Beck at Uptown Theater, Kansas City MO (2026-10-04)

Cycle
The Golden Age
Paper Tiger
Go It Alone
Soldier Jane
Devils Haircut
The New Pollution
Gamma Ray
Modern Guilt
Blue Moon
Run Away
Ride Lonesome
Lost Cause
It Ends Right Here                                                     
Think I’m in Love
Mixed Bizness
Girl
Qué Onda Guero
E-Pro
Loser
Where It’s At

Encore:
True Love Will Find You in the End (Daniel Johnston cover from balcony)

New Geometry
Out of Focus
O Theos
Messenger
Gift Shop
Audience
Roseate

OCT 6 Landmark Credit Union Live Milwaukee, WI
OCT 7 Orpheum Theatre Minneapolis, MN
OCT 9 Auditorium Theatre Chicago, IL
OCT 10 Auditorium Theatre Chicago, IL
OCT 12 Fox Theatre Detroit, MI
OCT 14 Massey Hall Toronto, Canada
OCT 15 Massey Hall Toronto, Canada
OCT 17 MGM Music Hall at Fenway Boston, MA
OCT 18 The Met Philadelphia, PA
OCT 22 Brooklyn Paramount Brooklyn, NY
OCT 23 Brooklyn Paramount Brooklyn, NY
OCT 25 The Anthem Washington, DC
OCT 27 DPAC Durham, NC
OCT 28 Thomas Wolfe Auditorium Asheville, NC
OCT 30 Coca-Cola Roxy Atlanta, GA
OCT 31 The Truth Nashville, TN
NOV 6 First Interstate Center for the Arts Spokane, WA
NOV 8 Benaroya Hall Seattle, WA
NOV 9 Queen Elizabeth Theatre Vancouver, Canada
NOV 10 Keller Auditorium Portland, OR
FEB 20 Centennial Park Summer Concert Sydney, Australia

In a sweaty, sold-out AF underplay show, this ride was anything but lonesome—

Longtime lo-fi alt rock hero Beck made a recent midtown Kansas City stop at the Uptown Theater for an initially more subdued and contemplative set that eventually increased in volume and featured more higher-volume and familiar hits.

The new album, like 2002’s Sea Change and 2014’s Morning Phase, shows off a more cinematic, quieter, and more delicate side of the performer, who can on a moment’s notice, also flip to an energized alt hip-hop crowd raiser, when armed only with ‘two turntables and a microphone.’

With a more subdued album, it made sense to play smaller, more intimate theaters which of course, resulted in much sought-after tickets and a hazy, crowded venue where we witnessed more than one able-bodied man, being helped out due to exhaustion and dehydration. That said, the concert experience seemed more personal, layered, sometimes haunting, and inevitably rewarding for those willing to accept the multi facets of the artist he’s evolved into after more than a quarter-century.

Beck’s band has typically been a solid ensemble and the current version is no exception, featuring longtime guitarist Jason Falkner to his right, co-founder of Imperial Drag, Jellyfish, and Moog Cookbook, Roger Joseph Manning Jr. on keys, and LA-based James McAlister stepping into the drum role, in place of the always-in demand Joey Waronker.

Beck stopped to greet the crowd a few songs in, mentioning both he and Falkner (also a former Jellyfish member), though both California-raised, were separately sent to rural Kansas over the summers when younger, to spend time with their respective grandparents. Beck’s maternal grandfather was a Presbyterian minister, who exposed him not only to the religion, but also to the associated music, which would become one of his earliest influences.

In a nod to Morning Phase (perhaps the new record completes this trilogy) the short instrumental, “Cycle” began the headlining set, going next into “The Golden Age” and “Paper Tiger”, both from Sea Change, all setting the tone for the first-half of the show.

A few songs later, the more familiar and reconnecting “Devils Haircut” and “The New Pollution” still had a sense of mellow, but with volume increasing, it was enough to get those who had their nose in their phones, to look up and start cheering along.

Other songs like “Blue Moon” and “Lost Cause” were pulled from those previous albums, and the addition of the title track from the new record, seemed to cement the thought that those three records do have a fluid connection between them.

Two-thirds in, that virtual curtain seemed to have been lifted, and the mood changed to a more upbeat and dance-encouraging vibe with the funk soul of 2006’s “Think I’m in Love” and 1999’s “Mixed Bizness.” 2005’s “E-Pro” continued this and the set ended strongly with big hits, “Loser” and “Where It’s At”, which had the crowd all on their feet and chanting for more.

And they were rewarded, though with a simple and moving single-song encore which found Beck alone, strumming acoustically from a high right balcony, playing a Daniel Johnston cover, “True Love Will Find You in the End” as the hushed crowd stared and smiled.

The 1984 song is a mostly undiscovered treasure, but rewarding to those who do discover it, which Hansen obviously did, and emoted on its lyrics: “If you don’t step out into the light, the light, don’t be sad I know you will, don’t give up until true love will find you in the end”, making for a slightly somber but hopeful end to the evening.

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In the main support slot was the ethereal and mystical Ioanna Gika, who has a 2019 full-length, Thalassa out, as well as a handful of more recent singles. The LA-based artist brought her guitarist and bassist/keyboardist with her, for a dreamy and Enya-influenced set which included Gika briefly playing a lyre harp.

Like the opener, lighting was dialed down to a minimum, often in pale blues, greens, and rose tones, coupled with some fog and patches of darkness, making the mood more like a midnight performance by candlelight on the moors, but also making for a more difficult task of capturing in photos.

Nevertheless, those in the crowd that dialed in, seemed mesmerized and Gika and band played with a clam but centered focus. The trio played both newer songs, alongside those on the full-length and ended with Gika’s 2018 debut single, “Roseate” to end the set elegantly. Gika has also been active in collaborating with the Dior fashion house and our only regret was not hearing her 2019 cover of The Fixx’s “One Thing Leads to Another.”​

The night got underway with an unexpected third act on the bill, singer-songwriter Wayne Faler, who has a couple of recent singles out, “The Loon” and “On My Way”, both culled from his new full-length, Foreword, due out November 17 on Curation Records.

Faler’s sound is a sort of melancholy blend of dream folk pop and Americana, all enhanced by the nearly non-existent lighting and Faler casually strumming at stage left, playing the new tracks mixed with those from his late 2022 self-titled solo debut. Faler helped set the tone of the night and was often entrancing, if you took a moment to ignore nearby conversations and actually listen.​

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