Classic rock band Kansas plays entire ‘Point of Know Return’ album live at Kirby Center in Wilkes-Barre on Nov. 23
From a press release:
It was announced today that America’s preeminent progressive rock band, Kansas, will be touring select U.S. cities this fall to celebrate the 40th anniversary of their massive hit album “Point of Know Return,” including a stop at the F.M. Kirby Center in Wilkes-Barre on Friday, Nov. 23 at 7:30 p.m.
Tickets, which are $49.50, $69.50, and $126, go on sale this Friday, March 23 at 10 a.m. and can be purchased at the Kirby Center box office (71 Public Square, Wilkes-Barre), online at kirbycenter.org, and by phone at 570-826-1100. A Kirby Member pre-sale begins Wednesday, March 21 at 10 a.m.
In 1977, Kansas followed up the success of “Leftoverture” by releasing the album “Point of Know Return.” Containing the smash hit and million-selling single “Dust in the Wind,” along with fan favorites such as “Portrait (He Knew),” “Closet Chronicles,” and “Paradox,” “Point of Know Return” became the band’s greatest selling album. The album peaked at No. 4 on Billboard’s Album charts, reached sextuple-platinum status with more than six million copies sold, and had three Billboard Hot 100 singles.
“After the success of the album ‘Leftoverture,’ it was hard to imagine when we released ‘Point of Know Return’ that this album would be even bigger, but it was,” comments Kansas guitarist and original member Richard Williams. “From the album artwork to the song ‘Dust in the Wind,’ the album ‘Point of Know Return’ is really ingrained in rock ‘n’ roll history and even in popular culture.
“The past two years, we have done around 80 select shows performing the album ‘Leftoverture’ in its entirety. We have been blown away by the positive fan response. Our hope is that fans will enjoy this ‘Point of Know Return’ tour just as much, and hopefully even more!”
Throughout the tour, live shows will not only culminate with the album performed in its entirety, but Kansas will also perform classic hits, deep cuts, and fan favorites. The band has not publicly performed some songs in this more than two-hour musical event in decades, if ever.
Kansas lead vocalist Ronnie Platt adds, “I often joke that I cannot be in charge of putting together a set list, because there are too many songs that I really want to perform. These shows, though, will be about as close as it gets. Of course, there will be hits like ‘Carry on Wayward Son,’ but to know we will be performing songs that Kansas has not performed live for 20 or 30 years, or even ever, that is just really exciting. It is going to be a lot of fun.”
With a legendary career spanning more than four decades, Kansas has firmly established itself as one of America’s iconic classic rock bands. This “garage band” from Topeka released their debut album in 1974 after being discovered by Wally Gold, who worked for Don Kirshner, and have gone on to sell more than 30 million albums worldwide.
Composing a catalog that includes 15 studio albums and five live albums, Kansas has produced eight gold albums, three sextuple-platinum albums (“Leftoverture,” “Point of Know Return,” “Best of Kansas”), one platinum live album (“Two for the Show”), and two one million-selling gold singles, “Carry on Wayward Son” and “Dust in the Wind.” They appeared on the Billboard charts for over 200 weeks throughout the ‘70’s and ‘80’s and played to sold-out arenas and stadiums throughout North America, Europe, and Japan. “Carry on Wayward Son” continues to be one of the top five most played songs on classic rock radio, and “Dust in the Wind” has been played on the radio more than three million times.
