Lights, Fireworks, and Pyro. Oh my! V100 proudly presents Hairball Silver Anniversary Tour featuring Topeka’s own Departure as the support act.
Tonight’s show was the first of many for me. My first show at Stormont Vail Event Center, my first time seeing Departure, my first Hairball show, and my first show in Topeka since transplanting here five months ago.
Stormont Vail Events Center (formerly the Kansas Expocentre) is a medium-sized venue that can seat up to 10,000 patrons in Landon Arena. It has a very clean, modern industrial aesthetic, and the staff were super friendly and helpful, which was particularly notable since this was my first concert at this venue.
Departure, which has been going strong for 10 years, had a phenomenal sound, and many fans were rocking out and singing along at the barricade. The 30-minute set featured classic rock songs and power ballads from the 80s, including those by bands such as Journey, Styx, and Boston.
As stated in the article opener, this was my first Hairball show, but I had researched the band, as I tend to do before photographing bands I have never seen live. My jaw is still somewhere on the floor of the arena.
The costume changes, and set list are just as impressive as all the area rock bands covered during this show. The setlist and costume change lineup was (in order by performance) KISS, Van Halen, Aerosmith, Quiet Riot, Bon Jovi, Twisted Sister, Ozzy, Queen, AC/DC, and Guns N’ Roses. I seriously feel like I am missing one, and I want to say Poison was between Quiet Riot and Bon Jovi.
My favorite set of the night had to be the KISS. The set was energetic, full of pyro and fireworks. I was in the right place at the right time, front and center. I felt the heat from the pyro, and let’s face it, my inner teenager was giddy about my captures, which told the visual story of what it’s like to be in the front row. Everyone in attendance deserves that same energy, and I strive to capture it at every show I cover, not just for the fans, but also for the bands.
To pull off the highly energetic set packed full of changes, the band has three vocalists (Kris Vox, Patrick Alan Stone, and Dave Moody) in rotation to make this an action-packed, bombtastic night, and one that fans will not easily forget—even fans attending dressed up as their favorite musician or put a twist on their own 80s look. So, the entire experience of the night truly takes a step back in time for both young and older rockers who still have a burning passion for 80s arena rock.
As a daughter of an Air Force/Army Veteran, I always get goosebumps and, in my feelings, when bands give a thank you shout out to America’s military men and women. What raised this bar this time was that Hairball invited three veterans up on stage to hold the flags during Happy’s National Anthem performance. You could say these veterans became the Color Guard for the anthem.
Tonight was my first Hairball show, but it certainly won’t be my last, as long as Hairball is touring.
