lovelytheband w/ CANNONS and Grady at The Truman, Kansas City, MO (2021-11-21)

Kansas City became Los Angeles, if only for a night…

An all-LA triple bill hit town for a rousing night of music at The Truman in downtown Kansas City as lovelytheband, CANNONS, and Grady arrivedas part of their24-dateConversations With Myself About You tour.

The original lineup was supposed to include another LA-based band, co-headliner Sir Sly who unfortunately dropped out in late October, citing pandemic-related concerns.  As a result, we’ve yet to see that band live, despite several attempts dating back almost a decade ago. They’ve become our “unicorn band” who we’ll see live eventually, I’m sure.

The replacement in the evening’s opening slot was LA-based bedroom pop artist Grady, who introduced himself to the curious younger audience, with an energetic half-hour set (and promise of free hugs at the merch booth following), that earned him many new fans. 

The connection to the headliner is that lovelytheband’s Mitchy Collins is a fan and has collaborated with Grady, most recently on song “The Idea of You”, from the singer’s newest full-length, The Love Umbrella, (on TMWRK Records) released this October. The Gen Z artist played mostly to backing tracks and also picked up a guitar, frenetically moving from end to end, which encouraged further crowd participation.

The act we were most anticipating to see, LA-based alternative/electro-pop band CANNONS was next, wowing the audience with a short but sweet thirty-six minute set and since signing with Columbia Records earlier this year they’ve released a four-trackCovers by CANNONS EP, with new full-length due in 2022.  The dream pop trio (vocalist Michelle Joy, guitarist Ryan Clapham, and keyboardist Paul Davis, w/Ben on drums) has been a unit since 2013 with two prior albums, but it was the 2020 inclusion of song “Fire for You” in the Netflix comedy-drama series, Never Have I Ever, that really began to turn some music industry heads. 

Beginning their set with “Baby”, the songlist would prove to be a preview of some unheardtracks expected on next year’s major label album, along with older favorites.  The blonde-haired Joy shimmered in a sequined, frilly lime-green disco-queen ensemble.  The throbbing beat of the new “Ruthless” made it an ideal driving song, and “Hurricane” was promised to be on the upcoming record, and is a good candidate as its lead single. 

“Talk Talk” isn’t a cover version or ode to the 80’s band of the same name, but was a mid-tempo hummable song of all its own, and the unreleased “Purple Sun” slowed things with a “no worries” island vibe set against a relaxed electro backbeat.  “This song changed our lives completely” Joy said, introducing theirset-ending single “Fire for You”, mentioning that because of its success, each of the members were able to quit their day jobs to focus on their music.  Expect 2022 to hit with an even bigger bang for CANNONS. 

The lower-case letter loving lovelytheband is still riding high from last year’s sophomore album release, conversations with myself about you (on Another Century Records)as a follow up to their initial success with 2017’s breakout single “Broken”. Consisting of vocalist Mitchy Collins, guitarist Jordan Greenwald, and drummer Sam Price, the band hit near-immediate stardom after forming in 2016 and we first managed to catch them at a long sold-out club appearance in 2018. 

Since then, the band has matured and grown more comfortable on stage, and their seventy-seven minute set began with linitial single from the new record, “loneliness for love” which became their third Top 10 radio hit.  2017’s “Emotion” should have a been a bigger hit, as the memorable and melodic song finds singer Collins passionately singing “It’s all I wanted”.

Following the song, Collins mentioned he’d been looking forward to Kansas City for the entire tour… because of popular local eatery Joe’s Barbecue (whose home location is based inside a gas station).  When Collins found out the restaurant was closed on Sundays, the band made special arrangements to place their order the day before and have it refrigerated until they could come into town to enjoy it. 

2018’s “maybe, im afraid” is about acceptance and unconditional love in any form, and it made complete flowing lyrical sense when “love somebody else” from the new record, directly segued into their heartbreak cover of Olivia Rodrigo’s “Driver’s License”.  The main set ended with hits “buzz cut” (which also has a remix featuringMisterwives) and the sing-a-long of “these are my friends” which found crowd members joining arm-in-arm and crooning in unison. 

The two-song encore began with the cornerstone piece of the new record, the slow but building , introspective “your favorite one” with Collins wondering out loud in self-doubt, “I never wanted to be a mistake”. With a record 76 weeks on the alternative chart, and over 300 million streams, there isn’t much more to say about their huge 2017 debut single, “broken” but Collins made the set-ending song still poignant by stressing how important it is to check in with anyone struggling with anxiety, depression, pandemic fatigue, or other maladies, and the crowd responded with applause and singing the song’s verses back to the band.

Good tunes, good vibes, and an unseasonably less-frigid late fall evening in Kansas City – it was almost like Los Angeles, if only for a few hours, compliments of lovelytheband, CANNONS, and Grady. 

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