Title Fight -- Lawrence, KS -- January 30th, 2013

Title Fight was, by far, the craziest crowd experience I've ever been a part of at a show. More so than Ceremony and Origin combined. I know people always say stuff about how as soon as the band starts, people go crazy? That literally was what happened here. As soon as the band started the intro to "Numb, But I Still Feel It," the number of stage-divers was in the teens by the time the actual song started. It kept up all night long with tons of divers, moshing and surfers. The set contained mostly songs from their last album "Floral Green," but I'm super okay with that. Maybe the hugest response of the night came from "Secret Society." Title Fight is, like all good punk music, extremely bass driven and the sound and mixing was loud but still super clear. When they kicked it into overdrive like with "You Can't Say Kingston Doesn't Love You" and "Symmetry," the D-Beat drums came through and only facilitated more and more stage dives. It seemed like everyone took one last launch off the stage during the closing number "27" and although they ended after that, people stuck around wanting more. Short and sweet, just as it should be. One of the best concert experiences ever.

Opening for Title Fight was KC's Clairaudients. They're one of the more interesting local bands - their sound is very easy to take in but pretty hard to pin down exactly just what kind of music they are. There's elements of post-hardcore, blues, noise rock, shoegaze, melodic hardcore, and more. They blend this all together to switch seamlessly from rocking out to chillaxing in, and they do it all brilliantly. Really looking forward to seeing them again.

The first band to play was Sovereign States. They're the band that plays the cover show at a bar in town every Monday. Their original songs weren't so bad! In the pop punk/melodic hardcore vein, it was pretty good. When they tried to do other stuff, it kinda hurt a bit, but that might be because their vocalist was coming down off a cold. Huge props for covering Saves The Day's "At Your Funeral." Any band who does that gets an automatic pass from me!

Title Fight: 9.5/10
Clairaudients: 8.5/10
Sovereign States: 7.5/10

Title Fight:


Numb, But I Still Feel It
Secret Society
You Can't Say Kingston Doesn't Love You
Leaf
Symmetry
Loud and Clear
Safe in Your Skin
Lefty
Youreyeah
Like a Ritual
Calloused
No One Stays at the Top Forever
Head in the Ceiling Fan
Shed
27

Upcoming show: Cradle of Filth and co.!

I'm not one to have guilty pleasures. I say: don't feel guilty about liking what you like! But if I was to have something that could be called a guilty pleasure, it'd be Cradle of Filth. They finally return to the area after a long absence! They'll be at The Granada in Lawrence on March 17th along with The Faceless, Decapitated and The Agonist. Should be an overall fun show!

Finally, some good news!

Here's a couple of shows that were just announced!

First is Mutilation Rites! They're a pretty awesome newer black metal band from New York. They can blast with the best of them, though, so don't let their looks fool ya! They'll be at the Jackpot in Lawrence on March 12th.

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Second is a pretty special announcement! Fu Manchu, which featured Kyuss' Brant Bjork (I actually don't think he's with them anymore), will be at the Record Bar in KC on April 8th performing all of their album "The Action Is Go", which is a great album! This will be a heavy, HEAVY night. Here's all of the album:

Update on the Soilwork show

The Soilwork show that was going to the (now-defunct) Beaumont Club in April will instead be going to The Riot Room! Smaller venue = more chaos!

Let's Start the new year off with some bummer news

Happy 2013 everyone! Hope everything's good for you, but the KC Music Scene is starting the year off with some crappy news: it looks like The Beaumont Club in Westport is closed! It happened unexpectedly and no one knows exactly why it happened, but it's definitely gone.

http://www.kshb.com//dpp/money/business_news/reports-beaumont-club-is-closed-for-business

I mean, I kinda get it. Kansas City isn't exactly the biggest market for mid-level bands, and I always thought the Beaumont Club was too big for some of those bands. Hopefully something like a few more smaller venues pop up and we still get some more concerts. The only metal show that was scheduled for there was an upcoming Soilwork show in April, but I'll keep you updated as to what happens with that.