The Elders Weekend at The Record Bar, January ‘08
It caused a little bit of fuss last time when The Elders had a whole weekend at The Record Bar, but they have another one coming up next month with gigs scheduled for Friday, January 4, 2008 and Saturday, January 5th, 2008.
Jason stated how he had blast whenever he watched The Elders perform live, and he dismissed critics of their music, only for fellow fans to find fault with Jason’s praise (in comments).
More importantly was the question Jason’s post raised that the same band playing both weekend nights might be a waste of a good venue, in the sense that another band could perform one of those nights - before in the end saying not to worry about it - or something like it: “Ah feck it, Maggie, it’ll sound greeet”.
I recall Bill Brownlee, a man with impeccable taste and who knows rather a lot about music, pointing out in the Back To Rockville blog (when speaking of their annual Hoolie at the Uptown Theater) that The Elders alone of Kansas City bands can command huge crowds at local venues, and create a level of audience participation that many superstar acts would envy. Sometimes these facts don’t seem to get as much attention as they might.
Anyway, the hoo-ha spoken of earlier is in the past - give or take me dragging it back up again now - and a weekend of 2 Elders gigs at the same venue is very big event for a lot of people in and beyond Kansas City’s Irish community.
In fact Norm tells us that this event marks the 10 year anniversary of The Elders as they began rehearsals Jan-Feb ‘98 and played their first show in July of that year.
The Record Bar lists both gigs as starting at 10pm. The bar has recently overhauled its website and installed a snazzy super duper new design. It’s very fine but, for what’s probably the best live music venue in the city, I was a big fan of the previous single page incarnation that was installed when the bar took over from Molloy Bros Irish Pub. Everything changes.
Opening the show both nights is the very excellent Beth Patterson from New Orleans.
The Record Bar is located at 1020 Westport Road in by the covered wagon, and you can call them at (816) 753-5207
Eolaí gan Fhéile:
1. It remains a fact- The Elders are the most popular Kansas City-based popular music act.
2. I’ll be in London in March- I very much appreciate your reports from behind enemy lines.
-B