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There was a lot of young people out that bitterly cold Thursday night, and based on how packed the small venue was for a band from Ireland called Two Door Cinema Club …

Read more Kansas City Music Guide.

Big KC music news to end the month,

North KC is set to get a new outdoor concert venue within about the next two years. The Riverside MO Board of Aldermen approved $120 million in bonds to build the new amphitheater along the Missouri River, which will be leased by LiveNation, who will chip in $95 million.

The city owns the site, so it doesn’t currently generate tax revenue. The state of Missouri will put $20 million to the project and Riverside, MO will contribute $5 million. It will be located northwest of Horizons Parkway and Interstate 635 near the KC Current training facility and seat 15,000 people (1,666 pit seats, 6,076 general seats, 4,135 lawn seats, 1,502 premium seats, 432 premium boxes, 410 premium group sales and 786 premium lawn seats).

In other news, Zac Bryan drunk tweeted (and then removed): “eagles > chiefs, Kanye > Taylor”, making both Chiefs fans and Swifties give him a collective thumbs-down (or maybe finger up, though he’ll still continue to sell out arenas here).

MO-raised Midwest princess Chappell Roan has revealed that she has recently been diagnosed with severe depression, so we send our best. We first saw her live back in 2017, before the glitz, fame, and pressures of sudden celebrity.

And, just announced- Jerry Seinfeld/ Jim Gaffigan at T-Mobile Center, on Jan 18 and Franz Ferdinand at The Midland on April 3!

Let’s take look at the Kansas City / Lawrence KS metro musical happenings for the upcoming week, from September 28th to 30th.

(ticket hyperlinks are embedded in each show’s headline)

SATURDAY SEPTEMBER 28

Two Door Cinema Club, Sept 28, Starlight, $39.50-$79.50

The Northern Ireland trio (lead vocalist, guitarist and programmer Alex Trimble, guitarist and vocalist Sam Halliday, and bassist and vocalist Kevin Baird). mix guitar-driven post-punk hooks with dancey, electronic polish and are out on their biggest US Tour to date, with 24 stops.

They first gained attention with their 2010 debut album Tourist History and singles ‘Something Good Can Work’ and ‘Undercover Martyn’. Follow up albums include 2012’s Beacon, and the disco and synth pop of 2016’s Gameshow, plus 2019’s new wave-inspired False Alarm and 2022’s Keep On Smiling. The band returned last year in 2023 with new single ‘Sure Enough’ and surprisingly, we’ve yet to see them live.

Phosphorescent, Sept 28, recordBar, $29.50

aka Matt Houck from Nashville (via Athens GA) will bring his new album Revelator to town as part of 19 full-band, headlining dates. The new record marks his debut for Verve Records and has become one of the most critically lauded releases of his career.

After a summer supporting The Head and The Heart, the fall headlining tour kicked off on September 13 at Metro in Chicago and runs through an October 9 finale at LA's El Rey Theatre. They are currently in the midst of this tour's opening leg with shows featuring a solo set by Houck each night, followed by a full band performance.

Wild Rivers w Lily Meola, Sept 28, The Truman, $26

The Platinum-selling indie trio (Khalid Yassein [guitar, vocals, keys], Devan Glover [vocals], and Andrew Oliver [lead guitar, synths]), have a gift for penning introspective lyrics and genre-fluid melodies. Since their 2020 break-out single “Thinking ‘Bout Love”, and 2022 album, Sidelines, (#9 on the U.S. Spotify Debut Album Chart), and supporting The Chicks on their North American tour, the buzz has continued to grow, and they’ve just supported Noah Kahan over in Europe.

The band pulls from a spectrum of sounds, imbuing pop, rock, indie, and folk into each song’s blueprint. Glover explains, "We all converge on the classic songwriters. Paul Simon, Joni Mitchell, Neil Young, Fleetwood Mac, The Beatles and Elton John. Then today, we have influences across the map, indie, hip hop, R&B, and pop. But even in those genres, most of those artists are referencing another era of music, which we think is really cool. We like to pull our favorite parts of every genre and patch them together and see what works and see what feels good.”

Arrive early for rising Hawaiian bluesy soulful pop singer-songwriter Lily Meola in support of new full-length, Heartbreak Rodeo and single, “Over the Moon.”

Richie Kotzen, Sept 28, Knuckleheads, $27.50-$42.50

The guitar wizard has a new release, “Nomad” out at the end of this week, following up his 2020 solo single, "Raise The Cain", which featured drummer and Winery Dogs bandmate Mike Portnoy.

His 22^nd solo album "50 For 50", came out in 2020 via his own label, Headroom-Inc., a three-disc collection of 50 previously unreleased compositions produced, performed and written by Kotzen in honor of his birthday.

The Winery Dogs were founded after Portnoy and bassist Billy Sheehan — who initially aimed to collaborate with guitarist John (Whitesnake, Blue Murder) Sykes — reached out to Kotzen, who played with Sheehan in Mr. Big from 1997 to 2002. Kotzen even did a brief stint in Poison, so has a long history.

Dionne Warwick, Sept 28, Kauffman Center, $97-$117

Warwick is a six-time Grammy® Award-winning music icon who has earned more than 75 charted hit songs and sold over 100 million records. She recorded 18 consecutive Top 100 singles including “Walk on By,” “Say a Little Prayer,” “A House is Not a Home,” “Alfie,” “Heartbreaker” and “Déjà Vu,” among countless others. She received her first Grammy in 1968 for “Do You Know the Way to San Jose?”

In 1962, 21-year-old Warwick sang the Burt Bacharach and Hal David-penned “Don’t Make Me Over” to launch a career spanning more than six decades. At 83 years young, she has a recent single, “I Kneel.” She’s in the Rock Hall and has earned numerous awards, and the chance to see her live with the Kansas City Symphony, will no doubt be a very memorable night.

Theo Von (comedy), Sept 28, T-Mobile Center,$40-$150

The Louisiana-born comedian is amazingly at arena-level status- he can be seen and heard weekly on his popular podcasts that garner millions of listens/views a month- “This Past Weekend” and “King and the Sting”. Von’s newest comedy special “Regular People” was filmed at the Ryman Auditorium in Nashville and is streaming on Netflix and is currently on the road with this Return of the Rat Tour.

The Sandlot's 30th anniversary (screening), Sept 28, Uptown CANCELED

SUNDAY SEPTEMBER 29

Spider-Man: Across the Spider-Verse Live in Concert, Sept 29, Midwest Trust- JCCC, $25-$55

Following up the numerous sold-out 2023 shows throughout the world for Spider-Man™: Into the Spider-Verse Live In Concert, this follow-up tour for the second chapter of the Oscar®-winning Spider-Verse saga: Spider-Man™: Across the Spider-Verse will continue to delight and amaze.

The films have become a sensation, for their storylines and groundbreaking animation, and also for their soundtracks -often a unique mix of orchestral meets electronic music and scratch DJ’ing.

This special live presentation features the film presented on a large screen, accompanied by a range of musicians (a full orchestra, a scratch DJ on turntables, percussion and electronic instruments) all performing music from the film’s score and soundtrack live to picture. "What's Up, Danger!"

MONDAY SEPTEMBER 30

Architects, Sept 30, Uptown, $38.50

The metalcore stalwarts are back out on a fall 2024 U.S. tour. They have also debuted the heavy new song "Curse," which was produced by former Bring Me the Horizon keyboardist Jordan Fish.

Both We Came As Romans and Brutus have been tabbed as the special guests for this tour.

Odie Leigh, Sept 30, Bottleneck-Lawrence, $18-$20

The Detroit (via Louisiana) indie folk singer-songwriter shares a debut album, Carrier Pigeon, which arrived via Mom + Pop in July. Single “My Name On A T-Shirt” is her twist on the challenges of navigating relationships and human connections.

“Relationships are never smooth,” confides Leigh. “This was not smooth. Simply put, it’s just about seeking resolution for the weirdness of it all: the weirdness of long distance, and the weirdness of trying to date when the details of your breakups and insecurities can all be heard on Spotify.”

We think she’ll be enchanting, not weird live and look for coverage of her Oct 4 Minneapolis show soon.

Lorna Shore, Whitechapel, Kublai Khan TX, Sanguisugabogg, Sept 30, The Midland, $39.50-$49.50

The NJ melodic deathcore band is thrilled to be on their North American tour with Whitechapel, Kublai Khan TX and Sanguisugabogg this autumn. Produced by Live Nation, this special run of headline shows finds the band playing their fourth full-length album, 2022’s Pain Remains, in its entirety.

The record earned “album of the year” upon its release (Loudwire) with media hailing it as “one of the best symphonic metal and deathcore albums” (Metal Injection). Recently, the quintet also released an instrumental edition as well as a full band playthrough video for the Pain Remains trilogy.

It’s a full night- a four-band roster so make sure to catch Sherman TX metalcore act Kublai Khan TX, who have a new full-length, “Exhibition of Prowess” along with singles, “Low Tech” and “Supreme Ruler”.

National Touring act coming to Kansas City, Lawrence, KS, Topeka, KS, or vicinity? Let us know so we can spotlight the appearance-email johnc@weheartmusic.com