Sheryl Crow at FIFA Fan Festival Kansas City, Liberty Memorial Kansas City MO (2026-07-10)

Call it the “Friday Night Music Club”-

The final weekend of the 19-day FIFA Fan Festival in Kansas City (in coordination with the metro hosting six World Cup matches) got a strong…uh, kickoff with an hour-long set from enduring singer-songwriter and Rock and Roll Hall of Fame inductee – yeah, we were there for it) Sheryl Crow on a large stage set with the Liberty Memorial as its background and on a day too hot and humid to want to soak up the sun.

On a still-warm early evening with the heat index lingering in the triple-digits, this night was the complete opposite of when we saw her live in below-zero temps in MN in December 2013. We can now claim to have seen her in both extreme weather conditions, with over a hundred-degree temperature difference.

Crow hasn’t put out an album since 2024’s Evolution but has kept busy touring, including a run with Willie Nelson’s Outlaw Music Festival and knew that these types of summer shows were mostly about fun, friends, and singing along to the hits, so the setlist was planned accordingly.

Truly great songs go beyond simple nostalgia and are never out of style, and those timeless songs, coupled with the band’s expert musicianship (led by longtime guitarist and bandleader Peter Stroud and keyboardist/organist Jen Gunderman, who’s been with Crow for over a dozen years), kept the vibe loose and celebratory.

Beginning the hour with radio smashes, “A Change Would Do You Good” and “Can’t Cry Anymore” got the sweaty crowd on her side immediately and while their were audience cheers when she mentioned Mizzou, the only boos of the night came following when calling out the Kansas State Wildcats (haha). Crow confessed to not knowing a lot about soccer (she and her family are strong Milwaukee Bucks fans though) but did make mention of Messi, and well as Patrick Mahomes, to show her KC Chiefs football allegiance.

2006’s “Real Gone” (from Pixar’s Cars soundtrack) was played early in the set and though not one of her biggest hits, was mentioned as one of the earliest tracks that her two sons identified as being by her, to help them in understanding her job as a musician.

Crow has been playing a brand-new and unreleased song this summer, the up-tempo “Freedom Bus” which she worked in at the set’s midpoint (and sounded like a solid winner to us) and followed that with her cover of “First Cut is the Deepest”, a Cat Stevens song that she typically plays, but more as the Rod Stewart version, which brings it more energy.

From there, the abbreviated festival set brought a back-to-back-to-back of Crow’s biggest hits, winding up appropriately with 1996’s “Everyday is a Winding Road,” which nicely capped the hour and put the band back on the bus for their next tour stop. Crow’s voice, while matured, remains strong, and her guitar work is formidable and remains continually underrated.

She’s always played with authenticity and a genuineness (even shouting out some local friends in attendance) and that heartfelt, somewhat neighborly delivery, in addition to the great songs themselves, has helped to keep her musically relevant and vibrant over the decades.

Sheryl Crow has been around long enough to now be considered a ‘legacy artist; but those classic songs that blend rock, country, Americana and pop aren’t just played as live ‘jukebox renditions’ (though she could)- they’re delivered without the need of any unnecessary additional musicians or elaborate stage effects and come with a joyous live connection to the fans that (even the casual ones) know most of her songs by heart.​

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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.