Kaki King gave a mesmerizing and intricate performance at the Temple Theatre Monday, Oct. 16. The performance was part celebration of the 20th anniversary of her debut album Everybody Loves You, part intimate production of some of her newer work. Projections of people roller skating, geometric shapes and poetry illuminated King's guitar as she played. It made for a magical and mellow evening as a part of the 2023-2024 Live From The Temple concert series.
In an interview before the concert, she told IPR's Tony Dehner that sometimes audiences and fans will tell her that her music "knocks things loose" and "gets used for certain kinds of deep work." Now that we've seen in person the intensity and intentionality with which she uses a guitar as a tool, not just an instrument, it's easy to understand why the soothing sounds of her finger picking style fuels thoughtfulness.
King started the show from behind an electric drum pad, then moved from the drum to a chair at center stage. From there, she took the audience on an introspective journey through songs from her older albums and added in a few new compositions. One of those is "Teek," a track that uses a signature guitar bridge she developed in collaboration with luthier Rachel Rosenkrantz.
As she loosened her strings and tuned her guitar down, she added "the passerelle" that she and Rosenkrantz developed, explaining that the bridge turns a regular six string guitar into a twelve note instrument that can produce sounds reminiscent of the Japanese koto or the Chinese guzheng.
And, for the guitar nerds out there reading, King played her signature Ovation Adamas modified guitar with carbon fiber neck. During Q and A after the show, someone asked her how many guitars she owned, to which she replied, "well I always need one more."
King used a different tuning for nearly every song, and she played her entire 75-minute show without once looking at a tuner. It was incredible, but par for the course from this internationally acclaimed multi-instrumentalist and composer.
Before the concert we noted that beloved musician Dave Grohl had been quoted say that "there are some guitar players that are good and there are some guitar players that are really fucking good... And then there’s Kaki King.” He's not wrong.
If you're unfamiliar with her music, listen to the original composition "Teek," which uses the passerelle and was released as a single in May 2020, in encore to her latest LP, Modern Yesterdays.
King had previously played in Iowa at the former Des Moines Social Club when she was touring her project The Neck is a Bridge to the Body. She said before she left stage that she would return to Iowa. If that does happen, don't miss the chance to see her live, especially if you're a guitar nerd or are into people doing interesting things with stringed instruments. She'll push the boundaries of previous performances you've seen in central Iowa.
The photography in this story was funded by a grant from Prairie Meadows.
