Kansas City super group "Radar State" is a natural hit at the Downtown Fullerton Slidebar.
Kansas City's Radar State ended their two and a half week tour with a banging set Saturday night at the Slidebar Rock-N-Roll Kitchen in Fullerton California. This was the only free show offered during the entire leg of the tour, so it was only fitting that it occurred on the final show of the road for the band. Anyone who has ever been a fan of The Get up Kids or the Anniversary and was located near this location should not had let this event slip by.
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Radar State performed a total of 16 songs which featured 12 of the 13 tracks off of their newest album, Strays. While they didn't perform an encore, the band did play straight through the set. They included an unreleased song titled "Telephone" and three tracks off of their self-titled E.P. ending the night with the track, "Drugs USA".
The band definitely had passion and chemistry which was a bit surprising seeing it was the last show of the tour. There was a lot of banter and joking among the group which started with Jim Suptic exclaiming to the crowd that all three of them were in competition with each other over the lead singer role, and how fans only like Josh’s songs. He did have a point though, as the crowd seemed more receptive to Josh Berwanger's tracks evident by the cheerful singing back and pointing. Berwanger had the best stage presence of the group, especially while singing the energetic, punchy-punk tune “Damn the Man”. At one point, Josh summoned a puppet that was making the rounds at the venue which got the audience "shouting give it a guitar". There was a lot of humor and comedic expression. At one point, Matt Pryor even joked about the new drug of choice for kids called "fortnite".
The Slidebar is known to host shows throughout the week, but it's the weekends that tend to get tricky with crowds. The music venue can get crowded and quite hot considering it is an intimate size. Any location in the room will allow a guest to experience decent sounds and views of the stage. Since the Slidebar caters to different patrons simultaneously, it is not unusual to have guests from the bar area enter the music venue either oblivious or possibly curious, and get sucked right into the energy of the crowd. This was the case during Radar States performance. Multiple individuals were seen making their way into venue - looking confused at first - then end up having to get pulled out of the room by their other friends. This had to be a reaction to the energy Radar State was emanating from the stage.
The band played about a 40 minute set. Oddly enough, one would’ve thought a “no phone” policy was in effect as almost everyone in attendance was watching and enjoying the performance in front of them, not the one through the little glowing screens that have become commonplace at most concerts. A refreshing sight indeed!
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