Review by Shawn Perry
Photos by Stevo Rood
Celebrating 40 years of Point Of Know Return, Kansas delivered two-and-a-half hours of their Midwestern-flavored, user-friendly progressive rock to an adoring houseful of hardcore Wheatheads crowded into the elegant Orpheum. With their biggest album — yes, even bigger than Leftoverture — as the centerpiece, Kansas went far and wide with song choices, starting out acoustically, and eventually unleashing a flurry of notes and dancing cadences to elevate the energy of the room and astonish the senses.
The six-song acoustic portion of the show began with six of the seven band members seated on the frontline (original drummer Phil Ehart would punch in at just the right moment). They started off with “People Of The South Wind,” original Kansas guitarist and songwriter Kerry Livgren’s 1979 breezy Top 40 hit about the Kaw native American tribe (from which Kansas the state derived its name).
Rich Williams — the band’s other original member — and Zak Rizvi fired off their acoustic guitars, while lead singer Ronnie Platt gallantly traversed the verses and harmonized on the choruses with bassist / backing vocalist Billy Greer. Meanwhile, violinist David Ragsdale’s mad strings n’ strokes slithered in and out of the measures, as they would all night. Newest member, keyboardist Tom Brislin, kept his cool, but would eventually emerge from the shadows with some gutsy layers and biting synths that dramatically enhanced the overall sound.
Original lead singer Steve Walsh’s “Hope Once Again,” which made the grade on 1995’s Freaks Of Nature album, provided an appropriate gateway to Livgren’s Christian-inspired “Hold On.” From there, we embark into new territory with a smooth, harmony rich “Refugee” from 2016’s The Prelude Implicit before slipping into 1975’s “Lonely Wind” and introducing Ehart to the mix. We were just served a plate filled with a select variety of vintage Kansas tracks spanning their 45 year history. You could call the acoustic set an appetizer.
Before performing Point Of Know Return, the concept of playing the not-so-obvious tracks pulled from the group’s 15 studio albums extended into the electric set. A haunting hum proceeded “Cold Grey Morning,” another one from Freaks Of Nature, which snapped forward and lifted the lightness without losing the luster. Not a bad way to stir the masses to attention. Mid-tempo with a jazzy feel, “Two Cents Worth” put the solo spotlight on Rizvi, Ragsdale, Williams, and Brislin, emboldening both the band and audience’s unification.
The mid 70s medley of “Mysteries And Mayhem,” “Lamplight Symphony,” “The Wall,” put the band’s steadfast progressive rock wizardry on full display. After the grilling vocals from Greer and Platt vocals on “Mysteries And Mayhem,” the tempos rolled like the sea and the band responded to its various ebbs and flows. Brislin’s piano and Ragsdale’s strings intermingle briefly before Rizvi and Williams power-chorded through, Ragsdale riding shotgun, on the opening notes of “The Wall.” Platt beautifully channeled the vocal and it was 1976 all over again. “Song Of America” followed and ratified the trip back to yesteryear.
The setlist left the proggy 70s behind for four supposedly resilient tracks — 1994’s “Wheels,” 2016’s “Summer,” and a pair from 1986’s Power album, the instrumental “Musicatto” and “Taking In The View,” a pastoral ballad to settle down the troops before bouncing back to the more familiar scent of “Miracles Out Of Nowhere.” With nowhere else to go, it came time to explore the long-player Point Of Know Return in its entirety.
Previous to this tour, all of the songs from Point Of Know Return had been played live at one time or another. The title track, “Portrait (He Knew),” and “Dust In The Wind” have since become irrefutable staples of the Kansas setlist. Aolong with those, tonight the audience would be treated to “The Spider,” “Lightning’s Hands” and “Nobody’s Home,” three numbers rarely rolled out in concert since the 70s. To underscore the theatrical pace of “Nobody’s Home,” a park bench, a globe and a headstone were placed on the stage for Platt reflect on.
Once “Hopelessly Human” closed out Point Of Know Return, there was only one stone unturned — “Carry On Wayward Son,” the band’s first Top 20 hit, and arguably their most beloved, identifiable number. As expected, the floor was on their feet, arms extended, multiple smartphones seizing the moment, air guitars and keyboards coming alive in the hands of grown men, everyone bellowing out the famous chorus, “Carry on my wayward son…”
As with most bands of their stature, Kansas embraced the Orpheum and reminded everyone of why, nearly five decades after their initial breakthrough, the music still weathers the storm and pushes the envelope. A band with enough pop sensibility to keep it loose and simple, plus the added ping of breaking-the-mold bar-none musicianship to keep everyone on their toes, guessing what happens next — this is what makes it worth seeing Kansas in concert.
