Songs for America…
Kansas, Straz Center, Tampa, February 11th 2012

Kansas is one of the best known American progressive rock acts of the 1970’s and early 80’s.
The first successful line-up was formed in Topeka, Kansas in 1973 and notable, former players include original members Kerry Livgren (primary song writer, guitars & keyboards), Dave Hope (bass guitar) and Robby Steinhardt (vocals & violin), plus later contributors John Elefante (vocals) and Steve Morse (guitars).

The current line-up consists of Phil Ehart (drums), Rich Williams (guitars), Steve Walsh (vocals & keyboards), Billy Greer (bass guitar & vocals) and David Ragsdale (violin & guitar).
Ehart, Williams and Walsh were all founding members of the band while Greer is a long-time member, joining in 1986.
Ragsdale was a member throughout most of the 1990's before returning in 2006 after the departure of Steinhardt.

I am a fan of Kansas mainly because of their unique sound and about a month before the show was very happy to discover the band was coming to the Straz Center in Tampa.
I had received a promotional code from the local radio station for 35% off ticket price and the reduced cost allowed my boyfriend and me to purchase tickets right in the centre of the sixth row, front orchestra section. 

At a table out in the lobby a vendor was selling an assortment of merchandise including the Dust in the Wind coffee table book and t-shirts in a couple different styles including There’s Know Place Like Home (celebrating Kansas’ 35th anniversary in 2009) and Point of Know Return. 

At show time, the band walked out on stage and took their places with Billy Greer serving as MC for the show.
Greer told the audience about the book and gave a little background to some of the songs. Being in the centre of the sixth row we could hear and see everything that was going on very well (I doubt we will ever have seats like those again).

Overall the band played well and it sounded like they never missed a note, but the weak link was Steve Walsh.
His voice is showing noticeable age and overuse and it is definitely going like… Dust in the Wind.

Throughout the show his voice was thin and noticeably off key.
He was hitting the high notes, but his voice lacked the roundness it needed and many lyrics seemed garbled and were extremely hard to understand.
Walsh’s best performance of the night was his tolerable rendition of the aforementioned classic, 'Dust in the Wind.'

The vocal high point of night did not belong to Walsh but to Billy Greer, for his high energy performance of 'Down the Road' (originally sung by Robby Steinhardt) and his great backing vocals throughout the show.
My opinion is that Greer could have handled the vocals on the night’s set-list very competently and left Walsh’s talents to his keyboard playing.

The musical highlight of the band was David Ragsdale and his high-energy rock and roll, electric violin.
Ragsdale’s style was unusual and so was his instrument – it had a neck, strings and a bridge, but just a frame of a body.
Ragsdale was the life of the party and he spent most of the concert moving around the stage, interacting with the audience and the other musicians, especially Billy Greer.
Their interactions were quite entertaining; they seemed to play off each other and Greer also interacted with the audience and encouraged them to interact with the band. 

Phil Ehart’s drums, Greer’s bass guitar and Walsh’s keyboard made the catalogue come to life and the music jump off the stage.
The weaker link in interaction was Rich Williams. Although he played his PRS concisely and competently, he lacked overall zeal. 
He always seemed engrossed in his own playing rather then what was going on onstage or in the audience.

The set featured Kansas songs covering several different albums from the 1970’s and early 80’s, including:
'Portrait (He Knew),' 'Dust in the Wind' and the title track from the Point of Know Return album and 'Belexes' from their self-titled debut album.
From Leftoverture we heard 'The Wall' and 'Miracles Out of Nowhere' while 'Icarus - Borne of Wings of Steel' was played from Masque.
Other notables were 'Song for America' and 'Down the Road' from Song for America and 'Hold On' from Audio Visions.

The encore consisted of 'Fight Fire With Fire' from Drastic Measures, which Walsh dedicated to U.S. troops, and the Leftoverture classic 'Carry On Wayward Son.' 
During the latter the audience was invited to sing-a-long with the band.

Overall, despite Walsh’s vocal shortcomings, we had a very memorable night watching some great musicians performing some great songs.
And from some of the best seats in the house. 

Amanda Lee Campbell
February 2012