At The Pitch, we go out. Scratch that: We go out a lot. And in 2010, we saw you, Kansas City. We saw you cheer, dance and roar at dinosaur acts at the Uptown Theater, at steamy rock shows at the Replay Lounge, at hard-charging DIY punk sets in warehouses, and at crusty blues riffs at Knuckleheads Saloon. After all, we were there, too. Here are 15 of the best shows we saw all year and what made them so great.
Pavement
The Uptown Theater, September 11
In a rare show of scene solidarity, everyone is in complete agreement: Pavement's performance at the Uptown was an amazing, fantastic, awesome and — might we go this far? — transcendent show that kept the crowd rapt for nearly two hours. That's an unsurprising reaction when one considers the audience, though: It was a debutante ball for formerly awkward adolescents, with gangly Stephen Malkmus presiding as king.
— Nick Spacek
The Zero Boys
RecordBar, April 16
The Zero Boys' set may have started with all-new songs, but when the band launched into "Vicious Circle," people in the crowd went off like they'd been waiting for years — which, of course, they had. Rarely does a band sound better after 30 years. We bounced around the audience with such abandon that when we woke up the next day, we found bruises in all sorts of interesting places.
— Nick Spacek
Ray Price with Dale Watson and Billy Joe Shaver
Knuckleheads Saloon, May 23
In his gracious grandpa-gone-a-courtin' manner, Ray Price, age 84, stomped total ass. He performed his hourlong set standing stock-still, and he did it despite having lived long enough to see his style of lilting, heartsick honky-tonk fade.
— Alan Scherstuhl
Janelle Monae with Of Montreal
Liberty Hall, October 22
Janelle Monae, in some freakish feat of superhuman ability, conjures rocking, toe-tapping ragers that are also touching, vulnerable portraits. Better yet, she does this while doing a one-footed mashed-potato. As evidenced by a passionate hometown crowd at Liberty Hall, Monae is still a Kansas City girl deep down, and she's quickly becoming the future of pop music, too.
— Elke Mermis
Sufjan Stevens
The Uptown Theater, October 17
Sufjan Stevens took a hard left into electronic territory for this year's The Age of Adz. The live result: symphonic slop, jarring noise, and lingering beauty that still bore the artist's unmistakable imprint.
— Elke Mermis
Phoenix with Roman Numerals
The Uptown Theater, April 21
Phoenix is a delightful date, ready to pull out your chair and pay for your dinner. But don't be fooled: The band's smoking show at the Uptown proved that Phoenix isn't a goody-two-shoes. Thomas Mars' voice edged toward hoarse anguish, pristine guitars erupted into snarling dissonance, and crisp drums became muddied and chaotic. Phoenix bid Kansas City goodnight with two quick European-style kisses and a cheeky wink.
— Elke Mermis
Lady Gaga with Semi Precious Weapons
The Sprint Center, August 3
The boob sparklers, the teeny leather bikinis, the Monster Ball claw in person — all exhilarating. But Lady Gaga live is about more than iconography. Sex, fire, glitter, bass, dancing and high heels all made cameo appearances at the pop star's show, along with torture, fake blood and a healthy dose of political rhetoric. In other words, a killer stage show that gave its audience everything it wanted.
— Elke Mermis
The National with Owen Pallett
The Uptown Theater, September 29
High Violet, the latest from the National, is a moody, elegant record, but it isn't necessarily the kind of material that makes for a dynamic live show. At the Uptown, however, the band drew wattage from tenderness, creating moods and blowing up songs at precisely the right moments. The band absolutely fucking torched the place — on its own terms.
— David Hudnall
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