This week’s top live music | Motley Crue, Tori Amos, OneRepublic

Even the hardiest music lovers think twice before subjecting themselves to the Warped Tour stop in Bonner Springs. The majority of the massive daylong festival takes place on a paved parking lot at the Cricket Wireless Amphitheater. The extreme temperature emanating off the blacktop can be unforgiving. The output of the festival’s musicians is often just as ruthless. A youthful version of metal is represented on the tour by bands including Chicago’s Born of Osiris. Plague Vendor is one of several of the event’s California-based punk ensembles. Stanford graduate K.Flay is among the hip-hop artists along for the ride, and New York’s Cute Is What We Aim For is part of the tour’s large pop-punk contingent.

General admission tickets are $35 in advance through ticketmaster.com.

Like far too many bands, Toadies is unfairly associated with a single song. Toadies’ signature 1995 hit “Possum Kingdom” is a scathing song named for a lake in the band’s home state of Texas. During the band’s initial 12-year run that ended in 2001, Toadies possessed the raw power that’s more commonly ascribed to Queens of the Stone Age. The reunited band will play its 1994 debut album “Rubberneck” in its entirety on Thursday. Ume will open the show. The Austin-based trio’s “Monuments” is among the most scintillating heavy rock albums released in 2014.

Tickets are $20 in advance through knuckleheadshonkytonk.com.

Even though Emily King comes by her influences honestly, her music is an immaculately fashionable amalgamation of popular trends. “All I Can Become” is one of several of the New York artist’s compositions that sound like the soulful pop of Adele by way of master songwriter Carole King. Additional selections by the younger King combine the gauzy electronica favored by James Blake with the passionate gusto of Janelle Monáe. The approach makes King seem like a star in the making. Maria the Mexican, an ambitious roots-oriented band from Kansas City, opens the show.

Tickets are $12 in advance through czarkc.com.

The protagonist of JB and the Moonshine Band’s “Ain’t Goin’ Back to Jail” defiantly proclaims that a concealed handcuff key will ensure his escape, but his revolted description of a cellmate’s hygiene and the sting of pepper spray in his eyes indicates that the miscreant’s behavior has once again landed him on the wrong side of the law. The impudent song exemplifies the quartet’s rugged aesthetic. Formed five years ago in Tyler, Texas, JB and the Moonshine Band play an appealing middle ground between shaggy Red Dirt country and the slick sound of Nashville. Ryan Manuel, a Lawrence-based country artist, opens Thursday’s show.

Tickets are $12 in advance through thegranada.com.

Ryan Tedder is one of the most important men in popular music. Yet his name remains unfamiliar to most music fans. Devotees of OneRepublic know that Tedder is largely responsible for his Colorado band’s hits ranging from the 2006 smash “Apologize” to the recent pop gem “Counting Stars.” Tedder’s golden touch as a songwriter and producer have been tapped by stars including Demi Lovato, Carrie Underwood and Beyoncé. Ireland’s The Script and New York’s American Authors, ensembles that share Tedder’s uncanny knack for crafting pop hits, open the show.

Tickets range from $25 to $85 in advance through kcstarlight.com.

The gear of At the Left Hand of God was stolen from the band’s base in Kansas City’s Northland a few months ago. In spite of a concerted effort by the members of the metal band and the area’s music community, the costly equipment has yet to be recovered. In addition to a performance by the unlucky victims of the crime, Friday’s benefit for At the Left Hand of God features a powerful array of many of the region’s most notable heavy rock ensembles. Participants include the veteran thrash band Hammerlord, the grunge revivalists Bummer and the jazz-inflected Jorge Arana Trio. The young skate punks in Austin’s Residual Kid will also make an appearance.

Tickets are $8 in advance through theriotroom.com.

Although peripheral associations can be made with musicians ranging from Kate Bush to Regina Spektor, Tori Amos remains a wholly distinctive artist 22 years after the release of her breakout album, “Little Earthquakes.” Precious few hits of the past two decades resemble Amos’ keyboard-based art-rock selections like “Silent All These Years” and “God.” Her material is a startling combination of vulnerability and strength. Amos is celebrating the 50th anniversary of her birth with a world tour in support of “Unrepentant Geraldines,” her 14th studio album. Trevor Moss and Hannah-Lou, a British husband-and-wife duo, are touring with Amos.

Tickets range from $29.50 to $49.50 in advance through axs.com.

Much like boxers who vow that each fight will be their last, veteran rock bands are infamous for falsely labeling each new outing a “farewell tour.” Knowing that fans are weary of being misled, the members of Mötley Crüe signed a “cessation of touring agreement” earlier this year. The document asserts that the men responsible for sordid hits such as “Girls, Girls, Girls” will not tour after 2015. The time frame leaves just 16 months for the crossover metal band to make an additional appearance in Kansas City. Sunday’s show might be the last chance for locally based fans to show Mötley Crüe their appreciation. The legendary shock rocker Alice Cooper and the pop-metal duo the Raskins will get the farewell party started.

Tickets range from $21.89 to $127 in advance through axs.com.

Organizers of the OMG Music Fest are banking on the premise that a portion of the youths who love to scream during appearances by teen idols at arenas are also willing to invest their dollars in performances by aspiring pop acts at much smaller venues. An assortment of artists who dream about becoming the next Ed Sheeran, Ariana Grande or Selena Gomez have banded together for the OMG Music Fest. Knoxville’s Jacob Whitesides is typical of the touring festival’s artists. The fresh-faced teen’s acoustic rendition of One Direction’s “You and I” is the most viewed offering among his many videos on YouTube.

Tickets range from $25 to $95 in advance through ticketmaster.com.

Geographically based band names were once reliable indicators of an ensemble’s point of origin. The classic rock band Kansas was formed in Topeka. Chicago began in the Windy City, just as Boston originated in the Cradle of Liberty. The misleadingly named Panama, however is from Sydney, Australia. Panama’s synth-pop is likely to find a welcome reception during the trio’s first tour in the United States. Fans of Grouplove and Phoenix will appreciate Panama, and the Australians’ throwback sound will send devotees of early Depeche Mode and Erasure into blissful reveries.

Tickets are $8 in advance through theriotroom.com.

For all its successes, the Lee’s Summit-based Strange Music label has yet to propel an artist other than Tech N9ne to mainstream stardom. Rittz may be poised to alter the label’s track record. The Georgian certainly doesn’t look the part of a hip-hop star. His long hair and relatively advanced age (he’s 33) are unconventional traits in a genre that’s come to embrace conformity. Rittz confronts his detractors on his latest album, a project that appeared in the top 10 of Billboard magazine’s R&B/Hip-Hop Albums sales chart, by suggesting that “if you don’t like me, go and watch some Nickelodeon.”

Tickets are $20 in advance through theriotroom.com.

Bill Brownlee, Special to The Star

This story was originally published July 30, 2014 at 7:00 AM with the headline "This week’s top live music | Motley Crue, Tori Amos, OneRepublic."