Concert Review: The Get Up Kids

The Get Up Kids' Portland show sold out in two weeks. This may give you an approximate idea of the crowd. (Doug Fir Lounge capacity is 299.)

They opened with "Action & Action", which felt perfect, and then it just kept getting better.

Singer Matt Pryor had expressed some reservations about the venue's suitability for a rock show. There are ways in which the Doug Fir feels a lot like a basement, though it has a much bigger bar than even the best-equipped suburban rec room. One attempt at crowd-surfing turned out to be ill-advised, but there did not appear to be any permanent injuries.

(Personally I love the decor, but the lighting is terrible, and if you look at the photos and wonder why I even bother, sheer obstinacy, I guess. Plus love for the band.)

Ultimately, the rock worked out. The band knows what they're doing, the audience was receptive, and a good time was had by all.

Given the size of the band's catalog, they clearly didn't play everything, but it still managed to feel like they did. Nothing was missing.

Ryan Pope's drumming made me especially happy; I don't know why. In the past when this has happened, it has always been drummers with Italian last names (Ronnie Vannucci Jr., Roxy Petrucci), but I guess "Pope" is Italian-adjacent.

(Jim Suptic is really in most of these pictures, I just couldn't get a good focus on him. It was touch and go with Rob Pope.)

I appreciate that while the band clearly do not take themselves that seriously, they take the music really seriously. Specifically I always learn new things from watching James Dewees play.

I don't know that I would say it was a better than the 2015 show at the Hawthorne Theater. There was a kind of a cumulative effect between all of the bands that night that created its own energy. Wednesday night felt more intimate, perhaps because of the smaller size, and maybe the amount of friends and family in the audience. Doug Fir feels like a family place since the last time I saw Matt Pryor there anyway.

(And maybe I felt less of the energy because I was staying on the sidelines trying to not push my body into relapse too. I mean, that could have been a factor.)

It was nonetheless an excellent experience. The Get Up Kids are on tour through most of July, but if you want to see them in Portland, keep an eye out for when sales start and buy early. Or maybe they should get a bigger place. Either way.


http://smarturl.it/kicker

https://www.thegetupkids.com/

https://www.facebook.com/TheGetUpKids

https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCDnNtREEWYJs3RiRc7oFR2A

https://twitter.com/thegetupkids