Aside from some stellar shows this week, there’s a lot going on in the KC sports world.
Tonight on ESPN2 the Houston Dynamo will take on the Chicago Fire in a one game “play-in” type of game, with the winner earning the right to a home-and-home against Sporting Kansas City in the first round of the MLS playoffs.
KC will play the winner Sunday at 2:30, and the home leg is on November 7th at LIVESTRONG.
Personally, I’d rather play Chicago, mostly because Houston has Brad Davis, and Tally Hall between the pipes. Plus, if you remember, last year the Dynamo shut down KC in the semifinals.
If I’m not mistaken there are still a handful of tickets available for the playoff match in KCK, so get on it people. Bust those scarves out, fill up those bags of urine, and get your faux-hawks sculpted to a golden Euro-trash shine.
In the meantime, here’s some shows you should be thinking about…
Thursday, November 1st
Snow Patrol and Noel Gallagher’s High Flying Birds at the Midland in KC
OK, full disclosure as always folks. I’m a big Oasis fan. Or used to be, I guess. They’re no longer a band due to Noel and Liam Gallagher’s penchant for getting loaded, head-butting each other, and smashing beer bottles over one another’s faces. Too bad, really, because NGHFB really could be Oasis. They play Oasis-like songs, they’re British, they swear at their fans and tell rude audience members to fuck off… But the similarities don’t stop there. Noel and his new boys play a bunch of Oasis tunes at their shows, and I’ll be jiggered if they don’t close the show with mega-hit, Don’t Look Back in Anger, every time.
The Fresh and Onlys at the Jackpot in Lawrence
Though this band has been around for long enough to put out four albums, they’re still relatively obscure. And kinda cool. What I’m saying is, this is my kind of show right here. A little under the radar, but not in the hipster “not-really-under-the-radar” kind of way. Anyway.
Pitchfork’s Steven Hyden gave their latest album, Long Slow Dance, a respectable 7.6 rating and had this to say:
“Even if [this album] were not loaded with excellent songs, it would be worthy of affection because it is so unabashedly imbued with this lost sense of romanticism. The band’s principal songwriter, Tim Cohen, is pictured on the back cover as a typical po-faced indie rock dude with the de rigueur bushy beard and scraggly, mussed-up ‘do. But on the record, he’s a tuxedoed Fred Astaire doing a soft-shoe with Ginger Rogers through a wondrous black-and-white world.”
Not sure what that means, but it sounds cool, right?
Friday, November 2nd
Chuck Mead at the Bottleneck in Lawrence
Every now and again, local legend Chuck Mead of BR549 fame, swings back through town for a show in Lawrence or KC. Last year, if you remember, Chuck was the musical director for a show at the KPAC– Million Dollar Quartet– about the legendary Sun Studios recording session that brought together Elvis, Johnny Cash, Carl Perkins, and Jerry Lee Lewis.
Earlier this year, Mead reached back in time to record his take on some classic country tunes. He used a Kickstarter campaign to help fund and release Back at the Quonset Hut, a cover album that features a variety of collaborations, including contributions from Old Crow Medicine Show, Chris Scruggs, Bobby Bare, and Jamey Johnson.
Chuck’s shows in Lawrence are always a jubilant homecoming of sorts, so expect this one to be packed pretty early.
Saturday, November 3rd
Matt and Kim at Liberty Hall in Lawrence
It seems like this New York based indie pop dance duo has been in town a bunch the last year or so. And they always draw pretty well, wherever they go, which lately includes the Ogden in Denver, Stubb’s in Austin, and oh yeah, Madison Square Garden. Crazy right?
They’ve got a new album that was released earlier this month entitled Lightning, which in an almost badge of honor way, was totally trashed by Pitchfork. So take that for what it’s worth, which I really have no way to quantify. Here’s what this Steven Hyden guy (again!) said:
“The hysterically peppy Brooklyn duo Matt & Kim started with a dubiously clever idea: Take the sound of maximalist Top 40 pop, and apply a low-budget, DIY aesthetic to it. Four albums later, Matt & Kim still have exactly one idea, and it’s barely expounded upon on Lightning. Matt Johnson still sticks to the cheesiest synth sounds and sings in a cloying whine that is the height of indie twerpiness. Kim Schifino is tasked with supplying the group’s “punk” energy, but her drumming remains shackled within the confines of Matt & Kim’s stultifying song structures.”
Oh snap!
I hear they’re pretty killer live, though, so there’s that. And I bet KC Confidential pic persona Katie Grogan will be there.
I’m with you. I like the Sporting-Chicago matchup better than the Sporting-Houston matchup. Let’s hope the Fire sends the Dynamo packing tonight.
Well, looks like that worst case scenario has just reared its ugly head, as Sporting will get Houston in the playoffs.
Yep, and I thought Houston looked pretty damn good in doing so. Sporting has a tall order in front of them now. Houston is great at home, and if KC comes back to LIVESTRONG more than one goal down, you’re going to see some desperate boys in blue.
Let’s hope KC comes out strong and aggressive at Houston- as they have all season on the road- and don’t adjust their style or attitude just because of the magnitude of the game.
Watched a little of the Houston game and they played their signature smother defense and then played keep away from Chicago. Sporting has to bring the thunder against Houston or else we will be watching another championship on TV.