Selling out is for losers like Bon Jovi: The Get Up Kids visit Brisbane
When the first band finishes at a show, there is really only a small amount of people there anyway, so it’s no suprise that half migrate outside for a cigarette and the other half are aligned along the bar. If you’re still fucked from work and haven’t got to pennies to rub together for a $7 light beer (reason #57 why people won’t go to shows) you just sit on the stairs and hang out listening to the sound engineer’s iPod library over the PA. It sure is a long half-hour before Adelaide’s City Riots finally grace the stage at 9:30pm.
The room is slightly more full by now, the same kids in checkered shirts, black rimmed glasses and hoodies – just more of them. City Riots lead singer Ricky Kradolfer starts the set with somewhat of a bang. Running on stage with guitar in hand, pants tightly snug around his legs and groin region, denim jacket and long rockstar bangs in his eyes strumming the opening chord on his brand new Fender positioned vertically in the air with enthusiasm and energy, with smoke still rising in the background. It looks like something out of a Van Halen video clip, minus the zebra-striped tight pants. His energy is applaudable, there is only a single soul leaning on the barrier up front (who later admits she was just trying to get a good spot for The Get Up Kids) and a few scattered fans here and there but this kid is still giving it everything. Their sound is booming and very, very professional.
If City Riots had only one thing on We Set Sail it’s a much clearer sound. They’re a good band but nothing special. The only real difference being the generic sexy frontman who holds the entire performance in the palm of his hand. But this guy can do more than just sing, he has some real charisma and stage presence. The photographers are loving this bloke, he has enough pizazz he could make a pussy cat still just by shooting it one of his pretty boy looks in his revealing v-neck and ‘tough guy’ denim jacket accessory.
It’s a shame this band play second, although they’re more suited to The Get Up Kids style, they’re just a little short of spectacular and We Set Sail would have welcomed the larger crowd. There were a few good songs among the set and some entertainment by Ricky between songs, taking stick to his own band, but the crowd just can’t get into it and the group just don’t have enough songs with substance to fill a half-hour set. Everyone on stage is having a good time touring the country playing shows with The Get Up Kids, that is genuine, the band just need to write more great rock songs like ‘In My Head’, that’s all. Playing all through the states last year, including a spot on SXSW and touring with The Smashing Pumpkins, when this band gets their shit together they are holding potential to explode. Give them 12 months.
When City Riots finish shit gets real. The room fills and everyone goes sort of quiet, the kind of quiet when the room fills with people, settles and there is a quiet buzz and anxious atmosphere in the place, just before something awesome usually happens. That awesome thing is the melancholy punk rock veterans of the trade, The Get Up Kids. With a career spanning 16 years, including an extended hiatus (giving birth to a number of successful new projects including The New Amsterdams, The Terrible Twos and Reggie and the Full Effect), eight studio releases, a live release, a re-release, countless world tours and rap sheet that quotes names like Mark Hoppus and Pete Wentz naming these guys as one of the main ringleaders behind the last 15 years of punk rock, The Get Up Kids are a band you should be listening to if you know anything about anything.
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