Back in April 2022, my dad, Joss and I took a quick road trip to Dallas. The highlight of that journey was seeing The Darkness, while Joss hung out with one of my cousins. IKEA was pretty great, too. 🙂 I didn’t expect to have the opportunity to see The Darkness so soon again, but they are currently doing another U.S. tour for the 20th anniversary of their first album, Permission to Land. My dad had mentioned having a new, better-for-road-trips car, so I half-jokingly asked if he’d be up for another Darkness concert. He said yes! This time, we headed to Kansas City. And I didn’t want to have to worry about childcare, so Joss got to come, too!
The show was at The Truman. We stayed about 5 minutes away (by car) at Hotel Indigo – The Crossroads. The Uber to the show only cost like $5 or 6, which was very nice! And the hotel was simple, clean and not too pricey. So, if you’re going to stay overnight for a show at The Truman, I’d recommend it. We did run into another couple from Tulsa staying at the hotel for the concert. (And after the show, we ran into another Tulsa family from Joss’s school, who’d also come up for the show. Yay!)
Joss got to go to Toby Mac’s Hits Deep tour at the BOK Center several months ago, thanks to free tickets from my cousin. So this wasn’t his first concert, but it was his first show of this type. The Truman is a venue similar to Cain’s, where everyone stands unless you get second-floor access. We got there early enough that we were able to stand right next to the right side of the stage, with just one row of people in front of us.
The band came out in pajamas and robes for the encore, haha
I simultaneously felt like a “cool mom” and also like a guilty mom because the show started at 8 p.m. – right about when Joss usually is falling asleep. Since I hadn’t fueled him up on caffeine, he was mostly just tired for 90% of the show. However, at one point, lead singer/guitarist Justin Hawkins came and played on our side of the stage, right next to us. I picked Joss up off the floor and pointed so he’d open his eyes and look up. Lo and behold, Justin handed him the guitar pick he was using! I mouthed “thank you,” and it was the most amazing thing. That got Joss more engaged for the next several songs, before the exhaustion took over again.
Joss was excited to look at the guitar pick after the show.
Right before the encore, they played “I Believe in a Thing Called Love.” Joss stood up and jumped around on the chorus, along with everyone else. And then the encore was so engaging, he was really laughing throughout.
Noise-canceling headphones were a great idea!
I probably mentioned in my Dallas blog post, but Justin Hawkins does a great job of interacting with the crowd. He even led everyone in the “Happy Birthday” to one of the audience members, cut the drummer’s hair and rode on a crew member’s shoulders through the crowd. They just put on a really good show. You can tell they all love what they’re doing, are ready to entertain and are happy you’re there, which is a nice vibe. Anyway, overall, Joss says he had a great experience. Whew!
Should re-do this background at some point, but for now our guitar pick is safe and hopefully won’t get lost!
Other Things to Do in Kansas City
We didn’t have much time to spend in the city, due to the long drive (3.5-4 hours). Before leaving the next morning, we did walk down to the Crown Center. Apparently, it is home to Legoland: Discovery Center, SeaLife Aquarium and Kaleidoscope, a free art-creation space. So all of these major attractions were within walking distance of our hotel, which I hadn’t realized at the time. We didn’t have time for those, but we did enjoy doing some shopping and eating breakfast at the adjacent hotel!
I’d previously asked my Facebook friends for recommendations on what to do in Kansas City, and here’s what they had to say:
The City Market is a large area that houses the weekend farmers market but also lots of permanent shops, etc. The Arabia Steamboat Museum is in this area, as is KC Soda Co., if you like novelty sodas. And Level One Game Shop is right next to the Steamboat Museum, if you need to feed your Pokémon card addiction while there. So that would probably be a fun area to explore. Several coffee shops and other restaurants, too.
Please add your own Kansas City recommendations in the comments! And thank you so much to my Dad for going this us! He did all the driving, which is so appreciated!!
