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So, we were fortunate enough to have been able to go to the Gorillaz concert in Kansas City on the 22nd, which was ridiculously good, but definitely exhausting, overall. KC seems a little greener than St Louis, with less of the red brick I'm so familiar with, but the vibe was similar. It definitely had the feeling of a midwest city. I'd driven through their only once on my way back from Seattle, and the difference was literally night and day (as well as late summer / winter), but I still recognized the road I'd taken on the way through the city. The turnaround didn't give me the same degree of whiplash I got on the Chicago trip - we were there marginally longer - but it was still really quick. We got up on the morning of the 22nd, drove out, had a heavy lunch, checked in at the hotel and had a beer, and went to the concert. Then we came back, had a drink, and went to bed. We got out in a reasonably comfortable time frame the next morning, waiting until we'd had breakfast at least, and we did get back a little later than we expected, but there was no real time for relaxation.
Our seats were actually even better than we had supposed; we were viewing from the side, but we were still able to see clearly. Also, Vince Staples and Danny Brown both opened for the main act, which was great and I hadn't realized both of them were opening until they did.
The Gorillaz concert was legitimately overwhelming, which I don't mean in a bad way, but there was almost literally so much going on that I couldn't take it in all at once. Vince Staples and Danny Brown both did pretty well in terms of getting an audience reaction from the crowd, and I don't know if KC is the same as St Louis in this regard, but I know in St Louis, it's tough to get participation. I've heard musicians express this sentiment before - it's tough. Not that the crowd is hostile or anything, but they're self-conscious, maybe? But Damon Albarn and the rest of the band came out and literally everyone in the stadium stood up at once and didn't sit back down at all - I've never seen anything like it. I figure that's because I get out less than a lot of people, so that's more of an expression about me than the crowd, but the crowd was hype and that hype just got bigger as the concert went on.
The Gorillaz are a band that always makes me think of this concept of the hyper-real - especially when interviews are conducted with reputable media outlets with characters themselves and, meanwhile, Damon Albarn is interviewed elsewhere, treated as a separate entity, maybe an affiliate, simultaneously "the band" and not the band. I couldn't avoid thinking about that even while I'm clapping, singing, whatever, because on the back wall, they're playing music videos that are intentionally glitching out, there are screens on the sides that are showing you the concert as it happens from a viewpoint you couldn't access otherwise, and meanwhile, you've got the choir singing, the band is playing, often dancing, definitely trying to draw your eye - you can't watch them all at once, so you pick, you alternate. There's often a singer who's not present physically - their presence replaces the animation for a time so you can see them - this is especially with the tracks from the Humanz album, where it seems especially important to have the vocalists be present in the song. At a time when the simple existence of black artists seems to be controversial to white people, it seemed important that their impact on the tracks was made explicit and literally larger than the flesh and blood Albarn himself - actually occasionally absent during these moments.
So, that was cool.
Before we checked in, we were looking for somewhere to eat lunch in town and had some time to kill. Both Jim Gaffigan and Anthony Bourdain recommended Joe's Kansas City BBQ - Bourdain calling it the best in the world - and while Bourdain is kind of an ass, I liked the idea of a place that had that kind of recommendation-overlap, so that's where we went. What I'll say is that it was good - I really enjoyed what I ate, and it was definitely worth going. What I'll also say is that I've had BBQ that was every bit as good, and I live practically down the street from the region's best BBQ place here, so what I'm actually hype about is how spoiled I am on amazing BBQ options on the daily. For the record, Joe's french fries are better, but Beast BBQ's potato salad is significantly better, if we're talking about sides.
We got to stay at The President near the arena, like a five minute walk away actually, and ate breakfast at the Walnut Room where I ordered the eggs benedict, which was pretty excellent, but I usually eat pretty light, so I kind of ended up feeling uncomfortable for a while after my two incredibly heavy meals - basically eating once per day for three days.
Anyhow, when you ask me how something was that I did, half of what I talk about is the thing and the other half is what I ate, and that is just how I live my life.
Our seats were actually even better than we had supposed; we were viewing from the side, but we were still able to see clearly. Also, Vince Staples and Danny Brown both opened for the main act, which was great and I hadn't realized both of them were opening until they did.
The Gorillaz concert was legitimately overwhelming, which I don't mean in a bad way, but there was almost literally so much going on that I couldn't take it in all at once. Vince Staples and Danny Brown both did pretty well in terms of getting an audience reaction from the crowd, and I don't know if KC is the same as St Louis in this regard, but I know in St Louis, it's tough to get participation. I've heard musicians express this sentiment before - it's tough. Not that the crowd is hostile or anything, but they're self-conscious, maybe? But Damon Albarn and the rest of the band came out and literally everyone in the stadium stood up at once and didn't sit back down at all - I've never seen anything like it. I figure that's because I get out less than a lot of people, so that's more of an expression about me than the crowd, but the crowd was hype and that hype just got bigger as the concert went on.
The Gorillaz are a band that always makes me think of this concept of the hyper-real - especially when interviews are conducted with reputable media outlets with characters themselves and, meanwhile, Damon Albarn is interviewed elsewhere, treated as a separate entity, maybe an affiliate, simultaneously "the band" and not the band. I couldn't avoid thinking about that even while I'm clapping, singing, whatever, because on the back wall, they're playing music videos that are intentionally glitching out, there are screens on the sides that are showing you the concert as it happens from a viewpoint you couldn't access otherwise, and meanwhile, you've got the choir singing, the band is playing, often dancing, definitely trying to draw your eye - you can't watch them all at once, so you pick, you alternate. There's often a singer who's not present physically - their presence replaces the animation for a time so you can see them - this is especially with the tracks from the Humanz album, where it seems especially important to have the vocalists be present in the song. At a time when the simple existence of black artists seems to be controversial to white people, it seemed important that their impact on the tracks was made explicit and literally larger than the flesh and blood Albarn himself - actually occasionally absent during these moments.
So, that was cool.
Before we checked in, we were looking for somewhere to eat lunch in town and had some time to kill. Both Jim Gaffigan and Anthony Bourdain recommended Joe's Kansas City BBQ - Bourdain calling it the best in the world - and while Bourdain is kind of an ass, I liked the idea of a place that had that kind of recommendation-overlap, so that's where we went. What I'll say is that it was good - I really enjoyed what I ate, and it was definitely worth going. What I'll also say is that I've had BBQ that was every bit as good, and I live practically down the street from the region's best BBQ place here, so what I'm actually hype about is how spoiled I am on amazing BBQ options on the daily. For the record, Joe's french fries are better, but Beast BBQ's potato salad is significantly better, if we're talking about sides.
We got to stay at The President near the arena, like a five minute walk away actually, and ate breakfast at the Walnut Room where I ordered the eggs benedict, which was pretty excellent, but I usually eat pretty light, so I kind of ended up feeling uncomfortable for a while after my two incredibly heavy meals - basically eating once per day for three days.
Anyhow, when you ask me how something was that I did, half of what I talk about is the thing and the other half is what I ate, and that is just how I live my life.