RIVERSIDE, Mo. — One of the most recognizable voices in acoustic rock is headed to the Kansas City area Tuesday night, bringing a catalog that has provided the soundtrack to beach trips, backyard summers and lazy Sunday mornings for more than two decades.
Jack Johnson will bring his SURFILMUSIC Tour 2026 to Morton Amphitheater in Riverside, Missouri, on Tuesday, Sept. 1, with special guest Lake Street Dive.
Doors open at 5 p.m., with the show beginning at 6:30 p.m. The concert is all ages. Johnson’s official tour site lists Morton Amphitheater’s capacity at 14,759.
For Topeka-area fans, the show offers a chance to see an artist whose career took a decidedly unusual path to the top of the music industry.
Before Jack Johnson Was a Music Star, He Made Surf Movies
Long before millions of listeners knew songs such as Better Together, Banana Pancakes, Flake, Upside Down and Sitting, Waiting, Wishing, Johnson’s world revolved around surfing.
Johnson grew up on the North Shore of Oahu, Hawaii, and says he started playing guitar when he was 14.
And here’s a piece of Jack Johnson trivia you probably wouldn’t guess from his famously mellow sound: two of the first songs he learned on guitar were Metallica’s “One” and Cat Stevens’ “Father and Son.”
That’s quite a musical combination for the man who would eventually become synonymous with laid-back acoustic rock.
Music wasn’t initially his primary career, either.
Before releasing his debut album, Johnson was a surf filmmaker. His work on the 2000 surfing documentary Thicker Than Water helped expose audiences to his music and ultimately contributed to the path toward his debut album, Brushfire Fairytales, released in 2001.
Then Came In Between Dreams
Johnson’s easygoing combination of acoustic guitar, folk, rock and pop steadily built an audience during the early 2000s.
Then came 2005’s In Between Dreams.
The album helped propel Johnson into mainstream popularity and contained several songs that remain closely associated with him today, including Better Together, Banana Pancakes and Sitting, Waiting, Wishing.
A year later, another generation of listeners discovered Johnson through the soundtrack to the animated film Curious George, which included his hit Upside Down.
The result is a somewhat unusual fan base in 2026: people who discovered Johnson during the early acoustic-rock boom now attend alongside listeners who first heard him as kids.
The Environmental Work Isn’t Just Part of the Image
Johnson’s connection to Hawaii and the ocean has also shaped what happens away from the stage.
He and his wife, Kim, co-founded the Kōkua Hawaiʻi Foundation in 2002, supporting environmental education in Hawaii. Programs have included school gardens, recycling initiatives and environmental education for children.
In 2008, the couple also founded the Johnson Ohana Charitable Foundation, which supports organizations focused on environmental, art and music education.
That work follows Johnson onto the road.
A portion of proceeds from his tours supports the Johnson Ohana Foundation, while his All At Once initiative connects concertgoers with nonprofit organizations working in communities near tour stops.
In other words, the surfer/environmentalist identity surrounding Johnson isn’t simply branding added after he became famous. It has been intertwined with his career for decades.
Lake Street Dive Joins Him in Kansas City
Tuesday’s concert also comes with a substantial opening act.
Lake Street Dive will join Johnson in Riverside as support for this leg of the SURFILMUSIC Tour.
The group blends pop, soul, rock and jazz influences, making the pairing particularly suited to an outdoor late-summer concert.
Kansas City is near the end of this portion of Johnson’s tour. After playing Dallas Sunday, the tour arrives in Riverside Tuesday before continuing west to Colorado, Utah and Lake Tahoe.
Jack Johnson — Kansas City Concert Details
Who: Jack Johnson with Lake Street Dive
Tour: SURFILMUSIC Tour 2026
When: Tuesday, Sept. 1, 2026
Doors: 5 p.m.
Show: 6:30 p.m.
Where: Morton Amphitheater, 6150 NW Music Blvd., Riverside, Missouri
Admission: All ages
Official Jack Johnson concert information
For Topeka fans willing to make the drive, Tuesday night offers something different from the arena-sized pop and hard-rock shows that have dominated Kansas City’s recent concert calendar.
It’s Jack Johnson, an outdoor amphitheater and a late-summer evening—which feels about as appropriate as a Jack Johnson concert can get.
