Review of the Truman

View the Truman in 360° here on Roundme!

It takes a lot to make me feel cool — my “awkward jelly fish hand dance” frequently makes my math class squirm in their seat with second hand embarrassment. But walking away from KC’s newest concert hotspot, the Truman, I felt like my dork card would be revoked. Just being in the Truman around people from all walks of life, and  listening to “up and coming” musicians in a millennial’s architectural paradise made me feel like I was on trend. For once.

The Truman, which opened in mid-September of this year, is KC’s newest small concert venue. To see what the buzz was about, I bought tickets for the 1,400 person venue to see rock bands, the Wrecks and Dreamers, who were opening up for New Politics at the Truman Feb. 24.

As a former warehouse, the Truman nails the garage band vibe with minimalistic, but modern design with navy walls  decorated with white accent colors. The aggressive rectangulares of the outside of the building could be boring. But the art on the side of building and graphically pleasing white “T” on the front of the building gave it a subtle face-lift.

It’s not plain in a boring way, as the simplistic design is clean and allows you to focus on the music. The main concert area is no frills — navy walls, stage to the left, bars and restrooms. The only thing that was out of the ordinary was the upstairs VIP area, resembling a factory surveillance deck out of a crime boss movie.

The Truman is a venue for all ages, which is a godsend — finding smaller venues that allow minors is like finding a phone that doesn’t have the Snapchat update.

The first thing you see when you walk in is a big movie theater style marquee listing who is playing and what’s coming up, which sets the tone for classic aspects mixed into a modern design. In the lobby area, there is a main bar with tables lined up against the windows overlooking the city.

My weakness is restaurants with a view, so I wouldn’t be opposed to stopping by the Truman for lunch if they offered food. In the main bar area there is also a coat check, which is nice during the winter when you don’t want to be schlepping around a coat when the band asks you to put your hands up.

I don’t claim to know a lot, but the low ceiling was making me nervous about the acoustics and how well the sound would travel, but that turned out to be a moot point. I never knew sound could make my heart vibrate, but with the first strum of the guitar I could feel my organs bounce around in my chest. My ears were pulsing with burning white noise so much that I didn’t need my white noise app that night to soothe me to sleep.

The farther back you go, the better the sound quality gets. So if you love live music but hate people, depending on how crowded the show is, you could stake out a table in the back and enjoy the music. Even though I was swaying in the back, the energy of the pit transferred back.     

While the sound system was my favorite part, the overall cleanliness was a close second. It was impeccable with not a single piece of trash to be found, which stands out compared to the other venues littered with cigarette buds. The bathrooms were spacious and probably some of the cleanest public restrooms I have ever been in, which is saying a lot for a concert venue — I’m 95 percent certain concert venue bathrooms are where the flu had originated. As someone who is irrationally terrified of getting the flu and a germaphobe in general, it gets my stamp of approval.

Even though the atmosphere is slightly retro with hints of modern minimalism, my exact vibe, the major downside I had to pay a service fee of $18 on top of ticket price. I know all the other venues do it too, but it seemed pricey compared to the $7 fee I paid for the Uptown. Whenever I check my bank account, the service charge taunts me. My other complaint about the Truman is the source of all complaints: parking. But tell me when parking in the Crossroads doesn’t make you question going to the event after all? If you can find parking, I’ll personally pay your service fee.

Pay my service fee for me and I would go to the Truman again, easy. The modern vibe with the Claritin clear sound quality in a refurbished area of KC is recipe for a guaranteed popular spot in upcoming years. 

Multimedia by Carolyn Popper