The skies were clear for a perfect outdoor show, and Grinders KC had a monumental lineup, Misterwives’s first all-female lineup since they started touring in 2013. A decade of work and accomplishments brought them here in Kansas City with co-headliner Bishop Briggs and opener Natalie Jane for a night full of celebration, healing, and women/non-men empowerment.
Natalie Jane started the night with a golden hour sunset performance, and immediately, she was moving back and forth across the stage to win the audience’s attention. I hadn’t heard of her before, but her raw vocals and emotions won me over as a fan. She stated that this was her first time ever in Kansas City, and to see someone so young already accomplishing big dreams such as touring was inspiring to witness. It seemed like the crowd was also impressed, and I can see her starting to get a loyal following off this tour if she didn’t already have one beforehand.
Bishop Briggs was next, and I had heard the name plenty of times off social media but had never checked the music out. The production level for this tour caught my attention with 3 risen platforms with screens against their walls to accompany visuals with the music, providing perfect symmetry across the stage. Briggs started the set atop the middle one as the screens lit up playing the music video to Art of Survival, and afterwards came down to greet the crowd with excitement and enthusiasm. It was evident that she was blown away by this experience, not just from this show, but this entire tour as a whole. Through the rest of the set, her emotional delivery led the electropop instrumentals with an almost soulful vocal style to power through the crowd and receive great responses from them. I also didn’t know a whole lot about her, but the tipping point for me personally was her cover of Hozier’s Take Me To Church that I loved.
I didn’t realize this until the middle of their set, but the last time I saw Misterwives was before the pandemic. Even then, I hadn’t seen a full headlining set either, so I was stoked to catch up on two album cycles of music I missed live and see what a full Misterwives show was like. Starting off the first two songs off their newest album Nosebleeds, vocalist Mandy Lee also stood atop the middle platform before coming down and immediately doing her signature jumps across the stage. Their set immediately felt more energetic than the previous two, but that could just be my bias towards them talking. On the topic of empowerment and healing, Lee expressed how important it was to live in the moment and to “feel as free and joyous as possible” during the show as this was a safe space for fun. She also brought some important points up that she learned during the writing process of this latest album, telling people to “learn to get comfortable in the uncomfortable” to achieve growth in their lives. I felt like this growth could be seen in their performance as a whole as the talent across the board had greatly improved since I last seen them; it could also be seen in the songs themselves as they played 13 out of the 14 songs off the new album. As many bumps in the road as they had during this cycle, it felt like a celebration of making it on the other side and a reminder of their strength and resilience, which could be translated to the audience as well for having that strength to continue in their lives and be here in this moment with them. One of my favorite parts was actually from two older songs Our Own House and Reflections. Hearing both of these with the combined improved performance levels and the new spirit of hope within the band, it was a breath of fresh air. With that said though, I’m so thankful to have experienced more than what I thought I would get out of this show; I didn’t know I needed it as badly as they needed this tour.