Kansas City Blog

The night opened up with an appearance from the Lizard Man, who has been the MC for the Jägermeister Tour since its inception. He greeted the all-ages crowd with reminders of how Jäger is a delicious black ichor, that Jägermeister supports live music and not underage drinking. Later in the evening, the orange haired Jager girls surprised the scaly MC with Birthday balloons, though instead of a sing-along, the girls roused a hearty "Fuck you Lizard Man!" from the crowd. Lizard Man replied, "Fuck you too, ladies," with a waggle of his bifurcated tounge. The love in the air was thicker than the sweat.

St Louis band Conquest filled in the local talent slot on this leg of the tour and channeled metal like only middle-aged guys who are just happy to be on the stage can. The moshing started immediately, and just to prove that metal does not discriminate, the pit was wheelchair accessable.

The end of Conquest's set began an awesome evening of sound checks and equipment failures with metal music providing refreshing interludes. Microphones seemed to have the worst gremlins of the evening, and the second band, 3 Inches of Blood, finally made the stage by borrowing a wireless mic as the sound guys poured their sweat into the piles of wires leading off stage. 3 Inches of Blood singer Cam Pipes summoned many a devil horn from the crowd with his King Diamond/Mercyful Fate falsetto. Pure, Distilled, Screaming '80s Metal.

Around this time, the storms and tornado watches started in ernest, and and the stage lights illuminate streams of water on the floor. Bouncers brought in haybale-sized bundles of towels to keep the stage dry, and squeegees and mops fought the tide at the back bar and entrance.



Type O Negative brought the blackness to stage, both audibly with a friendly sing along to "Kill All the White People," and with the large bottle of Jagermeister lead singer Peter Steele burned through during their long set. Sadly, Pete seems to be feeling his age, as he seemed to waver during the last two songs, and he finally left the stage abruptly and was met by assistants with oxygen mask in tow. He was seen later exiting the club in a more coherent state, but visibly annoyed. (Yes, Peter, there is alcohol in Jägermeister. Lots of alcohol.) Still ,Type O's mix of thrash, gloomy romance, and naked green mannequins was the highlight of the evening.

Hatebreed wrapped up the evening with metal in the key of Fratboy, and the crowd was a sweaty mess by the time the circle pit eventually ebbed.

The Jagermeister Tour's celebration of sledgehammer-to-the-teeth style music was well recieved in KC, and many fans last night were soon on their way to St Louis to get hit again tonight.

Critic's Notebook
Personal Bias: When Type O Negative finished, all the older folks moved to the back. Sadly I was one of them.
Random Detail: The green mannequins of Type O were like a photo negative of the Jager Girls.
By the Way: Jager bottles make excellent guitar slides.