Got back from a holiday trip to Fort Lauderdale seeing the American Progressive rock band Kansas. You know the band, the ones who do “Dust in the Wind” and “Carry on Wayward Son”. Seeing as I’m from Toronto Canada and it’s December, this trip was great as it also meant warmth, sun, sea and swimming. The band played Saturday night at a nice theater called the Broward Center for the Performing Arts. The show and tour was in celebration of the 40th anniversary of their album “Point of Know Return”.
Of course spoilers below….
The interesting thing is that currently, out of the seven members of the band, only two were present during the recording of this album which was from the 70’s. But take my word for it, it doesn’t matter, each member of this band played with fire, passion and precision as if they wrote and recorded the parts themselves.
The show was split into three main sections. An acoustic set, electric set, and Point of Know Return set.
The show opened up with a nice acoustic set starting with People of the South Wind. A few songs in, Drummer Phil Ehart joined the band for a great closing of “Lonely Wind”.
The 2nd set of songs were full on electric and prog with a wide range of material from the 70’s through to the current album. The highlights for me were the opener of this 2nd set “Cold Grey Morning” from Freaks of Nature. I was very surprised as it seemed that in the past, Kansas had shied away from doing material which wasn’t mainly from the 70’s, so it was great to hear this deep cut. Other stand out performances were “Two Cents Worth”, “The Wall”, “Taking in the View” and “Miracles Out of Nowhere”.
The 3rd set featured the whole “Point of Know Return” album in order. It was great to hear my personal favorites such as “Paradox”, “The Spider” (whoever says Kansas isn’t prog needs to listen to this song), and “Sparks of the Tempest” with it’s funky rhythms. The band left the stage but of course returned for the obligatory encore song (also featured in the show Supernatural) “Carry on Wayward Son”.
Overall, a fantastic concert with fantastic musicianship, great sound and nice lights. I urge any prog rock fan to see the show. One of my top 5 of all time.
Wilton
Setlist below…
Acoustic Set
People of the South Wind
Hope Once Again
Hold On
Refugee
Lonely Wind
Electric Set
Cold Grey Morning
Two Cents Worth
Mysteries and Mayhem / Lamplight Symphony
The Wall
Song for America
Wheels
Summer
Musicatto
Taking in the View
Miracles Out of Nowhere
Point of Know Return Set
Point of Know Return
Paradox
The Spider
Portrait (He Knew)
Closet Chronicles
Lightning's Hand
Dust in the Wind
Sparks of the Tempest
Nobody's Home
Hopelessly Human
Encore:
Carry On Wayward Son