Before I get into the whole “Top Ten Shows I Saw While Living in KC” I figured that it would be good to take a post and honor some of the acts that did not make the top ten. Bands who even though I had no idea who they were when I walked into the show somehow made me leave loving life a little bit more and, on a few occasions, wondering what drugs they were on.
Weirdest Opening Act: The legendary Superargo! A band that consists of two people: Person A is on stage in a suit and is playing what appears to be a Sony Vaio laptop and Person B who is in a slightly disheveled suit whose only job is to dance on stage. Oh, and Person B is also wearing a Skullface mask. Now why you need two people for music that is being played from a Sony Vaio is beyond me (a drinking bird hitting enter is all I would think would be required) but the sheer lunacy of the set made it one of my best moments. Here is a sample of the wackiness from a show at the Replay Lounge in Lawrence. I would like to note that A) Skullface parked in the same garage that I always did when I went to shows in Lawrence and B) you never have to work harder as a band than when you are competing against people playing pinball.
Best Set by an Opening Act: The Brunettes. I have never in my life seen a band so win over a crowd as The Brunettes when they opened for The Shins in Lawrence. Literally no one in the audience had a freaking clue who they were when they took the stage. I swear they looked around at their setup and it appeared as though they were unsure who played what instrument and what all the pedals were for. They also seemed to have the most overly complicated set imaginable as at one point three xylophones were required. But the crowd just loved these kids from New Zealand more and more after each song and when they finished with a song about the Olsen Twins that was performed while wearing Full House era Olsen Twins masks we wanted to carry them out of the building on our shoulders. I saw them a year later in Lawrence and they told me that they had never had a night like that in their lives.
Opening Act that Became One of my Favorite Bands: The Ditty Bops. I did not expect this one at all especially given that they were the opening act at a Nickel Creek show (at whose last show my discussion of their opening act resulted in physical threats against me). Abby and Amanda have created an incredible little niche for themselves. It’s part bluegrass, part vaudeville, part performance art and part community activism. The music is absolutely wonderful and the shows are fun for the whole family. Support this band, please, because otherwise they’ll be forced to bike across the country again to promote their latest album.
Weirdest Song of the Five Years: Glen Kotche’s “Monkey Chant”. Discount the fact that I went to a show by Wilco’s drummer. Yes, I went to a show that consisted entirely of one guy drumming. That would be weird enough. But just watch the first thirty seconds of this video and you’ll know what made this the weirdest song ever. The opening of forty five boxes containing crickets to create this otherworldly jungle atmosphere in the middle of a Kansas City winter. I just kind of stood there wondering just what I had gotten myself into. Awesome, though.
Strangest Crowd (Consistently): Hank Williams III for the mix of people that go to his shows. Because Hank III (who looks and sounds just like his grandfather) grew up on punk rock and thrash metal his shows have a very strange audience. You have the hardcore country fans who are there in overalls and cowboy hats. There are also punks in Mohawks and metal fans who look like they are just waiting for the mosh pit to start just to kick your ass. And Hank plays to them all by singing country to start until the end of the show is a thrash tour de force. Insane.
Artist Who I Was Almost Set Up With By Her Stepmom: Pieta Brown. Or at least I will go to my grave saying that when Iris Dement introduced me to her that she was trying to figure out a way for us to go out. The fact that I got to drink with Iris Dement is still one of the highlights of my life not just my concert going years in KC.
This will do for now. More tomorrow (I’ll probably do the top ten in two parts over the week.)
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