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Read more Kansas City Music Guide.
Pumpkin spice fall--
Yeah, we can’t stand the stuff either, but it’s a sign, along with leaves changing, that a full autumn is coming. On the concert scene, it’s obviously getting busier as well, as we’re covering half a week in this installment, due to the higher volume of shows, and Rocktober will be here soon!
Let’s take look at the Kansas City / Lawrence KS metro musical happenings for the upcoming week, from September 25th to 27th.
(ticket hyperlinks are embedded in each show’s headline)
WEDNESDAY SEPTEMBER 25
Candy, Sept 25, recordBar, $22
The bi-coastal hardcore, metal, and experimental soundscape band that formed in 2017 returns with new album, It's Inside You (released in June via Relapse Records) led by guitarist Michael Quick, and vocalist Zachary Quiram. Openers Jivebomb and Taraneh are set as support.
The Lemonheads, Sept 25, The Truman, $35-$70
Evan Dando and friends return on their “It’s a Shame About Come On Feel” Tour, a 24-date US tour where the band will play their respective 1992 and 1993 albums, It’s a Shame About Ray and Come On Feel the Lemonheads, in full.
The tour arrives after Dando embarked on a solo tour earlier this year. Prior to that, The Lemonheads celebrated 30 years of those albums by reissuing them on special-edition vinyl. We caught the band live last time in town, in 2022 at the Madrid (and also in Minneapolis) where they played “Ray” in its entirety and Dando was his... well, typical mostly entertaining but head-scratching self.
THURSDAY SEPTEMBER 26
Evan Honer, Thomas Rowland, Sept 26, recordBar, Sold Out
Honer was still a college student in California when his music- a mix of acoustic folk, indie-Americana, and alternative pop, began earning a global audience, earning 50 million streams with his version of the Tyler Childers deep cut "Jersey Giant."
His new EP Different Life will release on September 27th through Cloverdale Records. Arriving on the heels of his anticipated sophomore album Fighting For released this summer, the EP features four new originals, including single “Scared To Love Again,” which is out now. Honer is currently on the second leg of his Nowhere Fast Tour with most dates upgraded to larger venues, and/or sold out.
“I am very excited for people to hear ‘Scared to Love Again’ and the songs to follow because I think these songs sound and feel different than anything I have made,” said Honer. “The production is big which I think is needed for these songs. I never imagined how bad the feeling of getting cheated on was until I unfortunately felt it. “
FRIDAY SEPTEMBER 27
Lyric Opera of Kansas City Presents The Brightness of Light, composed by Pulitzer Prize winner Kevin Puts and based on letters between artist Georgia O’Keeffe and her husband, photographer Alfred Stieglitz, this innovative new work is a love letter of its own. Against projections of O’Keeffe's floral figments, the letters paint the shifting shape of love over decades; Puts’ song cycle gives each letter new life.
This is a semi-staged concert with projections; the second half will consist of opera and Broadway hits, specially selected by Fleming and Gilfry, two heavyweights and renowned talents of the genre- he, the premier baritone, and she, the acclaimed soprano, that should make for a very memorable night.
Dark Tranquillity, Amorphis, Sept 27, Bottleneck-Lawrence, $30-$35
The Swedish melodic death metal pioneers (whose new album "Endtime Signals", released on August 16 via Century Media Records).and Finnish melancholic progressive metallers (most recent album being 2022’s "Halo" via Atomic Fire Records) have joined forces for a U.S. tour concluding October 6 in New York City.
Dark Tranquillity comments: "We will be co-headlining with our awesome friends in Amorphis and with us on the bill we have the most excellent FIRES IN THE DISTANCE. This will mark the first leg of our touring cycle for the album and we could not be more excited to get to play these new songs for you guys as well as some old and semi-new stuff we have planned. The set will be ever changing and always exciting.”
Amorphis adds: "We are more than excited to announce this tour with our brothers from Sweden, Dark Tranquillty. It's been a while, and we certainly miss our North American fans. It will be a one-of-a-kind Scandinavian death metal package with both bands performing in a headliner status every night. We'll blast through the continent like a storm; so see you all there and let's have a metal night to remember."
Rainbow Kitten Surprise, Sept 27, Starlight, $90.75
The North Carolina indie rock band has recently released Love Hate Music Box, the group’s first new album in six years. Since their last album in 2018, they've had to cancel multiple tours as lead singer Ela Melo grappled with mental health issues that left her unable to either perform or write new music. After receiving a bipolar disorder diagnosis in 2022 and announcing that she was transgender, she began to write new material for what would become the new LP.
Song “Overtime,” features country singer Kacey Musgraves and “Superstar” has been described by the band as a “gay trans anthem.”
Nick Swardson (comedy), Sept 27, Uptown, $39-$59
The MN native embarks on his new stand-up tour, Toilet Head. Known for his unfiltered humor and wit, Swardson promises to tackle the hard-hitting issues of our time, “from the discomforts of diarrhea to the highs and lows of edibles, all the way to the enigmatic charm of Norm MacDonald."
Some of his notable credits include collaborations with Adam Sandler, David Spade, and Rob Schneider, as Terry in "Reno 911" as well as his own Comedy Central shows "Pretend Time" and "Typical Rick".
Highly Suspect w Dead Poet Society, Sept 27, The Truman, $39.50
The multi-Grammy Award-nominated and gold-certified band comprised of Johnny Stevens (vocals, guitar), Ryan Meyer (drums, vocals), Rich Meyer (bass, vocals), Matt Kofos (guitar) and Mark Schwartz (keyboards/guitars), has a new record out, "As Above, So Below", due out July 19 released in July via Roadrunner/300/Elektra.
After starting as an underground curiosity, they hit the mainstream with their 2015 full-length debut, "Mister Asylum". It earned a Grammy Award nomination for "Best Rock Album" as the single "Lydia" received a nomination for "Best Rock Song" was certified gold by the RIAA, and we’ve been seeing them live, pretty regularly for the last decade, most recently in 2022.
LA via Boston alt rockers Dead Poet Society has a new record out themselves, “Fission”, with lead single, “My Condition”.
Stephen Sanchez, Sept 27, The Midland, $39.50-$99
The California singer went from busking in Old Sacramento as a teen, to playing sold-out shows across the country in a few short years. Now, on his 2024 tour for his album Angel Face (Club Deluxe), Sanchez continues the theatrics from a tragic love story he tells through his music.
The album chronicles a love triangle between Evangeline, a mobster Hunter, and Troubador Sanchez, Stephen's 1960s persona. His breakout single "Until I Found You," — which he has described as his "little 1950s-inspired love song" — launched Sanchez into the Top 25 of the Billboard Hot 100 and has more than two billion streams across various versions of the song.
During this tour, Sanchez continues the lore of the album as a fictional guest starring on a fictional TV show, the Connie Co Show, performing in front of a live studio audience for each stop on the tour.
"It's the last time we're doing this 50s, 60s thing, so you might as well catch it before it's gone," Sanchez said. On this tour, Sanchez is singing multiple songs from the deluxe version including "Emotional Vacation” and says he's been writing some exploring different stories with new characters.
Gene Loves Jezebel, Sept 27, Knuckleheads, $15
The 80’s post punk/goth band was formed in South Wales, UK and is fronted by singer Michael Aston. Their best-known songs include “Sweetest Thing”, Heartache", "Desire (Come and Get It)", and "The Motion of Love".
To make things confusing (and to add them to another on the list of dueling musical brothers), differences ensued within the original group, resulting in his twin, guitarist Jay also fronting a band of the same name (who were set to tour with The Alarm earlier this year, until it was postponed). This is the Michael Aston version- the one we rarely see touring the US, so is worth checking out.
National Touring act coming to Kansas City, Lawrence, KS, Topeka, KS, or vicinity? Let us know so we can spotlight the appearance-email [email protected]
john c ([email protected]) ♥ weheartmusic.com ♥ X / twitter.com |
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