In Chicago, The Get Up Kids prove they’re still Something To Write Home About (10/22)
The Get Up Kids may not have been the hottest act in town last night. After all, the pinnacle of their success came with 1999’s release, Something to Write Home About, and after two more albums and rumors of in-fighting, the band broke up in 2005. This fall, they embarked on a reunion tour to celebrate the tenth anniversary of the album and its recent re-release. Local papers largely ignored Thursday night’s reunion concert in their weekend hot lists, and some went so far as to pan it entirely (one unflattering blurb described their sound as “essentially just mall-punk sprinkled with tears and a dollop of woe”). So perhaps the usual “music-curious” crowd didn’t come out to the Metro last night in Chicago.
Fans wouldn’t have had it any other way. Packed to the rafters with a relatively mature crowd of twenty-and thirty-somethings, the Metro was humming with anticipation even during talented openers Kevin Devine and The Life and Times. When the lights went down, the hush in the room was startling.
Photo by Steve Rogovin
Imagine the crowd’s surprise, then, when the first sounds to reach their ears were not the band, but rather canned music. After a moment’s indignation, confused faces turned to laughter and cheers; the song was Prince’s “1999″. People were dancing in place when lead singer Matt Pryor took the stage. “Are you ready to party like it’s 1999?” he shouted to the screaming audience, moments before launching into Something’s opening track, “Holiday”. “What became of everyone I used to know?” Pryor sang, with a charmingly ironic smile, out into a sea of delirious faces.
Glancing around the room was like watching a tent revival. Tattooed arms pumped joyous fists righteously in the air, heads bobbed, people danced in place since there wasn’t room to move. Anyone who expected a bunch of shoegazers crying until their eyeliner dripped onto the toes of their Converse was sorely disappointed; these “kids” are a bit older now, a bit wiser, and at least for last night, they were radiantly happy. Beatific smiles wreathed nearly every face when the band burst into popular track “I’m a Loner, Dottie, A Rebel…” The audience sang along so loud that only a miracle of microphones kept Pryor audible; at several points during the show, he stepped back with a stunned smile on his face, flinging an arm out to indicate that the crowd should carry it home.
Other crowd favorites included classic tracks “Anne Arbour”, “Valentine”, “I’ll Catch You”, and “Mass Pike”, which truly shows the kind of dedicated fans The Get Up Kids have; several of those tracks are from an early EP. Guitarist Jim Suptic went acoustic for “Campfire Kansas”, much to everyone’s delight.
Less-well-known tracks left the room a bit cold, though to their credit, everyone silently watched and head-bobbed along with dedication. “Overdue” didn’t produce a big reaction, and two tracks seemed to be possibly from the store of new material the Kids are rumored to have. Those were driven by drummer Ryan Pope, and had a faster, harder beat than a lot of the classic songs, but seemed for the most part well-received. This audience was out for old favorites, though, and the show closed with more of those.
After leaving the stage once, the band came out for an encore, ripping into a delightfully bubbly cover of The Cure’s “Close to Me” that was powered by James Dewees’ skillful application of keyboard. They next covered The Replacements’ “Beer for Breakfast”, prompting more outright dancing from the dazed audience. They rounded the set out with a few classic tracks, including fan fave “Don’t Hate Me”.
Photo by Steve Rogovin
The show was a moment of musical history for a crowd that wasn’t necessarily able to see the band live previously; many fans were just learning to drive when the band broke up. For older “kids”, the set seemed to bring up fond memories. Halfway through the show, a fan leaned forward and murmured, “I guess there were some things I missed about high school, after all.” For many in the room, The Get Up Kids symbolize an important part of their early lives: first girlfriends, first big concerts, first kisses. The songs that are with you during important times are the ones that stick with you later. The band is the perfect backing track for adolescence, and the audience adored their trip down memory lane.
The enduring image of the close of the show came near the end of the regular set. The song faded down and the band trickled off-stage, until only Dewees was left, standing alone at his keyboard under a single spotlight. As he played on quietly with a solemn face, bassist Rob Pope came back onstage, beer in hand, and came up behind Dewees. He wrapped one affectionate arm around Dewees’ neck, and pulled him towards backstage, and turning, the two men left the spotlight arm-in-arm, disappearing back into the darkness.
Setlist:
Holiday
I’m a Loner Dottie, A Rebel…
Coming Clean
Anne Arbour
Martyr Me
Valentine
Your Petty Pretty Things
Woodson
Campfire Kansas
Mass Pike
Keith Case
Overdue
No Love
One Year Later
Action and Action
I’ll Catch You
Walking On A Wire
Encore:
Close to Me (The Cure cover)
Beer for Breakfast (The Replacements cover)
Don’t Hate Me
Ten Minutes
Pretty good review, however it was Jim Suptic who asked at the beginning, “Are you ready to party like it’s 1999?” Still everything else was awesome. It was a great show for sure.
Thanks for the awesome write up and especially for the setlist, I had hoped to find it somewhere! It truly was a fantastic show that brought back a lot of memories!