What’s nightlife in KC like these days? These local DJs think it needs a spark
Kansas City draws thousands of tourists for its barbecue, sports teams and hometown feel in a bigger city. A growing, diverse nightlife scene is yet another element that helps Kansas City live up to its ‘Paris of the Plains’ moniker.
The bright lights of Power and Light and the district’s open courtyard surrounded by bars, clubs and restaurants always make it a nightlife destination. The various options there range from Top 40 sounds at Shark Bar to the country saloon featuring a mechanical bull in PBR, and a wide range of melodies played in the KC Live! block on any evening.
In Westport, long-standing bars like Kelly’s and Harpo’s vie with spaces like live music venue and bar Tin Roof and Latin nightclub Lotus, which add to the options in the district.
The Crossroads has a myriad of bars and eateries for people to choose from, like popular bar King G and the bar and food hall Parlor. First Fridays during the summer months keep the arts district abuzz by featuring vendors throughout the district, with galleries and storefronts adding live music to create a vibrant atmosphere.
And the West Bottoms is slowly becoming its own nightlife destination featuring bar, grill, and event space The Ship, hi-fi lounge In The Lowest Ferns and newly opened Eastern culture-influenced cocktail bar Laila Lounge.
Overall, the KC nightlife space is eclectic with plenty of room for expansion, yet volatile, as businesses struggle to consistently get partygoers in their spaces, according to some local DJs.
The Star spoke with five DJs who have been working in Kansas City for at least three years about their thoughts on current nightlife trends and how they see the current local nightlife scene.
‘A blank canvas’
Two DJs, DJ Doop and Dom Chronicles are Kansas City natives. FK Menace, Casio McCombs and DJ Nick Davis all moved to the metro later in life.
Each DJ has worked in various parts of the local scene, and traveled across the country mixing records and rocking crowds as independent acts and openers for bigger acts. They also acknowledged the diversity of KC’s nightlife scene, noting that there is something for almost everyone.
There’s also lots of room for growth, they said, as the city expands and more creative minds create new local spaces.
“I’ve always said Kansas City is a blank canvas searching for that identity,” Menace said.
Menace, who dons a lucha libre mask when he performs, is a San Antonio native who moved to Kansas City in 2012 to attend the Kansas City Arts Institute.
“You even have people from all across the country and even the world trying to buy property here too, and because they know the longevity that the city is going to have, and the opportunity and everything else in between,” he said.
But the DJs said it can be difficult for new local spaces to stay open, especially when there are a multitude of options across the metro.
“It becomes rough on venues when they have all these super cool concepts, but they can only last for so long because they don’t have the clientele that come out to support them,” Davis said.
Attendees tend to pick their nightlife destinations based on the music being played. Some venues primarily play specific genres, while other places switch music selection based on the event taking place.
Social media can be a primary driver to gather a large audience for crowds, but it doesn’t always work, making crowds either settle for the mainstay districts or find the DJs they know and hope they’re performing locally that day.
“Some things are not as visible online as others,” Doop said. “But if you really want to catch a vibe, you gotta be your own researcher, and you gotta get in the right pockets of people so you can figure out where to go.”
They hope that current venue operators will continue to work with local DJs, as they all strive to create captivating nightlife concepts.
“When you’re in the position of power... I think your job should be to open the mind and to help with that,” Chronicles said. “Challenge the people that are here to get out of their comfort zones a little bit.”
“These [DJ] household names that are here, we here,” Menace said. “Already we’re like a staple to go there if you coming into town. I know exactly who to hit up. And that right there is gonna push that and propel that into something that’s well known.”
Curating spaces
These DJs keep their audience and their community at the top of their minds as they navigate which venues to work at, what events to work, and plan their own events.
Because of their commitment to the community, four of the DJs began hosting and curating their own events, including a party series: Chronicles and McCombs have curated More Than Friends, a party featuring themselves and guest DJs, since 2022; Davis has curated Goodies, a 90s and 2000s party, since 2019; Menace has curated On the Couch, a party where he interviews DJs as they spin, since last year.
Each of these events has rotated between different venues in different districts as the DJs have seen their events grow in attendance through the years. They chose to create their events, while still performing at other venues and events, to form the ideas they saw lacking in the community.
For Davis, he wants to see more people in venues when special events are put on in the city.
“We need more bodies in the building,” Davis said. “More bodies in the building to show that these things can work. That’s how we get more tour stops or after parties.
“When the World Cup comes to Kansas City next year, there should be all types of, all types of [parties] like Bacardi is doing this and Casamigos is throwing a party here, Nike is doing an event. It should be more of that should become the standard.”
For the nightlife scene to continue evolving, it starts at the top, DJs said, with venue operators seeing the importance of community when hosting events. And naturally, the DJs hosting events believe their events are pushing the nightlife scene forward as well.
“Kansas City is consistently this place that wants to be viewed on a nationwide scale, but they don’t do nationwide things,” Chronicles said. “That could easily start with music because people fly here from everywhere.”
