Brigitte Calls Me Baby at recordBar, Kansas City MO (2026-04-19)

Oh, Baby!

One of the most buzzing bands of the day, Chicago’s Brigitte Calls Me Baby, made a stop in downtown Kansas City to play the recordBar, hot the heels of their sophomore full-length, Irreversible, out last month via ATO Records.

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The evening got underway with an opening set from the Brooklyn-based SKORTS, a post-psych rock band that mixes ‘90s indie with some guitar gymnastics and a slightly dark, modern, post-punk edge. Formed by Alli Walls (vocals/guitar) after moving from Denver in 2021, the group includes Char Smith (guitar), Emma Welch (bass), and Max Berdik (drums).

Their debut, Incompletement was recorded live across three Brooklyn practice spaces with producer Teddy O’Mara and was an admittedly made-up album title- “To us, it means allowing oneself to live and create in an ever-changing state of impermanence. It’s also, perhaps, an invitation,” they mention in the liner notes.

As for their mesmerizing live set, it was a bit of a departure from other shows, with the band playing a song live for only the second time (thanks to a front-row crowd member who had seen the band several times already in the last month or so, including Knuckleheads on March 21). The set ended with part of a yet-to-be-released song, “Obey.” Having gained many new fans, we get the feeling they’ll be back again soon.

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After a brief set change, Brigitte Calls Me Baby stepped on stage for a fourteen-song headlining set that individually took its time with the songs, yet felt overall like a whirlwind, as there wasn’t much pause or banter space between most of the songs. Their sound plucks from several inspirations – The Smiths and The Strokes (according to NME, and from our own Brody, who saw them play a promo set on a MN brewery field back in 2023), but there’s more to them than that.

Singer Wes Leavins came from a background as an Elvis impersonator, so still has some of that swagger, hip movements, and appearance, and guitarist Jack Fluegel often has a subtle jangly style of strumming, but then will surprise with a power chord, or rip a small solo that refreshes the song and reignites the crowd.

The band live is more Strokes-esque, in that not much is said (other than a brief interlude when Leavins took a few questions and remembered their previous Knuckleheads show and hearing all the nearby trains), and you blink and the set is done, after just over an hour.

That said, the band makes the most of their time, making a club setting seem even more intimate with purposely dim lighting, Leavins crooning in a Sinatra-style, and their retro-tinged, often cinematic sound to the songs.

The band had just played back-to-back sold-out hometown shows a few days prior and even garnered an invite from Smashing Pumpkins leader Billy Corgan to play his tiny tea shop, so seemed still on a high, from the Chicago response.

Leavins played it aloof enough to be cool, but was still connected with the crowd, whether reaching and holding higher notes, or emoting a lower aching verse, even removing his glasses by fan request- something one who was ‘too cool’ would never consider doing.

The set leaned in more towards the new album, sounding more confident and grounded even on the older favorites, and a mid-set Strokes cover didn’t invite more of those comparisons; instead, it was a revelation that few other bands today could pull the song off so well.

The one-song encore of the title track from their 2024 full-length debut, “The Future is our Way Out” and with Leavins crooning the Moz-like lyrics, “No more hope, oh, such a joke, such a cruel joke” and “if life could only be so kind, then I wouldn’t mind being alive,” you’d think it ended on a downer, but that was hardly the case.

It seemed to end exactly as Brigitte Calls Me Baby planned it- a slow build, credit-roll piece that accumulated the emotional weight of the past hour and valued every note, chord, or chorus, set to linger, until the band would return to the area and likely at a bigger venue. And…” scene.”

SKORTS

National / International act coming through the Midwest / Kansas City area? Please email details to johnc@weheartmusic.com with a good lead time to be considered for Show Preview and Show Coverage consideration.