Review at the Uptown

Father John Misty
July 19, 2025
Uptown Theater
Kansas City

Father John Misty is a master craftsman. The man is a card shark gambler, dealing beautifully woven words, emotions and shared fears like cards from a marked deck, cleaning you out, leaving you with a tear and a smile.

He’s a wild man preacher, pacing the stage, dancing like a man possessed by the Holy Ghost of rock and roll, shouting to the Heavens, begging for a peace he’ll never attain like it’s a brimstone revival Sunday.

The immortal lounge singer with the voice of a more troubled Harry Nillson. A man tired of the disingenuous existence of man, weary from drugs, life and time, a man nearly destroyed by himself, torn up and rising above, born again.

On Saturday July 19th, The Uptown Theater was his church, his cathedral, his Temple and we his congregation, he delivered the Good Word and all in attendance hung on every word like it would be the last.

I’m big enough to admit that, in twenty eight years of covering shows, I’ve cried openly only twice. On Saturday, the Father scored the hat trick. Good job, Mr. Misty.

From the first song (the ten minutes sound explosion “I Guess Time makes Fools of us All”) he held the room in his hands, nurturing the people before him, delivering one heartbreaker after another, coming on like the Lover Man for the End of the World.

Saying the world burns but everything will be ok and for one night, we all believed it, that you can have a heavy soul and survive, that the end is not always the end.

The song selection for the night was superb, spanning tracks from his entire career. He pulled the killer “Holy Shit” and the title track from “I love you, Honeybear” that hit me with the weight of everything given me to carry through this life. It hit me hard. “Goodbye Mr. Blue” may be the best song about a lost relationship, coupled with the passing of a beloved pet. Like I said, the man is a King.

One after another the songs we all wanted to hear were laid out before us. Father John, with an expert band of multiple instrumentalists at his back, propelling the music to the world at an ethereal level.

From “Chateau Lobby #4 (in C for 2 Virgins), “Hollywood Forever Cemetery Sings”, “God’s Favorite Customer”, “Nancy From Now On” and crowd favorite “Mr. Tillman”, he lead us through a night it seems everyone there needs.

We needed this, I needed this. For someone to tell us either through word or song, that it’s ok to be fucked up.

Like Leonard Cohen before him, Father John Misty embraces his faults, his losses, turning them into gorgeous tales given at a slightly different angle, from an off kilter perspective.

Looking to failures as small victories on the road to simulated salvation, cutting a path through the tortures of the human condition and coming out the other side alive, beaten and bruised.

The lost are now found and if you’re looking for someone to not pity but truly understand, Father John Misty is your man.

-Danny R. Phillips