Kansas live in Sioux Falls South Dakota June 2 '07

The weather was rough tonight; rained most of the day and off-and-on during the show. Kansas started right on time despite some wind and a few heavy downpours. They are always professional, I'll give them that.

Phil Ehart's drum kit seemed to be falling apart and there were a couple of delays between the first few songs while the crew worked on them. Steve Walsh as usual seemed irritated and didn't say or do much. Billy Greer and David Ragsdale took turns trying to keep things lively, and finally the crew got the drums fixed.

Set list:

Belexes
Sparks of the Tempest
the Pinnacle
Miracles out of Nowhere
Icarus II
Icarus
Rainmaker
Hold On
Song for America
Point of Know Return
Portrait (He Knew)
Dust in the Wind
Carry on Wayward Son

I brought the wife and all my kids, plus a couple of their friends. We arrived quite early and got a spot dead-center in the front row, which gave us a great view and some eye-contact with Greer and Ragsdale. Greer even commented a couple times that he was impressed so many young people knew the words to all the songs, including Rainmaker and Icarus II. My two oldest boys sang along to all of them. Guess I raised them right after all!

We ran into an older lady from Iowa who we had also seen at another Kansas concert in Minnesota a couple years ago, and like me she has years of Kansas concerts under her belt, so it was fun to chat with her.

I have to say though that Walsh may be approaching his last legs as part of Kansas. This is the second time in a little over a year that I've seen them, and both times he was distant, didn't acknowledge the crowd or even the other band members much, and was actually pretty lethargic on keyboards. His voice is also definitely shot, at least live. Not sure what he's doing in the studio to keep managing to crank out solo work there, but on stage Greer and Ragsdale pretty much carried him. I've heard reports from others who have seen the band in the past year as well who've had similar comments.

Ragsdale is quite a showman, and he, Greer, and Rich Williams seemed to enjoy each other's company on stage. Williams looked as healthly as I've seen him in many years. The Native Window project that Greer, Williams, Ragsdale, and Phil Ehart are working on seems to be the direction the rest of the band is heading for the foreseeable future.

Walsh put out a couple singles through some on-line download service last week, which I purchased. The artwork liner notes included a statement from Walsh that these were the "last songs" of his life. I thought this was a typo at first, but after seeing him tonight and considering the only new thing coming from the band is the Native Window project that includes everyone but him, I'm not so sure now. I think maybe he's getting ready to pack it in.

Anyway, interesting set list, a few unusual tracks for a live show - particularly Rainmaker and Icarus II. Both sounded pretty good, and on Rainmaker Walsh even seemed to perk up a bit.

Maybe he just had a bad night, and maybe the crappy weather and the fact he was playing in an out-of-the-way b-grade venue like Sioux Falls South Dakota kept him from getting into things, but my overall impression is that we are going to see something somewhat fresh and interesting out of the rest of the crew in Native Window, but that Kansas is getting ready to be finished.

Glad I got to take all three of my kids to see them before the end if that's the case. This also marks 30 years since the first time I saw the band, so maybe it's time to move on to something else anyway.

Just thought I'd share with the other Kansas fans here. I know the band is long past the limelight, but at least some of us still cherish their music and care what is going on with them.

Bob that was a great review.  I feel the same way about Walsh. I really don't think there will be a new Kansas album.  You have Walsh's solo stuff, Proto-Kaw and Native Window and nothing says Kansas on any of them. 

Edited by Garion81 - June 03 2007 at 21:01