Kansas carries on with ‘Point of No Return’ tour

Kansas, on its face, is a very different band now than the group people knew in the 1970s, when the group rose to the top of the rock scene behind the multi-platinum albums “Leftoverture” and “Point of Know Return.”

Back then, the band’s original lineup was still intact, with guitarist/keyboardist Kerry Livgren and singer/keyboardist Steve Walsh leading the way as the band’s songwriters.

But to guitarist Rich Williams, Kansas today has in a very tangible way come full circle despite obvious differences between the current edition and the original lineup.

For one thing, only Williams and drummer Phil Ehart remain from the original lineup that also featured Livgren, Walsh, bassist Dave Hope and violinist Robby Steinhardt. Now the two original members are joined by Ronnie Platt (vocals) Billy Greer (bass), David Ragsdale (violin), Zak Rizvi (guitar) and Tom Brislin (keyboards).

But Williams sees an important parallel between where today’s Kansas is and where the group was back in the early 1970s.

“In many ways, it’s similar to the early days of the original,” he said in a late August phone interview. “The record business has changed now to where there is no money in it. So it gets us back to the original (thought of) we’re not going to make any money making this record.”

Instead, the group, which formed in Topeka, Kansas in 1973, is motivated by making albums, just as the original lineup was in the beginning.

“It’s important for fans and it makes us valid in what we’re doing, not has-beens,” Williams said of making new music. “We are still very creative. So since money is not really the object in it, and it wasn’t when we first started either, It’s the love of doing it (that’s similar to the early years).”

The new Kansas is connecting back to the original group in another way this year.

This fall, Kansas will resume its tour celebrating the 1977 album “Point of Know Return,” which behind the hit single “Dust in the Wind,” became a multi-platinum hit. The band is playing “Point of Know Return” in its entirety, along with a full set of songs from across the band’s career.

The band plays Hartman Arena Saturday, Sept. 28.

While the “Point of Know Return” period was obviously a career highlight for Kansas, it also marked a turning point for the original group.

“All of a sudden we actually started seeing money,” Williams said. “The songwriters were seeing money from record one. And so the songwriters were doing extremely well, and we started to make money on the road. Money started coming in, but disproportionately, not in a negative way. But some people were making a lot of money and some people were starting to do really well. So where (before “Leftoverture”) we were just all for all, one for one, a pirate ship out on the mighty sea, now some people are buying cars and houses and boats, and some people are hoping to soon be doing that…None of these are necessarily bad things, but they change the internal workings of six guys pulling together.

“We made a few more records, but the end was coming,” he said. “In hindsight, you can see that the original six wasn’t going to work in that form much longer.”

By the early 1980s, the lineup was starting to fall apart, as Walsh, Steinhardt, Livgren and Hope all moved on to other projects.

Williams and Ehart pushed forward with Kansas, and the lineup went through a number of further changes (including the temporary returns of Livgren and Steinhardt and a lasting reunion with Walsh that lasted from 1985 until 2014).

But where losing a popular singer has doomed many bands, Walsh’s 2014 retirement reinvigorated Kansas.

Platt came aboard as the new singer, joining Williams, Ehart, longtime members Greer and Ragsdale and keyboardist David Manion. Walsh had for years resisted making new music, but now Kansas was ready to return to the studio.

Rizvi was hired to produce what became “The Prelude Implicit,” the first Kansas album since 2000s “Somewhere to Elsewhere.” As work began on the project, Rizvi presented a group of songs he had written that he felt worked well with the classic Kansas sound. These songs became the backbone of “The Prelude Implicit,” and Rizvi was brought on as a full member of Kansas.

Kansas has remained on a creative roll since. The band (with keyboardist Brislin replacing Manion) is well along in making a new studio album that’s targeted for release next August. Williams reported that Rizvi has once again been writing lots of material, and Brislin is adding to the pile of new songs.

“The Prelude Implicit” earned considerable praise for recapturing the violin-laced blend of melodic classic rock and progressive rock that was the signature of the original Kansas. Williams said the new album builds on that goal of creating quintessential Kansas music.

“I think we’re in line with continuing to be Kansas. But I think the new Kansas has matured a lot in who we are now,” he said. “We are more that than we were on the last record. It’s more progressive. I mean, everything about it is just better.”

Kansas Point of No Return Tour

When: 8 p.m. Sat. Sept. 28

Where: Hartman Arena, 8151 N. Hartman Arena Dr., Park City

Tickets: $37-$121, available at Ticketmaster.com

This story was originally published September 27, 2019 at 5:00 AM.