{"id":87408,"date":"2026-11-03T14:05:09","date_gmt":"2026-11-03T20:05:09","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/kjhk.org\/web\/?p=87408"},"modified":"2026-11-03T16:20:36","modified_gmt":"2026-11-03T22:20:36","slug":"lauren-sandersons-sapphic-spectacle-at-the-encore-at-uptown-theater","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/kjhk.org\/web\/2026\/11\/03\/lauren-sandersons-sapphic-spectacle-at-the-encore-at-uptown-theater\/","title":{"rendered":"Lauren Sanderson\u2019s sapphic spectacle at The Encore at Uptown Theater"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

Photo by Lauren Braun<\/em><\/p>\n\n\n\n

When I arrived at The Encore at Uptown Theater in Kansas City, Missouri, on Oct. 25 to see Lauren Sanderson, I was immediately greeted by a crowd ready to rock. Sanderson\u2019s music is kinetic and loudly unapologetic, mixing a pop influence with R&B, hip-hop, and nu metal. The end result is an album that’s brash, all-consuming, and very nearly addicting. While she grew up in Indiana, she\u2019s been releasing music for more than a decade and has played the Governor’s Ball Music Festival, Lollapalooza and this summer played Download Festival alongside artists like Linkin Park and Limp Bizkit. She even has a version of her song, \u201cCOME SAY SUM,\u201d featuring Fred Durst.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The Encore was packed, filled with \u201chey, mama’s” lesbians of past and present. Even before the show started, it was easy to tell everyone there was a diehard fan, dressed in a mix of leopard print and black, matching the visual identity of Sanderson\u2019s newest album, \u201cLAUREN,\u201d perfectly. As a side note, the album also features her smoking a leopard-printed cigarette, an absolutely iconic choice that was unfortunately not available at the merch table. The energy in the room was palpable waiting for the show to start.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Opener XYLAR came out to get things started, priming the crowd. I\u2019ve loved Xylar since her most recent EP, \u201cWHY IS NOBODY DANCING?,\u201d came out earlier this year. It’s a question I find myself asking often, but this album is the perfect response, a combination of dance-pop, electronic, and house that’s impossible to stay still to. With a mix of spoken and sung vocals set to a bouncy beat and supported by pounding bass, each track is club-ready and entirely perfect for anyone who loves to move. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

Her performance was an invocation to the already eager crowd, with Xylar calling out to get everyone dancing. She even changed the lyrics of her song \u201cHot,\u201d switching pronouns from \u201che\u201d to \u201cshe\u201d to better suit the audience and inviting the crowd to sing along in a call-and-response style. Her entire performance was high energy, with her dancing across the stage and even running to join the crowd at one point. As someone who\u2019s been listening to her music on repeat all summer, it felt like her set absolutely flew by, packed to the brim with energy and excitement but quickly over. We\u2019ve had an explosion of music by incredible electronic artists this past year, and XYLAR is definitely one of my favorites.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

After that, Lauren Sanderson arrived to cheers, joined by her drummer and close friend Tayler Jordan. She immediately jumped into her first song, \u201cSPELL IT OUT,\u201d to the absolute delight of the crowd. It’s easy to tell why Sanderson is so beloved. Her raspy vocals are captivating and sound even better live, filling up the space and entirely matching her loud, unapologetic persona. I was struck by her stage presence right away. As a newer fan, it was instantly obvious why so many local lesbians would sacrifice a Sunday night to pack in and see her in person. Her music is equal parts sonic rapture and fierce seduction, bringing a cool edge to a community that\u2019s getting tired of saccharine-sweet sapphic depictions where no one is getting any play. She absolutely dominated the space, made even more enthralling by the perfectly synced lighting that pulsed along with the lyrics. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

While she mostly played songs off her newest album, she made sure to include lots of older favorites as well, playing songs like \u201cQUEEN BEE\u201d and \u201cTHERAPY!\u201d off of her 2022 album, \u201cDeath Of A Fantasy,\u201d as well as songs from her 2020 album, \u201cMidwest Kids Can Make It Big,\u201d and even \u201cGAY 4 ME\u201d by G Flip, which she features on, much to the delight of the audience. She also made sure to connect with her crowd, at one point asking a couple near the front how they met as a lead-up to her next song. Even she was shocked when their answer was “over Fortnite.\u201d She ended the concert with the tour\u2019s namesake song, \u201cCOME SAY SUM,\u201d first on her own and then again with a fan she pulled from the crowd to sing the Fred Durst verse with her.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

We walked out absolutely energized. Both Lauren Sanderson and XYLAR gave phenomenal performances, but I also think it’s rare to find a crowd that’s so unified. There was so much excitement in the room, and once Sanderson came on, it seemed like nearly everyone was singing along. With the incredible drought of lesbian bars of the current era, it was so nice to be in such a queer- and femme-dominated space, everyone reveling in a shared love for the music. Of course, the show being incredible only made the experience better. Sanderson left with promises to stop by Kansas City again on her next tour, whenever that will be, and I can wholeheartedly say I\u2019m excited to find my way back whenever she does.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Photo by Lauren Braun When I arrived at The Encore at Uptown Theater in Kansas City, Missouri, on Oct. 25 to see Lauren Sanderson, I was immediately greeted by a crowd ready to rock. Sanderson\u2019s music is kinetic and loudly unapologetic, mixing a pop influence with R&B, hip-hop, and nu metal. The end result is an album that’s brash, all-consuming, and very nearly addicting. While she grew up in Indiana, she\u2019s been releasing music for more than a decade and […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":33336,"featured_media":87409,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[8774,8747,15],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-87408","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-concert-coverage","category-concert-reviews","category-featured-on-kjhk"],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"https:\/\/kjhk.org\/web\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/11\/IMG_5494.jpg","_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/kjhk.org\/web\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/87408","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/kjhk.org\/web\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/kjhk.org\/web\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/kjhk.org\/web\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/33336"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/kjhk.org\/web\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=87408"}],"version-history":[{"count":3,"href":"https:\/\/kjhk.org\/web\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/87408\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":87414,"href":"https:\/\/kjhk.org\/web\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/87408\/revisions\/87414"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/kjhk.org\/web\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/87409"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/kjhk.org\/web\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=87408"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/kjhk.org\/web\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=87408"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/kjhk.org\/web\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=87408"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}