And thus begins the 2026 concert season at Hillsiders in Kansas City, Kansas' beautiful Strawberry Hill neighborhood. But I'm still behind, so you know what that means – another speed run!

The flyer said Tightwire, but that may not have been the case. Tightwire guitarist and vocalist Tane Graves moved down from Minneapolis a year ago, bringing his band's songs with him. Since then, he's played as both an acoustic-guitar-toting troubadour and as the frontman of a fully electric quartet. Is the latter now Tightwire? Maybe, but that's a question for the courts. All I know is that the four-piece played a twenty-five-minute set with nearly as many songs. Pop-punk, punk, punk rock — all delivered with urgency, hooks, backing vocals, and guitar riffage. A good time was had by all. Whoever they were.

Denver's Trauma Czars was sandwiched in the middle slot. Another two-guitar punk rock quartet, but less pop punk and more hardcore elements mixed in. Think Avail. I think everyone in the quartet got a turn at lead vocals, and I'm positive everyone got in on the "whoa-oh-oh" action. The guitar leads were loud as hell, or maybe I was just too close to the guitarist's Orange amp. If you want to hear more, hey, I'm right there with you. When is the band coming back to town?

Company Retreat landed the headlining slot. The band doesn't play out often, as at least one member now lives halfway across the country. It does write and record though, and on this night, it was releasing two of those tunes on a new split 7" with Trauma Czars. I've seen the quartet (again, two guitars) plenty. Sometimes the group rides the gimmick hard with matching shirts and over-the-top banter. Not this time. The guys were relaxed, offering a long set that included some fan favorites, the two new songs from the split, and a host of new ones set for an album I'm told we should expect in the summer. The set's punk rock was more rock 'n' roll than I remembered. Pleasantly so. On the way out, I picked up the new 7" (free to all attendees) and the band’s last album on vinyl. Apparently these write-ups aren’t the only thing I’m behind on.