Jack’s Mannequin Made A Tuesday Night Feel Like A Holiday
June 17th, 2025 - Kansas City, MO
Sometimes the music you discover during your formative years sticks with you into adulthood, and Jack’s Mannequin is that band for me. I was a freshman in high school when I heard Everything In Transit for the first time. An upperclassman, way cooler than I could ever hope to be, recommended the album to me and I’d like to think it helped steer me away from a lifetime of listening to Top 40’s Country and into the realm of Alternative Music.
I never got to see Jack’s Mannequin before they broke up, so getting to see them as an adult who could relate more to the lyrics than a 14 year old me ever could was as close as I think I’ll ever get to a spiritual experience.
Tickets for this show were sold out and by the time I got to The Truman the line was down around the block filled mostly with millennials, some with their own kids, and people my own age,( I was eight years old when this album came out, for reference,) dotted the line, but everyone was here to do the same thing: celebrate 20 years of Jack’s Mannequin and Everything in Transit.
Los Angeles based folk pop act Yoke Lore was the opener for our leg of the tour. From the start of their set the energy on stage was infectious. I don’t generally listen to this type of music anymore, but I enjoyed Yoke Lore’s set immensely. Their music reminded me of when I first got my drivers license and exclusively listened to 96.5 on the radio on the way to school and back every day. Front man Adrian Galvin simply looks like he is having the time of his life on stage and I enjoyed watching him perform. Some of the songs that stood out to me during their set were “Good Pain” and “Winona.” This show was deeply rooted in nostalgia for me and this band that I had never heard of before that night reminded me of a way simpler time in my life in the best way possible.
Jack’s Mannequin’s set had the best vibes I’ve ever experienced at a live show. Everyone who was in attendance was genuinely just having a great time, myself included. They opened with “Holiday For Real” & “Spinning,” which is arguably one of my favorite Jack’s Mannequin songs. I’ve seen Andrew’s newer project a couple of times but he sounded absolutely amazing singing the older songs. I absolutely cried multiple times and I wasn’t the only one. There were happy tears and smiles on the faces of everyone around me and it was just such a wholesome night.
At all the shows on this tour the touring team has been raffling off drumheads to benefit the Dear Jack foundation towards the end of the night. If you’ve never heard of it before, The Dear Jack foundation helps facilitate programs to benefit adolescents & young adults facing cancer treatment and diagnosis, after Andrew himself beat cancer as a young adult. To retrieve the drumhead Andrew crowdsurfed on a giant inflatable “La La Llama” the whole length of the Truman and back, which everyone got a kick out of. I got to hear so much of Everything In Transit live for the first time in my life, which to be honest I never thought was going to happen AND I got to photograph a band that was insanely formative to me as a teenager so the night was a win all around.
