Citizen brings the heat from Calling All Dogs in sold-out recordBar show

Singer Mat Kerekes // photo by Emily Jacobs

Citizen blew up ten years ago with their debut album, Youth, and Sunday night’s sold-out show at recordBar was proof they haven’t lost that momentum. The show was part of their tour of their new album, Calling the Dogs, which was just released last month. This tour is also the first since they announced two new official members of the band—rhythm guitarist Mason Mercer and former Title Fight drummer Ben Russin—both of whom toured with the band after the release of their last album in 2021, Life In Your Glass World, and have come to fit in with the band seamlessly.

Life In Your Glass World marked an important step in Citizen’s trajectory. After the less-popular As You Please that dropped in 2017, the band took a break and even considered breaking up. But they eventually returned to the studio rejuvenated and full of fresh ideas, and now they’re back and better than ever.

Admittedly, I’m one of the people who came to the show mostly to hear the songs from Youth—which there were five in their setlist, so I wouldn’t have been disappointed either way. Youth was on my regular rotation throughout my teenage emo phase (which, let’s be honest, still hasn’t ended ten years later). I’d listened to some of their newer stuff as background noise and always told myself I’d get around to sitting down with it, but I always found myself going back to my comfort album.

After last night, I’m regretting not keeping up with Citizen’s newer releases. Though they’ve changed up their sound, I enjoyed the newer stuff as much as the older stuff that I knew all the words to.

Local hardcore act Spine, West Coast emo outfit Modern Color, and alternative metal/shoegaze group Narrow Head got the night off to a great start before Citizen took the stage. They started off the night with an upbeat-sounding track off the new album, “Hyper Trophy,” getting the crowd going. I was surprised by the amount of hype the audience had, considering that Citizen is generally a band whose music I cry to. The pit opened up within the first few songs, but when there wasn’t a pit, the crowd seemed to combine into one at times, swaying and jumping in sync. 

Their 18-track setlist pulled at least one song from every album in their discography—all of which have changed up their sound a bit. They’ve always fallen under the “emo” umbrella, but their sound has derived from post-hardcore, grunge, alternative rock, and shoegaze on varying levels throughout their career. This meant there was quite a bit of diversity within the setlist, but it still flowed together flawlessly and felt like it could be one long album being played live.

They kept the vibes up for the first few songs, which were all pulled from their most recent albums, and then slowed down for a few classics like “How Does It Feel?” and “Summer,” though the crowd’s energy didn’t wane as they (myself included) screamed all the words along with lead vocalist Mat Kerekes and backup vocalist/lead guitarist Nick Hamm.

Citizen at recordBar // photo by Emily Jacobs

“A lot of times, putting together a tour, you have a wishlist, and it doesn’t come true and that was not the case this time,” said Kerekes of the setlist before getting into a slower song they don’t often play, “Yellow Love,” from their second album Everybody Is Going To Heaven.

The remainder of the setlist was a solid blend of deeper cuts like “Stain” and hit songs like “The Night I Drove Alone.” They closed out the night with bang with, “I Want to Kill You,” leaving a decent-sized group of fans cheering and crowding around the stage hoping to grab a setlist.

Though the band didn’t interact with the fans much throughout the show, it still felt personal. They mentioned several times between songs how excited they were to be in KC as they don’t make it out here often, and that excitement could be felt in the passion delivered throughout their set. 

Calling All Dogs is available on Apple Music and Spotify, and the vinyl record is available here.

Setlist:
Hyper Trophy
Jet
If You’re Lonely
Blue Sunday
Lay Low
The Summer
How Does It Feel?
Your Head Got Misplaced
Yellow Love
Stain
Big Mouth
Can’t Take it Slow
The Night I Drove Alone
Dogs
Sleep
When I Let You Down
Death Dance Approximately
I Want to Kill You