Epicureans insist food tastes best al fresco, and many people believe music is also best experienced outdoors. With one of the first big outdoor concerts of 2024 happening this month, it’s the perfect time to catch a show under the stars before the weather gets too warm.
The veteran groove-rock band 311 kicks off the open-air concert calendar at Grinders. And, though they didn’t make our rarified list of recommendations, entertainment in the Power & Light District goes into high gear with an appearance by local funkateers The Floozies on April 20 and with the Downtown Hoedown, featuring country star Brett Young on April 26.
Even so, the majority of the most interesting offerings will transpire indoors. Former Kansas City resident Hermon Mehari will perform chamber jazz at the 1900 Building, and the sublime folk-rock made by area resident Katie Crutchfield, better known as Waxahatchee, will resonate at Uptown Theater.
Three fiercely independent musicians — Missouri native Chappell Roan, folk insurgent Sierra Ferrell and the acclaimed Brittany Howard — all headline shows at the Truman.
Shapeshifting country star Kane Brown tops a bill at the T-Mobile Center in mid-April, and Reverend Peyton’s Big Damn Band, one of America’s most reliable party bands, returns to Knuckleheads the very next week. To round out the picture, adventurous listeners can bask in the cutting edge of pop music at separate recordBar shows by L’Rain and Mike.
Hermon Mehari and Alessandro Lanzoni: April 6
- When: 7 p.m. on Saturday, April 6
- Where: 1900 Building, 1900 Shawnee Mission Parkway, Mission Woods, Kansas 66205
- Tickets: $45
Hermon Mehari may be the most illustrious alumnus of the Bobby Watson era at the UMKC Conservatory of Music. The France-based trumpeter also hosts the weekly KCUR program The Session with Hermon Mehari.
Having been tutored by Watson in the jazz tradition, Mehari now stretches the genre’s possibilities. A 2023 concert at the Folly Theater showcased his astounding instrumental prowess and expansive musical imagination.
This month, he’ll work with Italian pianist Alessandro Lanzoni at the more intimate 1900 Building. The pair released the exquisite chamber jazz album “Arc Fiction” in 2021.
L’Rain: April 6
- When: 8 p.m. on Saturday, April 6
- Where: recordBar, 1520 Grand Blvd., Kansas City, Missouri 64108
- Tickets: $25
L'Rain, the New Yorker born Taja Cheek, is a notable presence in her city’s art and music scenes. The first in a series of events she curated for the Whitney Museum of American Art’s biennial celebration will transpire three weeks after her appearance at recordBar.
As a musician, L’Rain renders genre classifications irrelevant on dreamy compositions like “Pet Rock.” She’ll be joined in Kansas City by a similarly auspicious but materially rawer act.
Armand Hammer is the duo of underground rappers Elucid and Billy Woods. “Landlines,” the opening track of their 2023 album, “We Buy Diabetic Test Strips,” epitomizes the cutting edge of hip-hop.
Chappell Roan: April 8
- When: 8 p.m. on Monday, April 8
- Where: The Midland Theatre, 1228 Main St., Kansas City, Missouri 64105
- Tickets: Starting at $25.50
Although she was born in Willard, Missouri, in 1998, Chappell Roan doesn’t match the stereotype of a musician hailing from the edge of the Ozarks. Instead, Roan’s appearance and music are inspired by drag culture.
The title of her breakout 2023 album, “The Rise and Fall of a Midwest Princess,” and songs like “Femininomenon” and “My Kink Is Karma” emphasize Roan’s orientation.
By updating the work of transgressive predecessors like Madonna, RuPaul, and Wham!, Roan has become an unlikely rising star.
Kane Brown: April 11
- When: 7 p.m. on Thursday, April 11
- Where: T-Mobile Center, 1407 Grand Blvd., Kansas City, Missouri 64106
- Tickets: Starting at $45
Even though he’s presented as a down-home country singer with dirt on his boots, Kane Brown is a subversive rebel. His career has been characterized by bold collaborations that obliterate musical barriers.
“The One (Pero No Como Yo),” a collaboration Brown released with the regional Mexican star Carin León in March, isn’t an aberration. Brown also found success with electronic dance music hit-maker Marshmellow on “One Thing Right” and with the pop notable Khalid on a remix of “Saturday Nights.”
His bold crossover moves endear Brown to his open-minded fans. The pop-country artists Tyler Hubbard and Parmalee open Brown’s concert.
Sierra Ferrell: April 17
- When: 8 p.m. on Wednesday, April 17
- Where: The Truman, 601 E. Truman Road, Kansas City, Missouri 64106
- Tickets: Starting at $30
Local folk standout Willi Carlisle suggested to KCUR last year that “a weird little revolution in folk music” was afoot, and Carlisle’s associate Sierra Ferrell is the insurgency’s de facto leader.
Far from the treasured secret of folk purists, Ferrell’s original songs like “The Bells of Every Chapel” make her beloved among millions of fans of crossover melodic folk-rock and commercial country music.
The like-minded Canadian Cat Clyde is Ferrell’s tourmate.
Reverend Peyton’s Big Damn Band: April 17
- When: 7:30 p.m. on Wednesday, April 17
- Where: Knuckleheads, 2715 Rochester Ave., Kansas City, Missouri 64120
- Tickets: Starting at $22.50
Reverend Peyton’s Big Damn Band and its fans endured a horrifying scare last year. Breezy, the ensemble’s washboard player, was injured while attempting to stop a crime.
Breezy’s quick recovery provides another reason to celebrate the resilience of the Indiana trio that’s enlivened barrooms and roadhouses with exuberant blues songs like “Clap Your Hands” for more than 15 years.
Punctual partiers will thrill to an opening set by Nat Myers. Songs like “Yellow Peril” have made the young bluesman one of the most exciting artists in roots music.
Waxahatchee: April 18
- When: 8 p.m. on Thursday, April 18
- Where: Uptown Theater, 3700 Broadway Blvd., Kansas City, Missouri 64111
- Tickets: Starting at $30
Katie Crutchfield, the woman who makes folk-rock as Waxahatchee, has embedded herself in the local community since joining her partner Kevin Morby in the area a few years ago.
Her “KC” initials fortuitously represent her new hometown. The letters are emblazoned on a cap she sports on the cover of her new album, “Tigers Blood.” Kansas Citians should be proud to claim her as one of their own.
New songs like “Right Back to It” are instant cosmic country classics. Good Morning opens Crutchfield’s hometown show at the Uptown Theater.
311: April 20
- When: 3 p.m. on Saturday, April 20
- Where: GrindersKC, 1826 Locust St., Kansas City, Missouri 64108
- Tickets: Starting at $69
The numerology associated with the unofficial kickoff of the summer concert season isn’t limited to the name of the rock band 311. Not only does the stoner-resonant 4/20 date of the concert elicit juvenile chuckles, general admission tickets are set at the insinuating price of $69.
311 songs including the breakout hit “Down” will likely be performed amid clouds of smoke at the outdoor venue. A recent Tiny Desk Concert shows members of the band remain eager to rock in spite of their graying hair.
Joey Cool, a Kansas City rapper signed to Tech N9ne’s Strange Music record label, is among 311’s opening acts.
Brittany Howard: April 24
- When: 8 p.m. on Wednesday, April 24
- Where: The Truman, 601 E. Truman Road, Kansas City, Missouri 64106
- Tickets: Starting at $49.50
Brittany Howard headlined Starlight Theatre in 2015 as the front person of roots-rock band Alabama Shakes. As a solo artist, she’ll top a bill at the substantially smaller Kansas City venue this month.
Aside from the loss of the brand recognition once associated with Alabama Shakes, Howard creates slightly less accessible music under her own name. Still, music critics lap it up.
A review in The Guardian hailed her new release, “What Now,” as “an outrageously great album that struggles candidly with love, but never puts a foot wrong musically.” June McDoom is Howard’s opening act.
Mike: April 28
- When: 8 p.m. on Sunday, April 28
- Where: recordBar, 1520 Grand Blvd., Kansas City, Missouri 64108
- Tickets: $20
Mike, the New York City rapper born Michael Jordan Bonema in 1998, overlays dingy sonic textures with shrouded lyricism. Even so, he possesses all the makings of a star.
Mike’s distinctive flow is so exemplary on innovative cult classics like “No, No!” that his eventual mainstream acceptance seems inevitable.
454, Niontay and El Cousteau open the show.
