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Read more Kansas City Music Guide.
May is flowering--
Just before the opening of most area outdoor concert venues, another varied week of musical delights to entertain and delight in the KC metro! Not much else to add, so…
Let’s take look at the Kansas City / Lawrence KS metro musical happenings for the upcoming week of May 12th-15th.
(ticket hyperlinks are embedded in each show’s headline)
MONDAY MAY 12
TUESDAY MAY 13
Gang of Four, May 13, Knuckleheads, $30
Gang of Four are finally calling it a day and are on their farewell tour, giving fans one last chance to see the seminal band. Nearly 50 years after they formed, the English post-punk band will play their classic debut album, 1979’s Entertainment!, in full, as well as a handful of fan favorites and deep cuts from their catalog. The tour kicked off last month in Boston before wrapping the leg with a show in San Diego on May 29.
“2025 will be the 45th anniversary of the release of Entertainment! in the US, and will be our final year as a band. It’s been wonderful, but all things must end,” Gang of Four wrote in a statement. “We want to go out with a bang and celebrate with our fans and friends. So, on what will be our last US tour, we’ll play two sets at each show: ‘Entertainment!” from start to finish in the first, and the best of the rest in the second. Come and join in, it’ll be a blast!"
We caught them live ten years ago in Minneapolis with their new young singer,and we still came away very impressed.
Youth Lagoon, May 13, The Bottleneck- Lawrence, $22-$25
Youth Lagoon released “Heaven Is a Junkyard” back in 2023, and was mostly quiet last year, but the Trevor Powers dream pop project is back with a new album called “Rarely Do I Dream”, released in February on Fat Possum. The current tour kicked off in late March in Spokane, WA and the album had lead singles, "Football," "Lucy Takes a Picture," and "My Beautiful Girl" and "Speed Freak.”
About the latest track, Powers comments, "We spend our whole lives running from this thing we can't outrun. This body is temporary, but there is no death. Only transformation. A door opens when you learn to let go of the identity you've been building your whole life. Someone told me a couple years ago, 'I have good news for you, and I have bad news. The bad news is Trevor is doomed. There's no hope for Trevor. The good news is — you're not Trevor.' When I heard that, it clicked."
We’re overdue on catching up! having not seen them live since way back in 2013 in Minneapolis.
WEDNESDAY MAY 14
Shakey Graves, May 14, Truman, $47-$230
Shakey Graves is aka Austin, TX-born Alejandro Rose-Garcia and has gradually built an impressive-sized fan base, even burning CDs and putting them in personalized decorated bags; building intricate scavenger hunts that send fans in search of unique tapes; and Bandcamp-exclusive releases.
"The fans and musicians that really resonate with me — and the inexplicable ways that I find things that I like — are usually entirely through randomness and chaos and accident," Rose-Garcia says. "I've always been on this quest to make people feel like my own music is a choose your own adventure."
The newest Shakey Graves album is “Movie of the Week” a collection of songs whittled down from epic-length recording sessions. "For the album release, I'm setting up a website," he says. "On this website, there will be a way to shuffle a collection of alternate tracks and unique songs from the sessions in seemingly infinite combinations to create new albums." Thanks to technology, fans will be able to own this alternate version and do whatever they want with it — giving them control over the destiny of the music.
It’s their 10th anniversary to celebrate their breakthrough album with their “And the War Came Tour”, with Ruby Waters as support, so come celebrate. We caught them live last, as support for The Head and the Heart in Minneapolis in 2022.
George Clanton, May 14, Madrid, $37-$63
Clanton, we said “Clanton”! With 5 years since his last solo as LP, George Clanton returned in late 2023 with his statement album “Ooh Rap I Ya.” The multidisciplinary artist is revered for his DIY approach to everything for the last decade- including managing his own record label (100% Electronica), and curating multiple music festivals, as well as his own contributions to underground music and even collaborated with his early hero, Nick Hexum from 311.
Latest release is the seven-track “Fauxllennium” (a portmanteau of the adjective “faux” meaning artificial and “millennium” a period of 1000 years), a collaboration with indie pop band TV Girl.
Hovvdy w/ Free Range May 14, recordBar, $25.20
Hovvdy is headlining the Turf Club on March 24, 2025, in support of their new EP Live At Julie’s (Arts & Crafts Records), a new alternate reimaginings of songs from their acclaimed self-titled double album, Hovvdy.
Hovvdy is back with a 2025 North America headline tour in support of their acclaimed self-titled double album, Hovvdy, out now via Arts & Crafts and new re-imaginings EP, Live at Julie’s, now headlining after wrapping a tour with Beabadoobee, gaining fans like Zach Bryan and boygenius along the way.
“We got together with Bennett Littlejohn to reimagine ‘Jean’. This arrangement is stripped back and offers more insight to how the song was written, with an acoustic guitar and a single voice,” Will Taylor explains about the latest re-invented single.
Arrive early for Free Range, the stage name of Chicago indie folk musician Sofia Jensen. Known from their first full-length album, titled Practice, which was released in 2023 via Mick Music.
THURSDAY MAY 15
Sierra Ferrell , May 15, The Midland, $52-$84
Truly on the rise, Ferrell won the 2024 Saving Country Music Album of the Year for fourth album, “Trail of Flowers”, was the Americana Music Association’s Artist of the Year, and was four-time Grammy Award nominated. This year, she’s hitting major country festivals and, oh yeah, playing stadiums with Post Malone, so KC should feel lucky to have her before her big summer, playing a non-stadium venue.
It’s the “Shoot For The Moon Tour” which makes 30 headlining stops, with a kickoff date at Stagecoach in the desert last month and will continue in-between the bigger shows.
Sierra Ferrell has partnered with PLUS1 so that $1 per ticket goes to providing critical relief and long-term recovery support for individuals, families, and communities impacted by the devastating LA wildfires via the PLUS1 LA Fires Fund. The Brudi Brothers slated as support.
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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