The headlining acts at the Uptown Theater on Friday were particularly dissatisfactory. For an alleged industry plant, Clairo was shockingly lackluster in her Kansas City debut. She performed prosaic pop with the reticence of an unwilling participant in a high school talent show. Clairo’s tourmate Beabadoobee was similarly stilted in a set that sounded like Kidz Bop interpreting Pavement. Lindsey Jordan of Snail Mail is a major talent, but she made it explicitly clear that she wasn’t happy to be there. A drab collaboration between Clairo and Snail Mail on “Speaking Terms” was the ostensible highlight of the evening. The giddy teens in the audience of about 600 deserved much better.
I would have stayed home if I had known that the clutch of singer-songwriters featured at Songbird Cafe were going to be my favorite component of Saturday’s day parties. I defaulted to the folkies when few of the rock bands at the three other venues proved worthwhile.
Una Walkenhorst was a revelation. I’d written her off after witnessing a dismal set a couple years ago. Walkenhorst made huge strides while I wasn’t paying attention. She may be the best folk artist to emerge from Kansas City since Iris Dement played open mic sessions in the 1990s. Walkenhorst justly heaped praise on the precocious teen Jo MacKenzie: “she’s gonna be selling places out soon, so you’d better get on that train early.” She may be right. I detect similarities between MacKenzie and Addie Sartino of the on-the-cusp Kansas City indie-pop band the Greeting Committee.
I expected bracing blues-rock at the debut of Womanish Girl. The duo of guitarist Katy Guillen and drummer Stephanie Williams didn't disappoint. I left during the two-hour break between the festival’s day parties and the evening sessions. A friend’s invitation to join him at the Tyler, the Creator concert in Independence didn’t work out, but the momentary prospect of seeing a musical giant made the idea of returning to the unassuming festival untenable.
(Original image of Jo MacKenzie by There Stands the Glass.)
3 comments:
I only caught the Friday shows at Uptown to see Snail Mail. I didn't think she seemed like she didn't want to be there- she seemed like she had a few before the show and was just out of it, but she was more engaged then anyone else. That being said I was underwhelmed by her performance- she kept backing away from the mic and so her words got lost. Her cover of Iris was crap- it took her longer to do an alternate tuning for that song for some reason. And the duet with Cairo was half-assed. If you're both singing the melodies, then you're just singing over each other. We left after four songs in to Cairo. A buddy bailed on Saturday night so even though I paid for both days, I only saw maybe 3 hours of music. Probably the last time I'll go unless there's a drastic change to go back to anything resembling what it was six or even three years ago.
Also covering Iris is crap, but she's 20 so I get the idea, I guess.
Go off, king.
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