Words and Photos: Liquid Lunch / Total Sham / Piss Kinks at Pussy Palace

Liquid Lunch at Pussy Palace. Photo by Aaron Rhodes.

Date: March 20, 2022

Pussy Palace - Kansas City, MO

If you ask me, this was just how a Sunday evening gig should go. Roughly 50 punk rockers convened at the Palace this past Sunday for a three-band gig that started at 8:30 P.M. and ended at 10:30 P.M. The temperature hit 75 degrees that day, so most were in good spirits as they arrived. Some made leisurely, last-minute excursions to the nearby convenience store before the music started and upon their return regaled other attendees with stories about the characters they met on their brief trip.

Piss Kinks began the show (their third of the week, G*d bless them) with their usual vigor and disregard for genre norms. On some nights, a mosh pit can take on a more malevolent energy than others, but realizing this was a fairly lowkey gathering, the dancers seemed most often were wearing smiles on Sunday. That said, there still was a minor accident that resulted in the microphone cable being severed. The band knew that pausing their set to replace it could potentially kill the energy they'd built, so the second half of their brief set was performed with vocalist Reece simply shouting his lyrics sans mic.

Minnesota's Liquid Lunch elected to play second to ensure that as many Kansas Citians possible would catch their set before departing. It was the band's last night on tour and their snappy, clever garage punk numbers were dialed in. Their occasionally breakneck speed, dual vocals (on one shared mic), multiple false endings, and wonky keyboard tinkering kept onlookers engaged at all times.

The evening was closed out by Total Sham (the band's first set since changing their name from D.Y.E.). There's not much to report back other than Fetterolf and his gang of rockers kick ass no matter what the name of the band is. Also, Lance wore a cowboy hat and a bolo tie and looked very handsome.

[This show was booked and presented by Shuttlecock.]

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