Saturday in Kansas City was quite the conundrum. What show to go to? Lawrence venues were filled with indie rockers for the Scion Fest, bros and hipsters mixed at Vampire Weekend at Starlight, and the edgier rockers checked out Alice and Chains. But not to be overlooked was the line-up at the Record Bar, which was hosting some of the best local acts Kansas City has to offer in celebration of the Record Bar’s 5th anniversary. 
The beautiful voice of songwriter Jenny Carr started the night, followed by the Spanglish danceable songs of Making Movies, then Lawrence’s Cowboy Indian Bear showed off their new harmonies with their latest addition of Katlyn Conroy. Finally, headlining the night were local indie gods The Republic Tigers, whom had been absent from the live music scene for nearly a year.
The Tigers have not been idle during their absence. They’ve been busy working on new material, some of which is expected due out on a EP hopefully later this year, and some of which is for a full-length album that the band hopes to release in Spring 2011. They started off their set with one of these new tunes, “Manny Feathers.” They played a few other new ones, including the two (“Whale Fight” and Kingsly”) that they had introduced at some of their prior shows. From what could be seen and heard from the first introduction to this material, is that the Tigers sound hasn’t gone through any drastic changes. There’s still plenty of keys, guitar solos and big drums. But the main change of note is that they have upped the amount of backing vocals being contributed to the songs, which is always a welcome addition.
The Tigers have definitely gained confidence in their overall performance capabilities. “Fight Song” continues to be the Tigers big show stopper with the demanding drum bangs of that song screaming ‘dance to me NOW!’ However, now, some songs that seemed a bit boring live before, came across as livelier and more passionate. Maybe it was the blinding light show (a rarity at this particular venue), an eagerness to play after the long break, the increased confidence or something else, but whatever this new quality is to their performance, it’s fantastic. Let’s hope it is here to stay.
Set List:
Manny Feathers
Golden Sand
Feelin the Future
Made Concrete
The Drums
Merrymake It
Whale Fight
Lonely as I Was
Contortionists
Fight Song
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Buildings and Mountains
Kingsly
