We♥KC! August 19-21, 2025 Upcoming concerts / shows (Kansas City, MO metro)

Read more Kansas City Music Guide.

KC, some of you have gone and ‘poked the bear’–

It’s been pretty widespread recent news about Chiefs fans responding to singer (and for some reason, diehard Eagles fan) Zach Bryan’s “three-peat” teasing tweet; enough that it got out of hand and the short-tempered Country star claimed he was now skipping KC on tours, and would never play here again. He’s had previous knee-jerk public feuds with singer-songwriter John Moreland, his ex-girlfriend, and more, so who knows if he’ll keep to his current word.

Also note that Ken Carson’s planned appearance in Independence is now off, along with the whole tour. Rumors are that he and his Opium label are regrouping and may come back out on a stronger package with Playboi Carti. Makes his hazy Uptown Theater appearance last year (that we were there to cover) that much more memorable.

Let’s take look at the Kansas City / Lawrence KS metro musical happenings for the upcoming WEEK of August 19th – 21st.

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

TUESDAY AUGUST 19

Maren Morris w Miya Folick, Aug 19, Midland,$39-$114

Maren Morris is out on her 2025 “The Dreamsicle Tour” across North America, Europe, and the UK in support of her new album of the same name (released in May with lead single, “carry me through”). Making over 40 stops, the tour began on July 12th in Quebec with many stops in the US before heading across the pond for dates including London, Paris, and Amsterdam. This is Morris’ first tour outing since her distancing from the Country establishment, so it will be interesting to see how her multi-genre sound, is received.

“D R E A M S I C L E felt like it was already translating itself to a live environment while I was writing the album,” Morris shared in a statement. “The acoustics, layers of harmonies, stacked synthesizers against raw vocals; it was coming to life in the studio without an audience, so I’m very excited to finally allow these songs to hit the air and feel them amplified by the energy of a crowd. It’ll be a dreamy experience all around for fans and for myself.”

Arrive early for the rising Miya Folick who just released her self-produced third album, Erotica Veronica via Nettwerk. Her cover of the great 1993 hit from James opens Peacock’s acclaimed new series of the same name, starring Academy Award-nominated actress Stephanie Hsu.

Folick previously scored the feature film Cora Bora, directed by Hannah Utt and featuring Meg Stalter (Hacks), and has had her music featured in shows like Netflix’s Heartstopper and Apple Original’s The Buccaneers’ soundtrack. Her debut album Premonitions and sophomore LP Roach have both been lauded as coming-of-age rhapsodies, so come see what the buzz is about.

Briscoe, Aug 19, Encore at Uptown,$16.60 (w/BOGO)-$28.30

Briscoe is the Austin, TX-based project of Truett Heintzelman and Philip Lupton. Briscoe was started by Lupton his senior year of high school as an outlet for his original music. Once together at The University of Texas, Truett officially joined the band and the red-headed duo became official and have released an EP, the novel-named, “Briscoe EP” (in between their continuing studies).

The pair draws musical influence from late 1960s to mid 1970s artists such as Neil Young, James Taylor, The Grateful Dead, The Beatles, Carole King, and Paul Simon, as evidenced on new single, “Blue Eyes and Red Wine,” out soon. New album, Heat of July, is slated for release on September 19, produced by Grammy-nominated multi-instrumentalist Brad Cook (MJ Lenderman, Waxahatchee, Nathaniel Rateliff & The Night Sweats), so see them in this small venue while you can.

Ken Carson, Aug 19, Cable Dahmer- Independence, CANCELED

WEDNESDAY AUGUST 20

THURSDAY AUGUST 21

Heart with Todd Rundgren, Aug 21, T-Mobile Center, $53-$230

High card wins! The Royal Flush Tour continues, following successful 2024 shows with a reunited Ann and Nancy Wilson and their full band, back on stage and playing all those memorable hits from five decades of straight-on, barracuda powered rock.

Heart has cemented their place in music history, selling over 35 million albums worldwide and delivering twenty Top 40 singles, and numerous awards including the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame induction and a Lifetime Achievement Grammy. Expect to hear iconic and chart-dominating anthems—including “Magic Man,” “Barracuda,” “Crazy on You,” and “These Dreams.”

Their current lineup features Ann Wilson (lead vocals and flute), Nancy Wilson (rhythm lead and acoustic guitar, mandolin, mandola, autoharp, blues harp, backing and lead vocals), Ryan Wariner (lead and rhythm guitar), Ryan Waters (lead and rhythm guitar), Paul Moak (lead and rhythm guitar, keyboards, mandolin, banjo and backing vocals), Tony Lucido (bass and backing vocals), and Sean T. Lane (drums and bike). 

This great double-bill begins with the equally great Todd Rundgren, continuing his “Still Me, (Still We)” Tour. This tour represents a continuation and evolution of his previous 2024 “Me/We” tour, promising fans an immersive experience. He’s an innovator and often flashes burst of musical genius, and has a career that goes even farther back than the Wilson sisters and as or more influential.

His band includes Gil Assayas on keys, Bruce McDaniel on guitar, Prairie Prince on drums, Bobby Strickland handling the horns, and Kasim Sulton on bass (so yes, expect some Utopia songs too). In addition to the main lineup, Wendy Moten, known as the runner-up on the 2021 season of “The Voice,” will join.

Melissa Etheridge w Indigo Girls, Aug 21, Starlight,$44-$191

We caught Etheridge live here last summer in a slightly rain-shortened show with Jewel and the Grammy Award-winning icon returns this summer, with her other touring partners from last year, the also Grammy-winning folk-rock duo, Indigo Girls, on their ‘Yes We Are’ co-headline Tour. The package is hitting over 30 stops across the country, and fingers are crossed for a warm KC evening without any threat of severe weather.

The tour kicked off on July 25th at Red Rocks in Morrison, CO, and wraps on October 12th in Phoenix, heading here just a few weeks in. The Leavenworth KS native’s most recent album is still last July’s I’m Not Broken (Live from Topeka Correctional Facility) and Atlanta’s Indigo Girls released album Look Long in 2020.

Avett Bros w Blackberry Smoke, Aug 21, Azura Amph, $53-$97 (lawn closed)

The Avett Brothers are out on a ‘brief’ summer tour with Blackberry Smoke. How ‘brief’? How about three shows together is all, so consider yourself lucky, KC! After this singular Kansas show, the bill travels to Rogers, AR and then El Dorado, AR before saying that’s it.

The Avett Bros are 3x Grammy Award nominees, breaking through with their 2009 major label debut, “I and Love and You.” Subsequent albums, “The Carpenter” and “Magpie and the Dandelion,” reached No. 4 and No. 5 on the Billboard 200, respectively. 2016 album “True Sadness” debuted at No. 1 on Billboard’s top albums and rock albums charts and earned two Grammy nominations. The newest record is a self-titled album, a collection of songs that evolved naturally over time.

Max McNown, Aug 21, KC Live! Power and Light, $35.24-$86.33

Nashville-based Oregon (go Ducks!) native and up-and-comer Max McNown is out on his “Forever Ain’t Long Enough” tour which will kick off right here in Kansas City- you may have just seen him on the June CMA Music Fest broadcast or like we did, on Hulu’s streaming coverage of Lollapalooza last weekend from Chicago.

The deluxe edition of his new album, Night Diving (The Cost of Growing Up) is expanded to include a handful of additional tracks, is out now and a perfect primer to listen to, before he hits the road. His 2025 EP The Cost of Growing Up previewed four of the new bonus tracks from the deluxe version.

Single “A Lot More Free” has been certified Gold, he hit the Billboard Hot 100 with “Better Me For You (Brown Eyes)”, and many stops on the tour are already sold out, so see him kick off the tour here, if you can still manage a ticket.

Tophouse, Aug 21, recordBar, $34.15

The Montana-bred/Nashville-based, indie-folk quartet is bringing their eclectic and energizing live show in support of February’s EP, Practice and six-song follow up EP from May, Theory, blending rock, folk, pop and Celtic influences.

Formed in Missoula, MT a decade ago, band members [Joe Larson (lead vocals/guitar), Jesse Davis (guitar, mandolin), William Cook (violin) and Andy Lafave (piano)] chose to move to Nashville in 2019 to pursue music full time, releasing their first album on their own (2019’s Hope & Fears). Soon after, everything came to a halt when the pandemic hit. With time on their hands in an unfamiliar new city, the band became focused on honing their craft by practicing and writing. They released their second album (2021’s Snapshot), but they could not tour to support either release.

Uploading at-home pandemic performances and applying their DIY ethos, the group then began booking their own shows, playing anywhere they could, and the band and their new audience cultivated a fan-inspired community that became part of their unique live experience.

   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