Rocking Independence

Rife with corporate restaurants, highway roadhouses and mom-and-pop dive bars, Independence has few entertainment options for the young, local rock-and-roll set. Enter Damage Control (815 North Noland Road in Independence, 816-461-1117), a strip-mall saloon that caters to those who want loud, live music and cheap beer at night, plus lunch and $2 happy-hour specials during the day. Occupying the same space as the former heavy-metal bar called the Pig (and, before that, Neiners), this newly reopened red-black-and-chrome, 21-and-over venue features a calendar full of hard-rock bands and an ambitious menu that can be ordered from late into the night Monday through Saturday. There are also high-top tables and video games on the other side of the bar if the aural assault coming from the stage is too much. For those who don't want to travel 30 minutes to rock out in Westport, Damage Control might just be one of the only worthy options out east.
Mondays-Saturdays, 2009