SecondIn April 2022, my dad, Joss, and I took a quick road trip to Dallas. The highlight of that trip was seeing The Dark and Joss hanging out with one of my cousins. IKEA is great too. 🙂 I didn’t expect to get the chance to see The Darkness again so soon, but they are currently on another US tour to celebrate the 20th anniversary of their first album, Permission to Land. My dad mentioned having a new car that was more suitable for road trips, so I half-jokingly asked him if he wanted to attend another dark concert. he said yes! This time we headed to Kansas City. I didn’t want to worry about babysitting, so Jos had to come too!
The show was held at the Truman Hotel. We stayed at Hotel Indigo – The Crossroads which is about 5 minutes drive (drive) away. Taking an Uber to a show only costs $5 or $6, which is great! The hotel is simple, clean, and not too expensive. So if you are planning on staying overnight at the Truman Hotel to watch a show, I would recommend it. We did meet another couple from Tulsa staying at the hotel for a concert. (After the show, we met other A Tulsa family from Jos School also participated in the performance. yeah! )
A few months ago, thanks to free tickets from my cousin, Joss was able to attend Toby Mac’s Hits Deep tour at the BOK Center. So this is not his first concert, but it is his first time doing this type of show. Truman’s venue is similar to Cain’s in that everyone is standing unless you have access to the second floor. We arrived early so we were able to stand on the right side of the stage with only one row of people in front of us.
The band came out for the encore in pajamas and robes, haha
I simultaneously felt like a “cool mom” and a guilty mom because the show started at 8pm – exactly when José usually goes to sleep. Since I didn’t give him caffeine, he was just tired 90% of the time. However, at one point, vocalist/guitarist Justin Hawkins came to the side of our stage and played right next to us. I lifted Jos off the floor and pointed him so he would open his eyes and look up. Lo and behold, Justin handed him the guitar pick he was using! I said “thank you” with my mouth and it was the most amazing thing. This got Joss more engaged for the next few songs before exhausting him again.
After the show, Joss was excited to see the guitar pick.
Just before the encore, they played “I Believe in a Thing Called Love.” Jos stood up and jumped up and down in the choir with the others. Then the encore was so engaging and he was laughing the whole time.
Noise canceling headphones are a great idea!
I may have mentioned it in my Dallas Blog post, but Justin Hawkins does a great job interacting with the crowd. He even led everyone in “Happy Birthday” to an audience member, cut the drummer’s hair and rode through the crowd on the shoulders of a staff member. They just put on a really good show. You can tell they all love what they are doing, are ready to entertain and are happy to have you there, it’s a great atmosphere. Anyway, overall, Jos said he had a great experience. Wow!
Should redo this background at some point, but for now our guitar picks are safe and hopefully not lost!
Other Things to Do in Kansas City
Due to the long drive (3.5-4 hours), we didn’t have much time in the city. We did walk to the Crown Center before leaving the next morning. Apparently, this is the home of LEGOLAND: Discovery Center, Sea Life Aquarium and Kaleidoscope, a free art-making space. So all of these major attractions were within walking distance of our hotel, which I didn’t realize at the time. We didn’t have time to do any of this, but we did enjoy shopping and having breakfast at a nearby hotel!
I’ve asked my Facebook friends for Kansas City travel tips before, and here’s their response:
City Market is a large area that houses a weekend farmer’s market but also has many permanent shops etc. The Arabian Steamboat Museum is in the area, as is the KC Soda Co. if you like novelty sodas. If you need to satisfy your Pokémon card addiction there, the Level 1 Game Store is located right next to the Steamboat Museum. So this might be an interesting area to explore. There are also several cafes and other restaurants.
Please add your own Kansas City suggestions in the comments! Thanks so much to my dad for visiting us! He does all the driving, thank you very much!
