Tag Archives: the Get Up Kids

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A Spotlight on Five Frontmen

January 23rd, 2012

Where’s the Band? – Music Hall of Williamsburg – January 21, 2012


Lately the alternative scene has become saturated with megatours crammed with enough acts to ensure ticket sales, a trend that’s become as tiresome as the now-obligatory album-anniversary tour. Luckily the Where’s the Band? tour has mixed up the idea a bit, putting the spotlight on some of the scene’s best frontmen and their guitars. Led by the Get Up Kids’ Matt Pryor, Saves the Day’s Chris Conley and Bayside’s Anthony Raneri, the acoustic tour hit the velvet-backed stage of Music Hall of Williamsburg on Saturday night.

Under-the-radar scene vet Evan Weiss (the man behind Into It. Over It.) set the pace early when he opened the show balancing personal lyrics over pop-punk strumming. By cheering Weiss’s song selections and standing silently as he told heartbreaking stories behind a few of them, it was clear those in attendance got the idea behind the tour. Weiss turned over things to longtime pal Ace Enders, who, like Pryor and Raneri, was showcasing new material—in addition to doing such songs from his days leading the Early November as “Ever So Sweet” and “Baby Blue.”

Conley then swapped spots with Enders to do an all-requests set that unearthed gems like 1998’s “Hold,” and of course, “At Your Funeral.” Pryor’s following set proved he’s ready to continue his busy streak from the past few years (solo albums, Get Up Kids’ reunion tours and albums) into 2012, as he featured songs from May Day, to be released later this month. While each act earned big cheers from different sections of the crowd, Long Islander Raneri, who also offered songs from his new release, the EP New Cathedrals, earned the biggest reaction from the entire room. —Sean O’Kane

Photos courtesy of Sean O’Kane | seanokanephoto.com

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These Guys Shine on Their Own

December 13th, 2010

Where’s the Band – Music Hall of Williamsburg – December 11, 2010

Dustin Kensrue, Anthony Raneri and Matt Pryor

Dustin Kensrue, Anthony Raneri, Matt Pryor and Chris Conley

Four frontmen stepped out from in front of their bands to play acoustic sets at Music Hall of Williamsburg on Saturday night. Bayside’s Anthony Raneri, up first, began with a cover of Alkaline Trio’s “Good Fucking Bye” and also covered “Sorrow” by Bad Religion and Saves the Day’s “You Vandal.” Raneri rounded out his set with a few Bayside songs, including “Don’t Call Me Peanut,” “Landing Feet First” and “Blame It on Bad Luck.” Matt Pryor, best known as the Get Up Kids’ frontman, followed. Despite his band’s extensive catalog, he steered away from playing their more traditional stuff, instead opting to perform some solo material, plus “Stay on the Phone” and “Proceed with Caution” (each from his project the New Amsterdams) and a cover of Saves the Day’s “Freakish.”

There was even more Saves the Day music when its frontman, Chris Conley, played a wonderful set of songs mainly by his band—“Cars and Calories,” “Say You’ll Never Leave,” “Rocks Tonic Juice Magic,” “Certain Tragedy,” “Stay,” “Dying Day”—and a cover of Pryor’s “Confidence Man.” Like his predecessors, the night’s headliner, Thrice frontman Dustin Kensrue, played some of his own songs (“Blanket of Ghosts,” “Blood & Wine”), some of his band’s (“The Artist in the Ambulance,” “Beggars”) and some covers, like Tom Waits’ “Down There by the Train.” The night ended with the men joining one another onstage. It was just Kensrue and Pryor doing “Oh My Sweet Carolina” by Ryan Adams, but afterward, making for the highlight of the night, Conley and Raneri joined for a spirited rendition of Jawbreaker’s “Boxcar.” —Kirsten Housel

Photos courtesy of Kirsten Housel

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Reunited and It Feels So Good

November 2nd, 2009

The Get Up Kids – Music Hall of Williamsburg – November 1, 2009

The Get Up Kids
While bands like KISS have devalued the real significance of reunion tours, there are still acts like the Get Up Kids willing to prove that not all reunion tours are half-assed attempts at moneygrubbing. Taking the stage to the tongue-in-cheek intro music of Prince’s “1999,” the Get Up Kids wrapped up a three-night stay in New York City with a sold-out show at Music Hall of Williamsburg. Following a now commonly brilliant set from hometown boy Kevin Devine, the Get Up Kids made, surprisingly, their first-ever appearance in Brooklyn. More than just a trip down memory lane, the show was filled with energy not normally seen on reunion tours.

Mixing in everything from the ubiquitous “Holiday” to B-side “Anne Arbour,” the band played for more than an hour to the delight of the raucous crowd. Lead singer Matt Pryor’s voice sounded remarkably similar to the recordings on the band’s watershed album, Something to Write Home About, released a decade ago. But the group also had to tread new ground during the set (thanks to guitarist Jim Suptic’s allergic reaction to his Tin Man costume from their Halloween show). Left voiceless, Suptic’s vocals were picked up by keyboard player James Dewees, who jokingly apologized about how his low range would make his new parts sound “too screamo.”

After a stage-dive-inducing performance of “I’m a Loner Dottie, a Rebel…” during the encore, Pryor asked if the audience wanted a “slow song or a rock song.” When the crowd screamed for the latter, one more vocal substitution was needed. Pryor grinned his way through “Ten Minutes,” normally sung by Suptic, and admitted he had never sung it before. —Sean O’Kane

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