Kansas City Playlist: Expect ONE MILLION World Cup Visitors

Forgive the dated 90s-era campy comedy movie reference but sometimes it hurts to be right. 

And so . . .

Here's what passes for "news" this weekend . . . .  

Star:  Is Kansas City ready for 650,000 World Cup visitors? Could be even more than that

Let's not forget. . . 

TKC READERS predicted the number would hit ONE MILLION before it's all said and done. 

This follows a familiar pattern when it comes to Visit KC tourism estimates . . .

 Nevertheless . . . Tonight we clown the confidence and sketchy numbers ahead of the fact . . . Here's the money line that might or might not pay off for locals . . . 

Soon after learning which teams were assigned to Kansas City for group-stage games in the 2026 FIFA World Cup, Kathy Nelson recalibrated the number of visitors she is expecting here in the heartland.

The original estimate of 650,000, already a stunning figure, might not be high enough.

“You think about the caliber of teams coming here, I kind of expect that number to go up,” said Nelson, who serves as the president and CEO of VisitKC and the Kansas City Sports Commission.

And all of this inspires our www.TonysKansasCity.com playlist for tonight . . .

Let's begin with a classic political track from the otherwise awful Brit band Genesis accompanied by the ugly puppets of Spitting Image and everything the world is happy to forget about the 80s.

We're always up for 90s nostalgia on a Saturday night . . . 1991 R.E.M. collab "Shiny Happy People" seems like a much more authentic version of chatter we're hearing from local tourism boosters.

On the topic of festivals motivated by ideology . . . A Crosby, Stills and Nash cover of "Woodstock" written by Joni Mitchell reminds us that nice ideas are often difficult to bring to fruition.

For the bridge, a jazzy change up for those of us who have already OD'd on the music of Vince Guaraldi far too early into December. The Ramsey Lewis Trio and their version of the "The In Crowd" provides the kind of motivation we all might need as we move forward into the holiday season.

Finally, since we're talking about international party time . . . In 1957 Édith Piaf scored a hit with La Foule, a reworked song regarding a chance encounter in a crowd and quickly chanting fortunes. We found a neat clip that we wanted to share that matches late evening energy as even the most independent souls can never completely separate their fate from the multitude.

As always, thanks for reading this week and have a safe & fun Saturday night.