to life in an arena-sized presentation!
Similar to the Marvel Live! Show we caught in 2017, and also produced by Feld Entertainment, your trip to Isla Nublar takes a terrifying, unexpected turn when Indominus rex escapes and causes chaos! Watch as a team of scientists unravels a corrupt plan and saves Jeanie, a Troodon dinosaur, from a terrible fate. Along the way, experience some of the most iconic dinosaurs including Blue the Raptor, Stegosaurus, Triceratops and the mighty Tyrannosaurus Rex!
Fan favorite Bumpy, from the DreamWorks Animation Television action-adventure series Jurassic World: Camp Cretaceous, is also featured- named for her asymmetrical head bumps, Bumpy is friendly and food motivated. With her accelerated growth rate, the herbivore grows from baby to adult during the show.
SATURDAY DEC 10
Trampled by Turtles w Sumbuck, Uptown Theater, $35-$55
The celebrated Minnesota sextet is out in support of their new album, Alpenglow which released in October (on Thirty Tigers). Their first new album in four years – produced by Jeff Tweedy of Wilco – consists of 11 new songs that feature the Duluth MN-based group’s signature blend of rock, folk, punk, country, and progressive bluegrass.
The combination of lead singer and songwriter Dave Simonett’s lyrics, the band’s signature layered strings and robust harmonies, and Tweedy’s perspective has resulted in a thoughtfully composed record that finds Trampled reaching new heights.
Named after the optical phenomenon that washes mountains on the horizon in a pinkish red glow at dusk and dawn, change is a recurring theme in Alpenglow’s songs – whether it’s a change of pace, change of perspective, or change of heart, Simonett is nostalgic for the way things used to be but also optimistic about the future.
Simonett (guitar), Erik Berry (mandolin), Ryan Young (fiddle), Dave Carroll (banjo), Tim Saxhaug (bass), and Eamonn McLain (cello) operate as a rock band that employs string instrumentation with folk and punk influences and being mostly MN-based, we’ve certainly become a fan along the way, both of the band and their curated Festival Palomino that ran for several years. WHM just caught the tour live last month and have seen them often over the last decade plus.
Travis Tritt, Ameristar, $75-$95
Despite having to cancel shows last month touring with co-headliner Chris Janson, the longtime Country star is back on the road solo. Tritt has amassed more than 30 million in career album sales, two GRAMMY® Awards, four CMA Awards, a Billboard Music Award, is a member of the world-famous Grand Ole Opry, and much more.
Among his eleven studio albums and numerous charted singles are five number ones and 20 Top 10 hits, including “Help Me Hold On,” “Anymore,” “Can I Trust You with My Heart,” “Foolish Pride,” “Best of Intentions,” “I’m Gonna Be Somebody,” “Modern Day Bonnie and Clyde,” “Here’s A Quarter,” “It’s A Great Day To Be Alive.”
SUNDAY DEC 11
Leo Kottke, Madrid Theater, $52-$69
Acoustic guitarist Leo Kottke was born in Athens, GA, but has known Minnesota as his longtime home, and it’s a regular tradition that he tours the Midwest in November and December.
Kottke's 1971 major-label debut, “Mudlark,” positioned him in the singer/songwriter vein, despite his wishes to remain an instrumental performer and his collaboration with Phish bassist Mike Gordon, “Clone,” caught audiences' attention back in 2002. Kottke and Gordon followed with 2005’s Sixty-Six Steps (produced by Prince producer David Z) and they collaborated again with 2020’s Noon.
Kottke has been awarded two Grammy nominations; a Doctorate in Music Performance by the Peck School of Music at the U of Wisconsin, Milwaukee; and a Certificate of Significant Achievement in Not Playing the Trombone from U of Texas at Brownsville with Texas Southmost College.
| john c (johnc@weheartmusic.com) ♥ weheartmusic.com ♥ twitter.com |
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