This is an archived article that was published on sltrib.com in 2017, and information in the article may be outdated. It is provided only for personal research purposes and may not be reprinted.
Kansas probably could have just kept playing greatest hits-based setlists at live shows until the end of time — or until the end of the band, anyway.
Despite myriad lineup changes over the years and a failure to issue any new music since the 2000, the prog-rockers were riding a steady wave of nostalgia along a comfortable-if-unchallenging path.
Then, in June 2014, lead singer Steve Walsh, who'd been with the band for all of its existence save a few years in the early '80s, announced he was retiring. And within two years, Kansas' staid existence was, well, dust in the wind.
Ronnie Platt was announced as the new singer (and keyboardist) in mid-July that year. Longtime lighting specialist Dave Manion was added to the lineup on keyboards 10 days later. Soon enough, they were working with writer and producer Zak Rizvi, who would subsequently join the group as a second guitarist, and by February 2016, they'd announced a September release date for a new album, "The Prelude Implicit."
Platt said in a phone interview that the infusion of new energy into the group seemed to reinvigorate Kansas' two remaining original members, guitarist Rich Williams and drummer Phil Ehart.
"Well, when I was hired, there was never a discussion of doing a new album. It just happened to come about because I think Phil and Rich just saw the ambition. … It revitalized everybody's creative juices, I guess, because we were always playing around, jamming on something," Platt said. "It's like inertia — that momentum that just keeps on building. Phil and Rich just said, 'This band has what it takes to do a new album.' So one thing led to another and, before you know it, we're in the studio recording and knocking it out."
So naturally, when Kansas visits the Eccles Theater in Salt Lake City on Thursday, it will be in support of "Leftoverture," which was released in 1976.
OK, so just to be clear, a tour celebrating that classic album's 40th anniversary was long-planned to take place in 2016, and now has simply been long-extended due to extra demand.
"When you were younger, you got an album and there were some songs you liked and you would maybe pick up the needle on a song or two. I remember just playing 'Leftoverture' all the way through without skipping anything, because every song was just amazing and intense to me," Platt said. "To just play the album in its entirety, on its 40th anniversary, it just seemed fitting to us. We've got an overwhelming response — people are loving it. We keep adding 'Leftoverture' dates all the time. So we must be doing something right. Ninety-nine shows last year! And we'll probably do the same thing this year."
These concerts also include plenty of other Kansas songs, including some from "The Prelude Implicit."
Platt, who became the band's frontman within a whirlwind five-day span after sending a Facebook message to Williams to throw his hat in the ring, said some of the initial euphoria has yet to wear off, even going on three years later.
A big part of his comfort level fronting Kansas, he said, was that Walsh's departure this time was simply his own decision to walk away, rather than the result of some behind-the-scenes drama. Fans did not have to question if their loyalty need depart alongside a man who'd become inextricably linked with the band.
"What's made it a good environment for me … is that Steve left on his own terms. The guy gave his heart and soul and sang his butt off for 40 years. Do you think he earned his retirement? I think so," Platt said. "So, with that, and our close fans knowing that and witnessing themselves that Kansas is really a family … the transition really came easy for me. The fans have just been overwhelmingly accepting of me, and I can't appreciate it enough."
He added he didn't really have any nerves about the fame that came with his new gig until it came time for "The Prelude Implicit" to make the transition from "in theory" to "in reality."
"Before I went in the recording room to do my first vocal, Phil comes up to me and he goes, 'Now listen, just relax, have fun with this, do the best you can, have a good time, just totally put it out of your mind that there's 2.3 million Kansas fans waiting for this right now!' " Platt recalled with a laugh. " 'Thanks, Phil! Nice way to put my mind at ease.' But it was a lot of fun. On to the next one, that's what I say."
Platt is certainly looking forward to more albums, and he believes his bandmates are, too.
Kansas certainly could have continued on the way it was going, he said, and perhaps nobody would have thought anything of it. But succumbing to that aforementioned "momentum" to try something new ultimately paid off for everyone, he believes.
"You're adding new blood into the equation. I just think it became contagious, and that's a good thing. We're just very ambitious and all really hardcore musicians at heart. If we didn't make a new album, again, you're talking about a band that has just an incredible library of music. With all these Kansas albums, it would be easy for Kansas to keep touring and playing the old stuff," Platt said. "But I think it's also something that keeps you young, too, just creating new stuff, and you need an outlet for that creativity. And what better outlet than to record something and put the name Kansas on it?"
Twitter: @esotericwalden —
"Leftoverture" 40th Anniversary Tour
When • Thursday, April 20; doors at 7 p.m., show at 8 p.m.
Where • Eccles Theater, 131 S. Main St., Salt Lake City
Tickets • $35-$85; ArtTix outlets, artsaltlake.org