All-American Rejects at FIFA Fan Festival Kansas City, Liberty Memorial Kansas City MO (2026-07-11)

“Swing, Swing”? Yes, but also, “sweat, sweat”!

On the final day of Kansas City’s FIFA Fan Festival, Stillwater, OK emo pop/punk quartet,

The All-American Rejects brought even more heat to an already sweltering afternoon, playing right before two important quarter-final matches would be shown on-screen.

Professionally set up and run, the grounds looked similar to how the NFL Draft was handled when in this same spot a couple years ago,. Attendees entering were welcomed by a 65 ft. tall heart metal sculpture and booths that gave away handheld fans, bracelets, and other World Cup related promotional items.

There was also several food and beverage stands, an official merchandise shop, and numerous hydration stations and restrooms. Much was initially said about some of the concession prices (i.e. $18 beers), but that’s to be expected any more, at these types of high-profile events.

Back to the band, who are out on their Recess Tour for the summer, which follows a very successful and notable House Party Tour which stretched from last year into the Spring, and found the band, guerrilla-style randomly showing up to stage impromptu performances at frat houses, backyards, bowling alleys, and even a surprise show next to a 50ft. concrete Teepee outside of Lawrence, in early May (which most of us missed, so were glad to have another chance to see the band, just nine weeks later).

To make you feel old, the band formed in Oklahoma twenty-seven years ago, and had their first hit almost a quarter-century ago with “Swing, Swing” in 2002, Decades later, the band still retains their high-energy acumen, a devoted connection with their audience (as evidenced by singer Tyson Ritter conversing from the stage, to a super fan he spotted in a custom t-shirt showing her two decades of allegiance), and those sing-along infectious hooks and choruses.

Their abbreviated hour-long set was ideally paced and nicely set the stage for the throng of 25,000 fans (the festival reached capacity during the set and didn’t allow any in the still very long entrance line in, until enough people left), to take in the afternoon and evening matches from the massive stage screens and audio system.

Ritter was sporting a Columbia jersey and had to put his Crocs back on, after noting the stage was too hot to perform barefoot, and was cracking ‘dad jokes’ in-between the songs, like “You think it’s going to get a little Messi tonight?” and purposely over-pronouncing “fuuuutball.”

The music was playful but executed plenty seriously- guitarist Nick Wheeler switched with ease between crunchy pop-punk riffs and strumming melodies, while bass player Mike Kennerty and drummer Chris Gaylor provided the tight rhythm section that kept each song moving.

Ritter and the band are now in their early 40’s now and have matured gracefully, along with their songs and their core audience, many of which were seen bringing their next generation to enjoy the show, along with re-living the nostalgia of their own high school and teenage years.

2017’s “Sweat” was maybe the most appropriate song played in their mid-day set, though we’re not sure we needed the late-set pyro to add to the already triple-digit heat index. The band even brought out internet sensation “Gangster Granny” and her grandson Ross Smith, to not only celebrate her upcoming 100^th birthday, but also the 21^st anniversary (almost to the day) of their breakout second studio album from 2005.

We’d be remiss to not mention that the band has a new record out, Sandbox, their fifth studio album and first in 14 years (!), released independently in early May. The new songs played, effortlessly slipped in with earlier classics, proved the band still has the songwriting magic they displayed at the beginning of the century.

As the set progressed, more and more of the songs became crowd sing-alongs (in-between a few digs towards ‘the rich’ perched in the VIP Legacy balcony section by Ritter), culminating with their biggest hit (and Ritter’s greatest “revenge song” he noted), “Gives You Hell.” Ritter brought out his older brother (and dentist), Zack, to help sing the song to end the set with minty fresh fun and a teeth-whitening bang.​

KC underground hip-hop legend Tech N9ne played his second set of the festival, just before the headliners. His locally classic album, Anghellic gets a fresh coat of paint and remaster for its 25^th anniversary, called the Resurrection, out August 28^th in all formats on his own label, Strange Music.

In terms of playing live, Tech never fails to entertain the crowd, especially at a hometown show where songs like “Red Kingdom” go down with extra energy as he walked through the packed and sweaty crowd, fist-bumping and high-fiving along the way.

Tech also worked in his official Kansas City remix of the official FIFA World Cup 2026 Theme song, to bring both elements- the tournament and Kansas City as host, together, as a fitting farewell of KC’s last night of the festival’s run.

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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.