Rock Flashback: On the Road With Kansas

Kansas was famed for its use of the violin, an unusual instrument even for a prog-rock band. (Getty Images/Paula Bronstein)

Since no good idea ever goes unrepeated, let’s dive, as we did yesterday, into one of those fan-generated concert chronologies. This time: heartland rock band Kansas.

The first concert listed in the Kansas Tour Dates Archive happened on September 4, 1971, when Kansas, then billed as White Clover, played Marymount College in Salina, Kansas. The band played its first significant gigs in May 1974, opening some West Coast dates for the Kinks. That September, they appeared on a bill in Bloomington, Indiana, with the Beach Boys and the Eagles.

In early 1975, Kansas spent two months opening for Queen, but from late summer 1975 until they went out with Bad Company for an extended stretch in March 1976, Kansas played with a dizzying variety of acts. The oddest bill was in Minnesota and Wisconsin, where the band opened for Eric Carmen and the Sweet on three nights.

With the release of Leftoverture, Kansas was often a headliner. Their opening acts on the Leftoverture tour in early 1977 included Ambrosia, Starcastle, Journey, and Styx. Later in the ’77 and early in ’78, the Point of Know Return tour was supported by Crawler and by Cheap Trick on a few dates, including some shows in Europe.

The listing for the 1979 Monolith tour includes the following note for the show in Oklahoma City on June 22: “this is the day Kerry [Livgren] converted to Christianity.” One wonders if the monotony of playing anonymous Midwestern arenas night after night might have had something to do with it. And along with the listing for September 6, 1981, a show in Saratoga, New York, these words: “last show with original six members.” Steve Walsh left the band following that tour. But the road didn’t end: in the summer of ’82, Kansas would be out again with two new members aboard.

Here’s Kansas in 1976 with a performance of “Carry On Wayward Son.” I’d love to know the provenance of this video — it’s the studio backing track but a live vocal. I’d also love to know how to grow hair like that, although I suppose it involves being 35 years younger than I am now.

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