Although it may seem a repetitive sentiment, it is true that the more things change the more they stay the same. I say this because despite making a unique sound of music for half a century, the progressive classic rock band Kansas still sounds the same as I remember them upon being intoxicated by their symphonic rock fusion sound I heard from their 1976 hit album, Leftoverture, the LP which affixed the then three-year-old band into a permanent presence on the Rock and Pop music charts. That audible fingerprint also made them an ongoing favorite of Yours Truly from the first time I heard them get steady air play in early 1977 on the local FM station, KMOD. Friday evening, November 17th, Kansas once again wowed a nearly packed house of mostly baby-boomers at the Tulsa Theater. As was stated by an attendee as she stepped into line behind us, “No teeny-boppers here!” Tulsa was a scheduled stop for the group’s 50th anniversary tour featuring many of the tracks on their latest greatest hits album, Another Fork in the Road.
Of all the classic rock groups of the 1970s and 80s, Kansas is the one I have have seen in concert the most dating back to early 1978 when they headlined at the Tulsa Fairgrounds Pavilion with a then mostly unknown group from Chicago opening for them by the name of Cheap Trick. I also saw them once playing a 4th of July outdoor show at Great Lakes Naval Station in 1995 after a band member’s son (I never learned which one) graduated from Navy Boot Camp. I was also present six and a half years ago for their last visit to this same storied venue when they were on their 40th Anniversary of Leftoverture tour.
The lineup of musicians has undergone some retooling since the group’s last visit to Tulsa. Aside from the two founding members guitarist Richard Williams and drummer Phil Ehart, both of whom have played on every single Kansas album to date, there were a couple of new faces since their last show. Bass player Billy Greer, who has been with the band since 1985, was sidelined due to illness. His temporary replacement, Kyle Henderson, did an excellent job in his stead. Ronnie Platt is still the primary vocalist and keyboard player and the other keyboard player, Tom Brislin, joined the band in 2018. Joe Deninzon, the fiddle and rhythm guitar player sporting a pork pie hat, joined the band earlier this year just before tour. All these performers consistently produced the magic that is Kansas and in doing so took me and other group devotees present in the audience back to those times past where those wonderful songs provided the soundtrack of our lives.
The performance lived up to expectations as much as could be contained within a two hour set. The playlist included all the readily recognizable hits like Play the Game Tonight, Fight Fire with Fire, People of the South Wind, Point of Know Return and Dust in the Wind. There were some select deep tracks included, most of which a devout follower would readily recognize, specifically A Glimpse of Home and Miracles out of Nowhere. Upon glancing to my left I saw I was not the only one lip-synching with the vocals. Such is the benefit of listening to an entire album so many times over the years. That said, the real payoff came after almost two hours of full immersion in the sounds of my youth. For the encore and grand finale, the group played what has been their signature hit with so many covers and inclusions in works on the silver screen and the TV machine, Carry On Wayward Son.
As our fellow concert goer noted above was heard to say, “No teeny-boppers here,” I will vouch for that comment as few sitting among us appeared under the age of 55. What we witnessed among the composition of fans taking in Friday night’s show were those who connected with Kansas in the 1970s and 80s. I would venture to guess that, like me, Kansas songs still occupy several slots on their automobile sound system’s playlist. What the band proved to us all is that Kansas can still deliver its original product of progressive rock and roll sound. Present on all sixteen studio albums is that original sound print each with a new and enlightening auditory experience. Producing the same soul-touching instrumental and lyrical compositions for now over half a century indicates the music brand that is Kansas the Band has withstood the test of time. So long as they continue to make such a quality of sounds together, their name as a group will endure. If what we do in this life will echo in eternity, I hope to have the sounds from Song for America, Leftoverture, Point of Know Return, Monolith, and Vinyl Confessions along with all the rest ringing in my ears they way they were at Tulsa Theater on Friday evening. I will be among the first in line when they schedule their next Tulsa concert!
Stan. Great right up and pictures too. I’m missed them this time around and I feel like I missed something good. I’ve see them at different venues in several cities since the early nineties. They always put on a show second to none. I plan on seeing them the next time around.
“LONG LIVE ROCK”
CJ