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Review Sun Mar 13 2011
Review: The Get Up Kids @ the Bottom Lounge
Audience members reaction to The Get Up Kids' set Friday night at the Bottom Lounge was as expected: eruptive excitement during any pre-breakup tune and respectful tolerance of anything off their first post-reunion full-length, 2011's There Are Rules. This can be expected of almost any band touring after a post-reunion release. Even the most loyal and accepting fans are still most likely in attendance to hear the songs that they waited years to hear again, not the ones that have only been around for few months.
After an awkward opening song — "Tithe" off the aforementioned TAR — things took a definite turn for a better when the opening chords of Something To Write Home About's "Action and Action" came blaring through the speakers. This pattern persisted throughout the night. Crowd members raged with excitement during songs off Four Minute Mile and Guilt Show, and kept conversation to a dull murmur during songs off the band's most recent release. To their credit, The Get Up Kids put on a great show and did a fair job of rotating new and old tracks.
It's been nearly 15 years since some of Friday's showcased tunes were written, songs like "No Love" and "Don't Hate Me," but the members of The Get Up Kids recreated that youthful energy almost effortlessly while proving their maturity during more sober moments like pre-encore closer, the dramatic "Walking on a Wire."
Any indication of enjoyment on the part of the Get Up Kids' members had to be taken from non-vocal cues alone. Any between-song banter was drowned out by unrelenting requests from various attendees.
While Jim Suptic charmed audience members when he took the reigns as lead vocalist, like during his almost necessary rendition of "Campfire Kansas," it was Matt Prior that really had fans eating out of the palm of his hand at Friday's show. Audience members seemed almost entranced by the frontman during classics such as "Holiday."
The Get Up Kids' show at the Bottom Lounge on Friday wasn't part of a reunion tour --that was two years ago -- but it still offered the same emotions. When a band with ten years, four albums and an adoring fan base under their belts initially call it quits, getting to see your favorite songs brought to life again is always a blessing.
