Watch out, Taylor Swift. Travis Kelce brings star-studded music festival back to KC area
More than 700,000 people streamed the Kelce Jam concert, but only a precious few in the Azura Amphitheater brushed shoulders with Travis Kelce himself.
A tipsy-looking man in a pink button up said, “Night’s going all right, touched Travis Kelce’s hand.”
“He gives a crisp high five,” the festival-goer told no one in particular.
For the second year in a row, Travis Kelce threw his own Kansas City music festival, held in Bonner Springs on Saturday night. Some 20,000 fans came to the concert, featuring Lil Wayne, Diplo and 2 Chainz. The tight end is coming off a monstrous season — with his second Super Bowl win in a row and a highly publicized relationship with pop star Taylor Swift.
Decked out in Chiefs gear and the occasional Eras Tour T-shirt, fans sweated out the humid May night. Before the concert, Kelce made a round of the sponsor booths, making his way through fans clamoring to get photos. One attendee exclaimed, “I’ll never wash this hand again!”
Another fan, Crystal Calderon, arrived at Kelce Jam in a party bus with her friends and family members. The Kansas City resident threw footballs to win a hair regrowth foam, one of the many activities put on by the festival’s sponsors.
“We came last year and we’re just very stoked from the experience of last year, and so we just wanted to come again,” Calderon said.
Even when he wasn’t present, Kelce Jam was all about Travis Kelce. Two huge inflatable 87’s decorated the mainstage, while cutouts of his face adorned the portable toilets.
Chiefs players showed up to their teammate’s festival. Quarterback Patrick Mahomes went onstage during the 2 Chainz set, and guard Trey Smith ate nine chicken wings in 90 seconds to win an onstage contest. Also in attendance were cornerback Trent McDuffie, defensive end George Karlaftis, former kicker Tommy Townsend and Welsh rugby player-turned-Chiefs recruit Louis Rees-Zammit.
Former Bachelor Matt James, Swiftie TikTok influencer Victoria Garrick Browne and famous brother Jackson Mahomes came, too.
Kelce is fresh off a European trip to see girlfriend Taylor Swift’s Eras Tour concerts in Paris and a couple’s getaway in Italy’s Lake Como. On Saturday night, he fondly remembered an Italian dish, “some buttery ravioli bites that we had that were just unbelievable.”
But Kelce’s favorite part of Europe? Seeing Swift’s concert, he said.
Swift is missing her boyfriend’s music festival, as she is performing herself in Stockholm, Sweden. “She wishes she was here, I know that,” Kelce said. But he said that she advised him to “go out here and have fun.”
Also notably absent was brother Jason Kelce, who Travis said had an Philadelphia Eagles event.
This is the second year in a row that Kelce has held his eponymous festival, and the second year in a row that the Chiefs have won the Super Bowl. The 2023 event was a rainy affair held during the NFL Draft, with performances by rappers Machine Gun Kelly, Rick Ross and Tech N9ne.
Kelce arrived onstage Saturday to a highlight reel of his football plays, alongside a clip of him making a hand heart, a shout-out to his famous girlfriend. “Life could be no better right … now,” Kelce said, using some of his signature colorful language.
Kelce repped his merch before the concert, wearing a Kelce Jam T-shirt and bucket hat before the show with Billionaire Boys Club Ice Cream jeans and Chiefs-colored Nike shoes.
On his wrists he mixed a Louis Vuitton bracelet with Taylor Swift-inspired friendship bracelets that he swapped with concertgoers, and spelled out “Kelce Jam” and “LFG.”
Onstage, Kelce rocked a bandanna headband with a black Thrasher-style Kelce Jam shirt.
He seemed to have a blast throughout the concert, coming on stage between and during sets to hype up the crowd and even sing along. He performed a karaoke version of AC/DC’s “You Shook Me All Night Long,” though he remembered more lyrics than his previous karaoke attempt.
That’s part of his motivation for putting on the festival, Kelce told the media before the show: “I do this for me. I have fun doing this.”
This story was originally published May 19, 2024 at 12:36 AM.
