Rock Chalk Jayhawk! Kansas pride was running high at the Beaumont Club Sunday and it isn’t even the season for college sports. The occasion? A Panic! at the Disco concert.
The Kansas City club was packed with a surprisingly diverse group of crowd – yes, the expected screaming tween girls were there with their parents, but so were some young adults and many guys.
California’s Funeral Party opened the night with their brand of punk dance rock. Their songs are very anthem-structured. It’s easy to sing/cheer along and get revved up, especially on a tune such as “Finale.” Funeral Party has been getting some radio play in Kansas City and that seemed to help increase the amount of people singing along. The five band members seemed a little crammed on the stage with their many synths and guitars and the covered instruments of the bands to come. However, the cramped space didn’t stop singer Chad Elliott from bouncing around and dancing across any inch of stage left uncovered by equipment. These guys were a great warm-up for what was to come.
The next act up was the upbeat indie pop of New York’s fun – seriously – I’ve seen them perform in the form as a trio to the now six-piece. Fun. is a hodgepodge of some very talented musicians that you might recognize from their work with other bands. For example, in the trio that makes up the official members of fun., you might recognize the distinctive vocals of Nate Ruess from The Format, multi-instrumentalist Andrew Dost from Anthallo and guitarist Jack Antonoff from Steel Train. The touring members have an equally impressive history; drummer Will Noon‘s from Straylight Run. Finally, if you flash back to this post’s opening “Rock Chalk Jayhawk” cheer – I have to give a major shout out to Nate Harold. Harold was rocking a KU basketball jersey – but this wasn’t one of those gimmicks where the artist dons local paraphernalia just for the city’s show and then ditches it. Harold really does have ties to KU and KU’s home in Lawrence. Harold is a Lawrence musician. His music resume includes several Lawrence bands such as Buffalo Saints, Kelpie, Koufax and Big Surrender. He’s lent his talents to Get Up Kids‘ live shows and Hidden Pictures‘ latest album. As if that slew of Kansas bands wasn’t enough, he’s also known for his work with Waking Ashland. So it’s pretty exciting to this bassist on this national tour. Of course, Kansas City, is mostly in Missouri, so there are plenty of Mizzou fans that weren’t exactly the most thrilled with a KU shout out in the middle of the set. To keep things light-hearted, singer Ruess said he’d represent Missouri for that night. ‘Light-hearted’ is exactly how you could describe fun.’s music. Serious musicians with a light-hearted sound. Even when a song whose title and primary line is, “At least I’m not as sad as I used to be,” would give you pause to state aloud, when singing it there’s no doubt: you’re happy. There’s no way you could be sad listening to the bubbly piano-chords and singing “oh oh ooohs” on various fun. tunes. Lastly, I don’t want to end without mentioning how much I love the addition of Emily Moore on backing vocals and keys. She really adds a nice depth to the already flawless vocals of Ruess with her harmonies. 
Now on to Panic! at the Disco – a band worth of having an exclamation in their name.
If you had asked me what I thought of the band when I first saw them perform in 2005 – ‘green,’ ‘pitchy,’ ‘eh’ would have been my reaction. They were excited, but not quite familiar with their instruments. They seemed a little nervous back then. By 2007 – I would have called them ‘too showy.’ It seemed like they were overcompensating with elaborate sets – at times it was impossible to even find the guys playing instruments amidst all the other skits happening on stage.
With this tour, they seem to have found that sweet spot between not overcompensating with an overdone stage set up and instead finding that confidence in their own talents as musicians. Don’t sweat if you liked a fancy stage piece – they still have a cool backdrop for this tour which was like Phantom of the Opera meets steampunk – (Phantom! of the Disco?). Eerie green lights highlighted organ pipes mountaining up from around the drum set. Fog billowed out from the pipes as our synth-organ-maestro Brendon Urie pounded out riffs on piano and guitar while the other original P!ATD member Spencer Smith dropped the beats that provided the backbone to the group’s many dance numbers.
Of course, as tickled as I was to see Brendon Urie display his ability to play multiple instruments (anyone remember back in ’05 when we weren’t even sure if he can play an instrument?), the real reason he makes the girls swoon is his voice. As I mentioned before, in ’05 I would have written Urie off – I found him unbelievably pitchy, but he really has been practicing training and now I see the charm of his vocals – a charm that really helps deliver songs such as the hugeness of opening number “Ready to Go,” the subtle mood of “Lying Is the Most Fun” and the sweetness of “Always.” I love seeing a musician willing to work at their trade to improve – this is a job after all – so I really applaud Urie on how much he’s improved. I knew he had showmanship, but this tour really helps show that he also has musicianship. My only critique now is that when he can overuse vibrato, especially if a vocal is just a hair past his comfort level, but really his overall improvement makes that critique seem nitpicky.
Of course, Urie isn’t the only one who has done wonders impressing me over the years – drummer Spencer Smith – hot damn! I think because of that previously mentioned overdone stage set up a few years ago, the one that had Smith placed up on a platform 30 feet above the rest of the band – I had no idea how good this guy was. You couldn’t see him and you forgot to really listen to him in the melee of the theatrics. I’m so glad that they’ve taken him out of the shadows and placed him in better view because he should never go overlooked again. He packed some wicked syncopations into some of those numbers. 
Now, for anyone who has been following P!ATD’s history, you’ll know that the band lost two of its members prior to this tour and their album. Joining Urie and Smith for the live performance were Ian Crawford (ex-The Cab) and Dallon Weekes. These guys did a great job keeping the sound full and complete, but I have to wonder if the line-up change was the reason for so few songs off of Pretty. Odd. It was expected that the band would play mostly off the latest release, but it did seem like Pretty. Odd was being neglected until toward the end of the set when they worked in two numbers. Of course, this is more of an observation – the fans still loved every minute of the set regardless.
Fun. wasn’t the only band that gave Kansas a big homage during their performance. P!ATD gave a special tribute of their own. When P!ATD returned for an encore, they treated everyone to a cover from rock group Kansas. It was a tight cover and you could see that many of the older crowd there really perked up with this addition. All these Kansas tributes made for a truly special night (but of course, you have to neglect that we were in Kansas City, Missouri).
P!ATD Set List:
Ready to Go
But It’s Better
Mona Lisa
Lying
Trade Mistakes
Camisado
Hurricane
Only Difference
Kill Tonight
Always
Nine
Things Have Changed
New Perspective
Calendar
Sins
//
Carry On (Kansas cover)
Nearly Witches
