The Rave
When you’re leading off a concert review with commentary on the venue, you know something was really good or really bad about it. Unfortunately, this is the latter. The Rave may very well have been a formative venue of my youth/young adulthood (first full concert - Stabbing Westward! Green Day! Nine Inch Nails!), but as the years wear on I dislike this place more and more.
Now to be fair this show was in the basement, but the sound mix was awful. Everything was muddy and the room just seemed to swallow the vocals. Beers were $13 or $14 whether you were drinking Rolling Rock (16oz) or Spotted Cow (12oz). I hadn’t seen a show there since 2015 or 2016, and simple things like this make me not want to come back.
In more positive news the staff was super friendly. I also think they gave the place a deep cleaning during the pandemic because the familiar stench of weed and BO is gone – at least in the basement.
The Smoking Popes
I’ve seen them twice now and both times I’ve come away thinking that I should listen to The Smoking Popes more. I never do, of course. I think it’s because I wasn’t actually there for their heyday in the mid-90’s, and trying to get into it now makes me feel like sort of a fraud.
No matter, though. They still rocked it. Their set was at its most enjoyable when they were barreling through 6 or 7 of their pop-punk jams in the first 20 minutes or so. “Megan” was still superb even despite the cruddy vocal mix. (Why that song wasn’t a hit is beyond me.)
The crowd was attentive if not fully engaged. It was mostly polite applause with the exceptions of “Need You Around” and set-closing “I Know You Love Me.” All in all, an enjoyable 45-minute set.
The Get Up Kids
WHEN YOU WAKE UP, I’LL BE GONE - my AIM away message, ca. 2003
“Why would you write that for your away message?” Nikki asked me.
“I don’t know. Because I’ll be gone when you wake up?” I said.
She shook her head at me from her computer chair.
I sat on her couch, not alone but quite lonely. I very much wanted her to be my girlfriend. She very much did not want to be my girlfriend.
****
I mention this not because going to this show reminded me of her. It’s more that Get Up Kids lyrics remind me of the headspace I was in at the time that got me into those types of bands to begin with.
And wouldn’t you know it, as soon as they came onstage I was transported back to my dorm room in 2003, headphones on, losing myself inside a midwestern emo sound that I still enjoy to this day.
There is something to be said for seeing a band in a small room with about 200 other true believers. There was singing and dancing, of course. But more importantly there wasn’t any talking over the slow songs. That’s huge, and goes a long way to my enjoyment of a show.
Of course, I (and possibly the other 200 people) was jarred right out of it midway through the third song, “Valentine,” when lead singer Matt Pryor called a literal time out to confess that he was sick and that his singing would be terrible.
“You guys, we can come back another night and I can actually sing these songs good for you!” he said, hinting that the set might be cut short.
It was probably a bit of a ruse. Guitarist Jim Suptic said “You guys are going to have to sing louder than you’ve ever sung before!” The crowd exploded. The band restarted the song, and a Dashboard Confessional show without all the cringe broke out.
Big props to Matt Pryor for gutting through the show while clearly not 100% Suptic also stepped up by handling some vocal duties. But overall I think the crowd may have just stolen the show. They shouted the lyrics back with glee, added handclaps and even backing vocals.
This show was in honor of the 25th anniversary of their best and most well-known album, Something to Write Home About. They played it front to back, which was awesome. The band was a little looser than they were on record, but that didn’t matter much.
Reliving these songs really hit me right in the gut. It took me until the 9th track “I’m A Loner Dottie, A Rebel” (the song from my AIM away message above) before I really let loose as much as the rest of the crowd had been doing up to that point. I sang louder, I danced more, and at the end did a Ric Flair WOOOOO!! Those four minutes were probably the best I’d felt in weeks.
Before album closer “I’ll Catch You,” Matt Pryor made the sign of the cross. The song is slow and quiet and one he would normally belt out. He clearly didn’t have it on this night, but the crowd picked him up as they’d been doing for the past 45 minutes. It was a tender, poignant moment.
After a short break, Jim Suptic came back to sing “Campfire Kansas,” a highlight from the underrated On A Wire LP. The rest of the band came back for an abridged greatest hit set. The final notes of “Don’t Hate Me” faded away, and that was it. The band waved goodbye, and all of the sudden I wasn’t in my dorm room any more.
The gray-haired folks in the room sharpened into greater focus, making me feel older than I already did. My thoughts raced. Was I going to be able to catch the next bus home? (I did NOT catch that bus.) How the hell am I going to get up at 4:45 AM? These guys should play Shank Hall next time they’re in town!
I left with Get Up Kids lyrics rattling through my head, little elegies to a person I used to be.
