1:33:43

Enjoy this full show by old era Kansas! I’ve digitally enhanced both sound and image (in 16:9) to make this 30 year old gem shine again. In 1981 Kansas was the top grossing live act worldwide and this recording from the following year clearly shows the reasons for that: unsurpassed individual musical skills and impeccably tight playing as a collective. Live the band sounded even better than on their studio albums. I mean, just compare the album version of a song like Crossfire to what you hear here… This is the original line-up minus Steve Walsh, who had left a few months before and had been replaced by John Elefante. Also helping out during the Vinyl Confessions live shows was Warren Ham, formerly of Bloodrock. He would later be asked to join Toto but went on and joined Kerry Livgren and Dave Hope instead to form the band AD. Interestingly enough, after Kansas’ initial demise in 1984 John Elefante was also asked to join Toto as their new lead singer, but he declined as well.

The songs:

00:00 Nobody’s Home / Song For America /
The Pinnacle keyboard intro
01:51 Paradox
06:18 Windows
10:30 Right Away
14:23 Sparks Of The Tempest
20:28 Diamonds And Pearls
25:47 Mysteries And Mayhem
29:50 No One Together
38:03 Hold On
41:21 Dust In The Wind
46:33 Chasing Shadows
52:29 Crossfire
59:05 Face It
62:56 Miracles Out Of Nowhere
70:01 Play The Game Tonight
73:43 Carry On Wayward Son
80:47 Drum Solo
82:04 Portrait (He Knew)
87:29 Down The Road
91:56 Magnum Opus (snippet)
93:09 Curtain Of Iron (outro)

The band:

Kerry Livgren (guitars, keyboards, backing vocals)
Robby Steinhardt (violin, vocals, backing vocals, tambourine, triangle, drums)
John Elefante (vocals, keyboards, backing vocals, guitars)
Rich Williams (guitars)
Dave Hope (bass)
Phil Ehart (drums)

Guest musician:

Warren Ham (backing vocals, flute, saxophone, clarinet, keyboards, harmonica, woodblock)