Is March ‘roaring in like a lion’?!

Not weather-wise, which is a relief after a season of a few heavy snowfalls and some record bitter-cold, just over a week ago. Now, it’s sunny and 70 and all is forgiven, but don’t count Winter completely out just yet.

In terms of concerts and shows, March IS roaring in like a lion, as it’s a busy month and the true start to the entertainment season, and we couldn’t be happier. Martin Lawrence recently canceled several of his arena shows, including KC, Nashville, and Birmingham AL, so fans will have to travel elsewhere to catch his ‘Ya’ll Know What It Is Tour’, his first since 2016. No worries, Mar’-in, there’s plenty else going on in our area.

Let’s take look at the Kansas City / Lawrence metro musical happenings for the upcoming week, from March 1st to March 6th:

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

SATURDAY MARCH 1

Ian Munsick, Mar 1, Uptown, $39-$110

Wyoming’s Ian Munsick is back on the road with an 18-city Horses Are Faster Tour, with Chayce Beckham scheduled to open the KC date. Named after his Gold-certified breakout hit, “Horses Are Faster,” the song joins other fan-favorites like “Long Live Cowgirls” with Cody Johnson and “Long Haul.” We were impressed when we first caught Munsick live as one of the standout acts at 2022’s Country Stampede Festival.

“There is one thing I can always guarantee when you come to an Ian Munsick show… you will be entertained,” Munsick shared. “I know how hard you work for your money, and that’s why every time we hit the stage, the only goal I have is to give you your money’s worth. The Horses Are Faster Tour will be stocked with brand new music, old songs we haven’t played in years, and of course, all the crowd favorites you NEED to hear. Rocky Mountain Fever and I are crafting an entirely different show, and I can’t wait for you to see the final result when we come to your town!”

Clem Snide w/Rye Valley, Mar 1, Knuckleheads, $18

Named for a character from (Beat author and previous Lawrence KS resident) William S. Borroughs character, Clem Snide first emerged from Boston as a three-piece in the early 1990’s, and the group would go on to become a cult and critical favorite, picking up fans from Bon Iver to Ben Folds over the course of three decades and more than a dozen studio albums.

Nashville-based, Israeli-born Eef Barzelay has been called “the most underrated songwriter in the business today, with a sneakily firm grasp on poignancy and humor,” while Rolling Stone hailed his songwriting as “soulful and incisive,” and The New Yorker praised his music’s “soothing melodies and candid wit.”

“Oh Smokey” (on Foreign Leisure Records) is the newest full-length, released last September and was self-described by Barzelay as “slow, sad songs about God and death” but don’t let that put you off, as he’s been working in fun live covers from Lauryn Hill, Bee Gees, and Iggy and The Stooges.

Martin Lawrence w Chico Bean, Ms. Pat, Benji Brown, Mar 1, T-Mobile Center, CANCELED

SUNDAY MARCH 2

MONDAY MARCH 3

MJ Lenderman and The Wind w Wild Pink, Mar 3, Bottleneck-Lawrence, Sold Out

One of the hottest current club tours, previous member of the band Wednesday (though still planning to record with them) MJ Lenderman has expanded his Manning Fireworks Tour to include more dates and at bigger venues, due to popular demand. We caught them live last fall in Minneapolis.

Lenderman had to postpone the first three dates of the autumn leg due to Hurricane Helene’s impact on western North Carolina, where most of his band mates and their families are based, but those were quickly rescheduled. Lenderman did contribute a song to Cardinals at the Window, a 136-song compilation featuring previously unreleased recordings by R.E.M., Waxahatchee, Sharon Van Etten, the Mountain Goats, Real Estate, and dozens more, which benefits Hurricane Helene victims in NC.

He also worked on the recent Waxahatchee album, which has some local ties, and appeared with aka Katie Crutchfield on some TV appearances. This club show was announced last fall and sold out instantly, but the band will back in KC in June, to thrill once more.

Arrive early as John Ross and his NYC indie band Wild Pink is slated to open, in support of the recent “Dulling the Horns” full-length, via Fire Talk Records. It’s their first since the highly acclaimed 2022 album, ILYSM, but we also have a soft spot for their 2021 covers EP which included the “Jeopardy” theme song.

TUESDAY MARCH 4

The Hails w Never Ending Fall, Mar 4, Encore at Uptown, $20

Miami indie band The Hails have released “Different Guy,” the first single since their 2023 debut album What’s Your Motive and are out on a co-headlining tour with fellow indie rockers, Never Ending Fall.

Co-produced by the band’s Franco Solari and Dylan McCue alongside Grammy Award-winning engineer Phil Joly (Daft Punk, The Strokes, Nile Rodgers, Lana Del Rey), “Different Guy” is danceable and careless. Vocalist Robbie Kingsley’s signature falsetto takes moments to dip low as his tongue-in-cheek lyrics swerve across lanes.

Kingley comments, “The boldness of bands like The Police and Bloc Party took over my mind as we crafted this song. Pushing through feelings of fatigue and living life unabashedly is a theme for us as we enter a new era of music after our first album — we’re not afraid to die, as the song drives home.”

Is disco about to dominate again? – Jack Miller’s band, Never Ending Fall and their sophomore album “American Disco” helps make the case with its high-energy, feverish, indie rock and post-punk songs. It’s a sound reinvention for the band of best friends from rural Maryland, whose debut album, 2020’s Space City, leaned more toward jazz-fusion with R&B and neo-soul.

WEDNESDAY MARCH 5

THURSDAY MARCH 6

Muscadine Bloodline, Mar 6, Uptown, sold out

The buzzing Alabama Country duo, featuring Charlie Muncaster and Gary Stanton is out on their own headlining “The Coastal Plain Tour”, in support of fourth album from 2024,‘The Coastal Plain, which Rolling Stone called “one of the strongest country albums” of last year.

The band truly broke through with their recent run as direct support for Post Malone’s “F-1 Trillion Tour” playing mostly stadiums, and demand for these much smaller shows, has been very high.

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