On Friday, October 17, I attended my first Kansas as part of a joint Blue Oyster Cult (BOC)-Kansas dual header. They were the feature group with the more top 40, Kansas. This is the second of two blogs on the event, this one focusing on Kansas.
As expected, the band had turnover of members. I am not a Kansas devotee, so I cannot articulate the changes, but the songs were familiar and true to album versions. The crowd was full of Kansas fans as evidenced by the volume of cheers when they hit the stage after the "roadies" literally removed all the Blue Oyster Cult equipment and set up Kansas’ more elaborate stage. This was partly due to the band having more members than BOC and partly to their “headliner” status; the fans were ready!
What was obvious from the first chord was that Kansas was a good 30% louder than the BOC party just before them. As the music continued, the expected adjustment to the volume never came. In the end, the audience was subject to instruments and singing competing with each other. The speakers were being overmodulated so even the lead singer, Ronnie Platt, was no competition against the instruments; his voice seemed muffled due to the overmodulating speakers.
My seat happened to be somewhat behind the mixer board and the VU meters were not pegging. The setup was just too much for the venue and not well layered. This was disappointing, as Kansas' music is well engineered into a complex mix of instruments and vocals, creating a fabric of music that is enjoyable. This was more like a DJ at a wedding blowing you out of the room just because he can, not because it needs to be that loud. This was evidenced by the crowd becoming more subdued as the concert continued, whereas at BOC's opening portion of the night, we were just having a good time.
The music selections were all recognized by me despite not being a Kansas guy, so that was enjoyable. I just wished they would have toned it down, so the true Kansas folks had as much fun as the BOC crowd.
