After ten years, four albums (plus one of remixes), and four EPs, Minus the Bear decided to take it back to the beginning for a diamond anniversary extravaganza. Celebrating a full decade as a band called for a tour highlighted by performances of their debut album, Highly Refined Pirates, in its entirety. Promising to “dust off some vintage tunes” when announcing the tour schedule in late July, there was plenty of time for anticipation, not trepidation, to build for the dates that will see the band travel to every corner of the country.
Finally…a rock band. It seems one can get lost in 2010 trying to see a first-class, straight-ahead rock show, but if The Gaslight Anthem is coming your way, you have outlet to satisfy your rock cravings. The New Jersey lineup featuring three guitars and a drummer came to Kansas City, Mo on the night of July 17, to play the majestic Midland Theater. With its driving sound and yearning lyrics, the band played up the fact that everyone was out on a Saturday night having a good time—and the audience seemed to hold the attitude that a good time was being had on a Saturday night.
Not even three months passed since Minus the Bear last came through Kansas, having opened for the Flaming Lips at their date in late April at Capitol Federal Park at Sandstone in Bonner Springs. A little over 80 days later, and 30 miles down the Road, the Seattle quintet returned to the Sunflower State for a set at the Granada in Lawrence. The cozier environs of the former movie theater on Massachusetts Street provided a more intimate, and fitting, setting than an amphitheater, allowing those in attendance to fully appreciate the sound the band rolled out on their new album, Omni.
It's been two years since MGMT breezed through Kansas City's Uptown Theater in support of Beck on his Modern Guilt tour. The crowd at the sold-out venue that night was greeted by the fledgling, Brooklyn-based band, and many were introduced for the first time to the band's synth sound heard on their full-length debut, Oracular Spectacular. The intervening two years have seen MGMT's stature, and style, grow considerably, and their headlining stop on June 13 at one of Kansas City's finer venues showed them deliver on their high expectations.
Almost a year has passed since the release of Manners, so followers of the group now hold extremely high expectations for any future creative output from the band. Live Passion Pit shows, such as the one on display at the Beaumont Club, gave fans the hint there's still more to be heard from the Cambridge quintet in the months and years ahead.
