Bands seem to crisscross the country every spring, as their hope of success springs eternal. Most end up going South-by-Southwest (QRO recap) – or, if they’re Canadian, North-by-Northeast, but there are a bunch of cities in that space between NYC and LA looking to bring in the music.
One right in the middle of the map is Kansas City – which welcomes musicians to the Middle of the Map Festival in their own Westport neighborhood, April 4th to 6th, Thursday to Saturday:
THURSDAY, APRIL 4TH
Gusto Lounge, 504 Westport Rd. (21+)
7:00 PM – Margo May
8:00 PM – David Burchfield & The Great Stop
9:00 PM – The Silver Maggies
10:00 PM – Sons of Great Dane
Openfire Pizza, 3951 Broadway St. (all ages)
6:00 PM – The Crybaby Ranch
6:45 PM – Rumblejetts
7:30 PM – Interstate Astronauts
8:15 PM – The Spectramatics
9:00 PM – Cowtown Playboys
10:00 PM – KC Bear Fithers
11:00 PM – Loaded Goat
12:00 AM – Rural Grit All Stars
Record Bar, 1020 Westport Rd. (18+)
7:00 PM – Shadow Paint
8:00 PM – Bloodbirds
9:00 PM – White Lung
10:00 PM – Altos
11:00 PM – Thee Water Moccasins
12:00 AM – Wovenhand
David Eugene Edwards combines a variety of influences and styles as Wovenhand – and the Denver native has even played the Old World (QRO live review in Europe).
Riot Room, 4048 Broadway St. (21+)
8:00 PM – Two4One
8:30 PM – Dutch Newman
9:00 PM – Info Gates
9:30 PM – Brett Gretzky
10:30 PM – Steddy P
11:15 PM – O Giant Man
12:30 AM – The Appleseed Cast
Riot Room Patio, 4048 Broadway St. (21+)
10:30 PM – Tom Richman
12:00 AM – DJ Mahf
Westport Coffeehouse, 4010 Pennsylvania Ave. (all ages)
7:00 PM – The Author and The Illustrator
7:30 PM – Fullbloods
8:15 PM – Millions of Boys
9:00 PM – The Caves
9:45 PM – Hidden Pictures
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0:30 PM – The Empty Spaces
FRIDAY, APRIL 5TH
Gusto Lounge, 504 Westport Rd. (21+)
8:45 PM – Fourth of July
9:45 PM – Shy Boys
10:45 PM – The ACB’s
11:45 PM – Ghosty
12:45 AM – Wallpaper
From the Bay Area comes Wallpaper, who’ve been covering the local scene and have since taken their dance party on the road.
Openfire Pizza, 3951 Broadway St. (all ages)
6:00 PM – AJ Gaither
6:45 PM – The Calamity Cubes
7:30 PM – The Whistle Pigs
8:15 PM – Starhaven Rounders
9:00 PM – Whiskey Breath
10:00 PM – The Blue Boot Healers
11:00 PM – Adam Lee & The Dead Horse Sound Conspiracy
12:00 AM – Lloyd McCarter & The Honky-Tonk Revival
Record Bar, 1020 Westport Rd. (18+)
7:00 PM – Benoît Pioulard
8:00 PM – Denison Witmer
9:00 PM – Hospital Ships
10:00 PM – Spirit Is the Spirit
11:00 PM – Guards
12:00 AM – Deerhoof
A band (QRO photos at a festival) that’s always hard to peg down, the prolific Deerhoof (QRO photos), led by the unmistakable Satomi Matsuzaki, come to Middle of the Map after a European tour (QRO photos in Europe).
Riot Room, 4048 Broadway St. (21+)
7:30 PM – Deadringers
8:30 PM – Dots Not Feathers
9:30 PM – Detective
10:30 PM – Little Legend
11:30 PM – Iceage
12:30 AM – JEFF The Brotherhood
Copenhagen’s punk rock outfit Iceage (QRO photos at a festival) deliver on record (QRO mp3 review), but struggle a little live (QRO live review).
While they’re brothers from Nashville, Jake & Jamin Orrall as JEFF The Brotherhood (QRO photos) fit in perfectly with the hard rockin’ psych-garage that’s coming out of Brooklyn these days (QRO photos in NYC).
Riot Room Patio, 4048 Broadway St. (21+)
10:00 PM – Body2Body
Union, 421 Westport Rd. (21+)
10:00 PM – Kids and Chemicals
11:00 PM – White Girl
12:00 AM – Is Home Is
1:15 AM – Kitten
Union Patio, 421 Westport Rd. (21+)
10:00 PM – Bear Club
The Conspiracy Room at The Uptown Theater, 3700 Broadway St. (all ages)
7:00 PM – Not a Planet
8:00 PM – Quiet Corral
9:00 PM – The Last Bison
10:00 PM – Heartfelt Anarchy
11:00 PM – Kids These Days
From Lawrence, Kansas, Quiet Corral mix folk and pop – and class.
The ‘next Mumford & Sons’ (QRO live review) is The Last Bison (QRO photos), who come to Middle of the Map while touring (QRO photos from Saturday prior) their debut full-length, Inheritance (QRO review).
The Uptown Theater, 3700 Broadway St. (all ages)
6:30 PM – Cowboy Indian Bear
7:30 PM – Owen Pallett
8:30 PM – The Joy Formidable
10:00 PM – Grizzly Bear
One-man instrumentalist Owen Pallett (QRO live review) has worked with acts like Arcade Fire (QRO live review), including doing the string arrangements on Funeral, Neon Bible (QRO review), and The Suburbs (QRO review), but is also well known for his solo work, with 2010’s Heartland (QRO review) his biggest yet, though he had to drop the moniker of ‘Final Fantasy’ for legal reasons (QRO photos under that name at a festival). Just him and a violin on stage, he loops it through samplers & pedals, yet has been able to fill a stage (QRO live review) even at festivals (QRO photos at a festival).
Welsh powerhouse The Joy Formidable (QRO live review) has already taken Europe, Canada (QRO photos at a festival in Canada), Australia and even The States (QRO photos) by storm with expertly played opening slots alongside Passion Pit (QRO live review), Temper Trap (QRO live review) and Editors (QRO album review). The impressive trio (QRO photos) got a killer live show (QRO live review) to go with 2010’s killer The Big Roar (QRO review), and now they’ve got follow-up Wolf’s Law (QRO review) – so be ready for a jolly good time (QRO photos at a festival)! Be sure to catch killer frontwoman Ritzy Bryan as she rocks the Uptown Theater (QRO photos at a festival).
Things have gotten very big for Grizzly Bear (QRO live review), surprising many who thought the humble, intricate Brooklyn outfit (QRO live review) was too complex for mass appeal. Yet mass appeal is what the group has gotten off of recent records Shields and Veckatimest, as their sonic beauty transcends (QRO photos). They’ve even played Stephen Colbert’s ‘ColbChella’ (QRO photos at ColbChella ‘012), which is surely a highlight in any act’s career.
Westport Coffeehouse, 4010 Pennsylvania Ave. (all ages)
8:00 PM – Dead Ven
9:00 PM – Dollar Fox
10:30 PM – The Latenight Callers
11:00 PM – The Hillary Watts Riot
SATURDAY, APRIL 6TH
Gusto Lounge, 504 Westport Rd. (21+)
2:00 PM – The Blackbird Revue
3:00 PM – Cadillac Flambe
4:00 PM – John Velghe & His Prodigal Sons
5:00 PM – We Are Voices
6:00 PM – Great American Canyon Band
7:15 PM – Trouper
8:15 PM – Antennas Up
9:15 PM – Mister Lies
10:15 PM – Akkilles
11:15 PM – Smoker
12:15 AM – Sleepy Kitty
1:15 AM – Scratch Track
St. Louis’ Sleepy Kitty (QRO photos at a festival) proves the old adage that girl + guitar + man + drums = good times.
Openfire Pizza, 3951 Broadway St. (all ages)
6:00 PM – Phantoms of The Opry
7:00 PM – The Konza Swamp Show
8:00 PM – The Bullhaulers
9:00 PM – Pharaoh Tarot’s Snake Oil Sideshow
10:15 PM – Burlesque with Annie Cherry, Damian Blake, and Sophie Sassafrass
10:30 PM – The Quivers
11:30 PM – St. Dallas & The Sinners
12:30 AM – Brutally Frank
The Outdoor Stage, 4110 Pennsylvania Ave. (all ages)
2:00 PM – Hearts of Darkness
3:00 PM – She’s a Keeper
4:00 PM – Radkey
5:00 PM – Roman Numerals
6:00 PM – The Beautiful Bodies
7:00 PM – Soft Reeds
8:00 PM – Futurebirds
9:00 PM – Divine Fits
Giving Middle of the Map a slice of indie is Athens, Georgia’s Futurebirds (though they still use instruments like pedal steel guitar, banjo, and mandolin).
Often when great musicians team-up (in the over-used term ‘supergroup’), the result is less than the sum of its parts. That is not, however, the case with Divine Fits (QRO photos at a festival). The pairing of Britt Daniel (of Spoon – QRO live review) and Dan Boeckner (of Wolf Parade – QRO live review) impressed with debut A Thing Called Divine Fits (QRO review), and have kept on going (QRO photos from first official show).
Record Bar, 1020 Westport Rd. (18+)
2:30 PM – Oils
3:15 PM – y(our) fri(end)
4:00 PM – The Capsules
4:45 PM – The Sluts
5:30 PM – The Soil & The Sun
7:00 PM – Joe Pug
8:00 PM – La Guerre
9:00 PM – People Get Ready
10:00 PM – Palace
11:00 PM – Making Movies
12:00 AM – Tennis
The indie-pop of Denver’s Tennis (QRO photos at a festival) is as cute as the husband-and-wife duo, though a little lightweight to close out Middle of the Map (QRO photos at a festival).
Riot Room, 4048 Broadway St. (21+)
5:30 PM – The Noise FM
6:30 PM – Six Percent
7:30 PM – My Gold Mask
8:30 PM – PUJOL
9:30 PM – Maps For Travellers
10:30 PM – The Casket Lottery
11:30 PM – Dent May
12:30 AM – The Whigs
Dent May and PUJOL come to Kansas City after rockin’ out Savannah Stopover in Georgia (QRO photos at the festival).
Outta Athens, Georgia, The Whigs are starting their second decade of southern garage rock together.
Riot Room Patio, 4048 Broadway St. (21+)
2:00 PM – Clairaudients
3:00 PM – Cherokee Rock Rifle
4:00 PM – The Slowdown
5:00 PM – The Dead Girls
8:30 PM – Vandal? Vandal!
9:30 PM – Ebony Tusks
10:30 PM – The Abnorm
11:30 PM – Stik Figa
12:30 AM – The Conquerors
1:15 AM – Barbaric Merits
Union, 421 Westport Rd. (21+)
9:15 PM – Drew Black and Dirty Electric
10:15 PM – Schwervon!
11:15 PM – Berwanger
12:15 AM – The Belles
1:15 AM – The Regrets
Union Patio, 421 Westport Rd. (21+)
10:00 PM – Brent Tactic
See our map of the venues here:
View QRO Magazine Middle of the Map 2013 Preview in a larger map
For festival website, go here: http://www.middleofthemapfest.com/
