The Best Concerts of the Kansas City Years (Part One)

Alright, the first part of the post I’ve been waiting months to do. It is time for me to list the top ten concerts that I saw in KC. Now typically at this time of year I just review the past year. Sadly, I only saw maybe a half dozen shows last year though they were all quite good and I actually had a date for one of them. Ok, maybe not a date but a woman went with me and I paid for the ticket. That counts for something; I’m just not sure what. Anyway, I want to try to capture my thoughts on five years of concert going in a town that was much better for live music than I ever anticipated.

Let’s start with some stats. By my estimation in my five years there I saw roughly 170 concerts and about 220 individual acts. In terms of number of my favorite bands here are the ones I saw most often:

6 shows: Jon Dee Graham, Rex Hobart and the Misery Boys
5 shows: Carbon Leaf, Richard Buckner
4 shows: Jack Ingram, Lyle Lovett (with and without his Large Band), The Gaslights, Vedera
3 shows: Alejandro Escovedo, Anders parker, Ani DiFranco, Cowboy Mouth, Garrison Starr, Gomez, Guster, Hank Williams III, Howie Day, Immaculate Machine, Lucinda Williams, Neko Case, Nickel Creek, Old Crow Medicine Show, Robert Earl Keen, Rufus Wainwright, The Brunettes, The Ditty Bops, The Get Up Kids, Wilco

So here is the bottom half of my top ten.

# 10: Aimee Mann (Liberty Hall, Lawrence, Kansas): A lot of people wonder how I could have gone to 170 concerts in five years. Well, one way of doing it is going to see people who you have heard of but don’t actually know anything about. Meaning that I walked into this show knowing that everyone praises Aimee but without actually having listened to any of her work other than “Voices Carry”. All I can say is that I don’t know if I was ever blown away more by a performance than with what she did that night. Just her and one other musician playing all of these songs about horribly flawed people in the most achingly beautiful manner possible. I immediately went out and bought everything she had ever recorded and have listened to her consistently ever since. That is why I go to shows.

Aimee Mann MTV Music

# 9: Kathleen Edwards (with The Last Town Chorus) (Knuckleheads Saloon, North Kansas City, Missouri): My top concert for the year (yes, I could have gone with The Swell Season but I’ll be talking about them in later entries anyway) and the one at my least favorite venue in KC. First off, it is impossible to find. Then there is the fact that you can either a) sit down and not see anything or b) stand and have everyone yell at you to sit down. Incredibly annoying. I highly recommend that everyone pick up The Last Town Chorus’ “Wire Waltz”. It’s tough to call it a band as when I saw them it was just Megan Hickey solo, playing a mournful lap steel and singing achingly of lost love. She ended her set with the song “It’s Not Over” (which I’ll post here) and her leaving the stage with her looped vocal of “It’s Not Over” was just chilling. This was the best act that I stumbled upon this year.



As for Kathleen Edwards I would probably place her as one of the best female singer – songwriters post Lucinda Williams. Yes, I feel that she is truly that good. A wonderful mix of craftsmanship, moving lyrics and the ability to just rock out when need be. Great stage presence as well as absolutely nothing ever seems to faze her and she always seems to be having the time of her life on stage.

Kathleen Edwards MTV Music

# 8: Gomez (with David Ford) (Grand Emporium, Kansas City, MO): This might actually have been the last great show at the Grand Emporium as it was in the dying days of its existence as a music club. This was after they had already turned it from a dank, smoke filled club to an upscale martini bar that for some reason would occasionally host concerts. The place was incredibly intimate and led to some of the most intense shows I’ve ever seen.

There are so many reasons to like David Ford. First off, he called his first album “I Sincerely Apologize for all the Trouble I’ve Caused”, which is just brilliant. Then there is the fact that he plays about fifty instruments, often on the same song, seemingly at the same time. (Check out some of his YouTube vids). But mainly I like him because when I saw him he gave every single ounce of energy into his performance and ended up with half of his equipment broken, leaning over the crowd with the microphone, and just belting out the chorus to this song. Have to say that this song and video pretty well sum up my life at times.

David Ford MTV Music

Gomez should make the list for having fat Harry Potter on keyboards alone. They are one of those classic British alternative rock bands that broke big and somehow get better with each album but sell less year after year. Their shows are just incredible and in a small venue (and literally this is as small as you can get) the sheer energy makes for a great night.

Gomez MTV Music

# 7: The Frames (with Josh Ritter) (Granada, Lawrence, Kansas): I’m actually not going to talk about The Frames tonight. That will come later in the week. I will talk about Josh Ritter though and the opening set that made me a believer in him. He might be the best singer-songwriter in the history of Idaho. True, it’s not a long history but it is a start. I’ve never seen anyone so genuinely happy that he is on stage. A lot of acts have that stage banter where they act so happy but you know it is just a bit. With Josh I legitimately feel that there was no place he would rather be in the world than on stage performing even as an opening act in Lawrence. And that joy is really infectious for an audience.

This was a few years back and he has been improving leaps and bounds as an artist. Now when people compare him to Dylan I actually think they might be right. In a perfect world people would know his name as much as they know John Mayer’s. Whether he would then also want to date Jennifer Aniston I’ll leave up to him. The song I’m posting here is called “Lawrence, KS” and has my favorite lyric of the past five years: “I’ve been from here to Lawrence, Kansas trying to leave this state of mind. Trying to leave this awful sadness. But I can’t leave the world behind.”



# 6: Neko Case (Liberty Hall, Lawrence, Kansas): Some concerts have more meaning to certain people than others. This was one of those shows. See, I’ve been following Neko for years and I vaguely knew her back when I lived in Chicago. She played at the club I was regular at so we ended up talking at the bar on occasion. To see her sell out Liberty Hall on a Friday night was such a joy because it meant that finally people have started to see how amazing she is. Oh, the fact that I was able to stand in front of the stage and I’ve, uh, publicly stated that I kind of want to marry her wasn’t bad either.

There is just something about her voice that just hits my soul. It just sounds like it should be coming from a sultry lounge singer but with just enough of a Patsy Cline tinge to both entice you and entrap you at the same time. I honestly don’t think I’ve ever seen her put on a bad show.

Neko Case MTV Music