Day 25: Kansas City, MO
Welcome
Yesterday we performed at the Boulevardia festival in Kansas City, Missouri.
My body was still on European time so I woke up earlier than I would have liked. There was a complimentary breakfast provided at our Home2suites so I headed down to the lobby to take a look. Despite the two enticing phrases displayed prominently above the buffet I didn’t feel a strong attraction to any of the food on offer, especially after my dinner at Chili’s the night before, which my body was still recovering from. I opted instead for coffee and sat myself down at a sunny spot on the edge of the lobby.
While I sat clacking away on my keyboard, generating the day’s blog content, Tristan passed by, looking fresh and excited about his morning activity. He was off to the C&C Drums factory for a tour of the facility that has manufactured two very fine sets of shells that he is the proud owner of. Here is Tristan’s latest video update which includes some previously unseen footage from this day of discovery.
The view from our hotel room, overlooking a piece of road that had clearly been vigorously repaired by The Roadpatcher.
It was a pleasant morning off for the rest of us and we were glad to have the downtime. At midday we departed for the festival, which was only a twenty-minute drive away, just south of Kansas City’s downtown. There were many fine sights to see on the drive – old brick warehouse buildings contrasted with some very modern and explorative pieces of architecture, not to mention the iconic skyline laid out by downtown’s skyscrapers. We passed right by an old railway bridge, the design of which was pleasingly square. This structure is called the Armour-Swift-Burlington Bridge and with a 130m main span it is the ninth-longest vertical-lift drawbridge in the United States. Completed in 1911 it originally functioned as a double-decker bridge with the top level servicing automobiles and the lower level for rail, which could be raised to allow river traffic to pass.
Our rental cars: the presidential motorcade.
We arrived at Boulevardia to find a very relaxed atmosphere around our stage. There were plenty of workers around attacking various tasks, but no one rushed, and everyone was friendly and helpful. We had left ourselves time for a meal before soundcheck, so we headed up to catering where the food spread was tasty and colourful. I was extremely hungry and served up what looks like far too much food, but was in fact an amount that I consumed with only mild levels of discomfort. On the bottom plate there is curry roasted cauliflower, coconut rice with black beans, BBQ jerk eggplant with mango salsa, and macaroni salad. On the top plate is sliced pineapple, melon, strawberries, blueberries, and a green salad dressed in olive oil.
Our stage was pitched in the middle of Grand Boulevard, and as we prepared our equipment for soundcheck food trucks, rides, and stalls were setting up along the side of the road and in the adjacent Washington Square Park. I fried another bass amp. Or at least it was fried when I tried to use it. I seem to have had bad luck with amps on this tour and I think this brings my personal tally up to five, and the band tally must be around ten or so. There were a few issues with the PA system and soundcheck went late, but the mood remained relaxed, and none of the festival workers seemed the least bit worried.
Liz soundchecks Jon’s guitar while he is occupied with other tasks.
Our view from the stage.
Jon yarns with Jason Isbell’s guitar tech.
At 6.25pm our set began. The afternoon’s clouds had disappeared completely from the sky. The light had begun to change and there was a beautiful blue gradient climbing out from behind the concrete buildings that surrounded the area. There was a nice crowd in attendance, stretching down the Boulevard, and also watching from over the fence outside the festival, where there was a surprisingly good visibility of the stage. We played a punchy 45 minutes, trying to move quickly through the banter and keep the blog advertisements to a minimum. The crowd were fun and made this difficult, as I knew that they just wanted to continue to engage with me about Kansas City International Airport terminals.
POV from the sound desk.
Looking back along Grand Boulevard at the iconic Western Auto building from behind the main stage.
Afterwards we took our time packing down and then had a leisurely meal. Our jetlag was really beginning to kick in by this point, and the only thing keeping us going was wanting to watch Jason Isbell close out the festival. It was well worth sticking around for. He played a beautiful hour and a half of his songs, going from emotional and raw, to raucous and rocking. We didn’t hang about after the set, making our way straight back to the hotel to catch a few hours of sleep before another painfully early lobby call.
Riding this high speed Ferris wheel offered a great view of the main stage.