World Cup brings a panoply of free live music to KC this summer
The Chainsmokers. // photo by Archana Sundar
Regardless of whether or not the World Cup bring the hundreds of thousands of visitors to Kansas City promised by FIFA, area residents will benefit musically from the multiple free concerts on offer as part of the festivities.
The biggest draws are the shows at the FIFA Fan Festival on the grounds of Liberty Memorial, kicking off on Friday, June 12, with a show headlined by Kansas City icon Tech N9ne. The following night, Saturday, June 13, sees electronic duo the Chainsmokers headlining, kicking off a month-long series of shows including rapper Flo Rida on Friday, June 19, Cuban funk rapper Cima Funk on Saturday, June 20, country singer Gabby Barrett on Friday, July 3, and concluding with shows from indie rockers the All-American Rejects and Tech N9ne on Saturday, July 11.
Local artists on deck as part of these shows include yacht rock cover band Summer Breeze, indie faves Hembree, funk wonders the Phantastics, soul singer Hailes, blues rockers Katy Guillen and the Drive, and many more.
Capacity at the FanFest shows is limited to 25,000 attendees, and requires registration and a digital pass for entry, so you might want to get on that paperwork now.
That said, if you don’t want to brave the crowds and parking challenges, just across the border in KCK, Sporting Park will have a series of free shows they’ve dubbed Soccer Capital Summer. While the biggest show will be alt-rock lifers Third Eye Blind on Saturday, July 18, the night before the tournament final, the series also brings rap-rockers Gym Class Heroes Third Eye Blind on Sunday, June 28, Kansas’ own country singer Logan Mize on Monday, July 6, and house DJ duo Coco & Breezy on Sunday, July 19.
There’s also a slew of local music from DJs and artists, including the COLORS collective, to kick the series off on Wednesday, June 17, and Thursday, June 18, with sets from Making Movies, DJ Ashton Martin, the Royal Chief, Dom Chronicles, and more to follow over the course of the following weeks.
Sporting Park’s Soccer Capital Summer will also require advance registration to attend the concerts, and will include a slew of other activities outside the shows, including live viewings for over 20 World Cup matches. The lineup and tickets are available here.
In addition to a series of watch parties presented by the Johnson County Parks and Rec department which will transform JCPRD’s Theatre in the Park, the plaza in front of Shawnee City Hall will host Americana & Ales, a music and beer festival on Saturday, June 20, with sets from Nashville bluegrass artists Bronwyn Keith-Hynes, alongside locals like Making Movies, the HillBenders, Calvin Arsenia, the Lost Keys, and more. RSVP to this event is free and available here. 
Finally, down the road a little further, Score Lawrence and the Lawrence Busker Festival will present a series of street parties in downtown Lawrence with music and vendors, and match screenings inside Liberty Hall, the Granada, and the Lawrence Arts Center, kicking off with the Community Kickoff Soccer Party in South Park on Friday, June 12.
That’s an awful lot of free music to take in, and a lot of time outdoors, so if you’d like to maybe relax indoors with a chair, there’s also something we’d like to file under “not FIFA but still cool,” which is the Mid-Continent Public Library’s Tracks in the Stacks series.
It kicked off earlier this month when Daniele Ate the Sandwich performed at the Excelsior Springs branch on Thursday, May 14, but you can still catch singer-songwriter Kirstie Lynn at the Buckner Branch on Tuesday, June 2, blues duo Hudspeth and Taylor at the Raytown Branch on Tuesday, June 9, and indie pop duo The Swallowtails at the Smithville Branch on Thursday, June 25.
No registration is required and more information is available here.
