Kansas is still known today as one of the best progressive rock bands to ever hit the stage. Known for such classics as “Dust in the Wind”, “Point of Know Return” and “Carry On My Wayward Son” the band was inducted into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame in 2005 and is still going strong. Original members Rich Williams, Steve Walsh and Phil Ehart along with longtime band mates Billy Greer and David Ragsdale are currently touring with fellow rockers Styx and Foreigner while, at the same time, supporting their recent live concert DVD release, There’s Know Place Like Home. The three bands will hit Chicago on June 5^th at the Charter One Pavilion.

I caught Rich on a windy day in Nebraska hours before he was to take the stage, where he joked, “there’s nothing to block the wind out here.”  

Buzz – I wanted to ask you about Kansas’ recent DVD release, There’s Know Place Like Home. This is a live DVD that commemorates the 35^th Anniversary of your debut self-entitled album, Kansas. 

Rich Williams – We did an album with a symphony orchestra about 15 years ago and since then – just about every year – we do some symphony dates always in hope of one day filming it, and the 35^th anniversary seemed like a really good time to do that. We didn’t know where we wanted to film it and we wanted it to somehow make sense, so it wasn’t until we went back home where we started that we really began to get a feel for the whole project.

Buzz – How is that different when Kansas plays live shows – having an orchestra behind you?

Rich – Well, we’ve done it quite a bit over the last 15 years so it’s another day at the office, really. It is different but it’s not as hard as one thinks because the symphony follows us. The conductor follows the drummer and they follow the conductor. We just do what we do.

Buzz – How did the idea of playing with an orchestra even come up in the first place?

Rich – I think for a long time – a long time before we even did the symphony album – we just thought that one day it would be great to do a recording with the symphony. I don’t think it was any one person; it was just kind of a band goal to do it.

Buzz – Now, you guys have been around since the early 70’s. Are you constantly picking up new fans along the way? Capturing new generations as you go?

Rich – With the Internet, songs in movies – classic rock radio plays us all the time – we’ve always had new kids every year, and having “Carry On My Wayward Son” on Guitar Hero II has boosted our following incredibly. Rock Band also has “Wayward Son” on it and that started bringing whole families to the shows that play the song together. So the face of the crowd is older, but it’s also younger.

Buzz – And then you also have those devoted die-hards that worship you guys as one of the greats in the progressive rock world. You are really reaching out to a diverse audience.

Rich – We do have a very loyal fan base.

Buzz – The last Kansas album was released in 2000. Do you guys ever kick around the idea of recording an album of new material?

Rich – Yeah, we have kicked it around a bit. We have a project that we might be doing at the beginning of next year – or even late this year. It’s hard to get it moving and it’s very expensive to do. Radio won’t play it and when we would play a song off our new album people would get up to get a beer or buy a t-shirt. The reality is that nobody really gives a shit.

Buzz – Why do you think the radio wouldn’t play new Kansas material? I mean, you guys have TONS of fans.

Rich – Classic rock radio would be the only format and they are very formatted. They don’t play new material. They only go three songs deep with us. There are a few stations here and there that will, but not enough to move a record.

Buzz – That’s very true. You guys have a massive amount of great songs and yeah, they only play the same three. It’s almost a disservice.

Rich – They have a structured formula and that’s what they have to do. There are very few independent classic rock stations that just do it the way they want to where the disc jockey just pulls the songs out and plays whatever he wants. They all have a list of what they have to play. 

Buzz – So how has the Internet changed Kansas?

Rich – I know a lot of kids have discovered us on the Internet. Like when they play Guitar Hero II and they really like the song so they find out who plays it and they start looking us up. I remember my middle son, several years ago, was on his musical journey on the Internet and downloaded some songs and asked me, “Have you ever heard of a band called Crosby, Stills and Nash?” That wasn’t something that was on his plate before, so it was all new to him. So there is a lot of discovery there.  

Buzz – Very true. Now you are currently touring with Styx and Foreigner. How has that been for you?

Rich – Well, it’s familiar. I think it was ’96 when Styx first did their reunion tour, we did that tour with them. And we have worked with them every year since. We also worked with them back in the 70’s so we’ve known them forever. And Foreigner – we did the Foreigner Four tour with them in Europe – and since they’ve been back together we did a show with them last year and a couple the year before. So it’s all great. It’s very familiar and the crews even know each other.   

While supporting their recently released studio album, Hello Hurricane, Switchfoot returned to Chicago, this time to the House of Blues, where they brought their highly-charged live show, beguiling songs and positive point of view to their doting fans once again. As the San Diego-based band made their way onto the stage the expected screams and cries were heard, but the moment the music rang out the crowd began to jump in unison, causing the floor to buckle enough to feel like a mild earthquake (4.3?) – and the shaking continued throughout the entirety of the concert.

The band’s first three songs, including “Stars”, were enhanced by a massive strobe light attack, making what were already high-energy numbers even more intense. By the time Switchfoot cruised into their fourth song, “Oh! Gravity”, the energy of the crowd was completely projected onto the band and vice versa, evident in both Switchfoot’s performance and fan reaction. Singer/guitarist/frontman, Jon Foreman, then set course through the jam-packed hall, high-fiving and delivering hugs to anyone near at the same time singing as the band played on. 

Switchfoot’s sound couldn’t have been more crisp and full. Meaty guitars echoed throughout the House of Blues via Jon and Drew Shirley’s rich sounding axes, often augmented when Jerome Fontamillas added a third when he wasn’t manning the keyboards or fielding a percussion instrument. Two toms – one on each side of the stage – were the victims of random beatings by both Jon and his brother, bassist Tim Foreman, adding to drummer Chad Butler’s bashing beats. 

Taking a break from the joie de vivre of the revved power set about midway through the show, Switchfoot went into their emotional ballad “Always” as a piano was wheeled to center stage for Jon to play. Jon first explained how he learned to play music on his parent’s piano. The band’s set list was well-rounded and included such songs as “Free”, “Mess of Me”, “Bullet Soul”, “Dare You to Move”, “Needle and Haystack Life” and that night’s encore opener, “Hello Hurricane”, a melodic and hard-hitting piece that again found Jon enthusiastically roaming throughout the crowd.  

As for a complete rock and roll show, Switchfoot’s performance had it all…almost. There was no talk of drug use, no cursing, no vulgarities, no negativity, no womanizing and no relating to the crowd with the message that being lost and depressed is cool. However, the lack of these rock show familiars is testament to how good Switchfoot really is – proof that a band can be highly entertaining with good music, high energy, fun crowd interaction and a strong message that there is always hope. 

35 years? Wow. It’s not so hard to believe that KISS has been around since forming in New York City in January of 1973, but what’s so amazing is their ability to still rock as hard as ever. Known for their spectacular live shows, KISS reminded everyone why they’ve always had a larger than life image

For those, like me, who have never seen Grand Archives before last Saturday night at Chicago's Schuba’s Tavern there’s one word that probably entered our minds collectively – WOW. On tour for their new release Keep in Mind Frankenstein, Sub Pop’s Seattle based artist, Grand Archives, kept the crowd mesmerized

Leave it to U2 to revolutionize the art of the concert. In U2’s 360 Tour the band brings their show to major stadiums, in Chicago’s case Soldier Field, where they play their music on a circular stage below a giant, claw-like “spaceship”, catering to fans in every direction.

I was happy to see that Davy’s set included the great Monkees songs that he is known most for like “I Want to Be Free” and “Valleri”, but was also pleased to hear him sing songs in which Mickey Dolenz sang the leads such as “Steppin’ Stone”, “Last Train to Clarksville” and “Pleasant Valley Sunday”.

Fans dressed in gothic attire and many disguised as bloody nightmares entered the ballroom where a giant six-foot-high chainsaw was sitting atop a stage. Resembling something between The Night of the Living Dead and a Nine Inch Nails concert, the crowd was a big part of the show itself creating it’s own brand of entertainment (for people watchers like myself) before the first act even took the stage.

Friday night was a night to remember for music fans that like it hard and heavy, as the Allstate Arena shook nonstop from one thunderous act after another. Burn Halo, featuring singer James Hart (formerly of Eighteen Visions) played as the ticket’s opener and was quick to show they were ready to take on an arena crowd.