The Get Up Kids got up and went...
Kansas City's boys, The Get Up Kids, dish up their last ever album entitled Live At Granada Theatre after 10 years of melodic, pop-infected emo rock and miles of globe trotting. Their final show will be on the Fourth of July weekend 2005 in their hometown - the aforementioned Kansas City.
So to coincide with the news of the band's demise, record label Vagrant Records have released this live offering recorded in Kansas City. This album will only perhaps be of interest to new fans or die hard fans, as there isn't anything that doesn't appear on any of the bands previous four studio albums. It is worth noting that for a live album the sound quality is extremely good and only the odd shout or cheer from the crowd lets you know that this isn't a studio album.
Their sound is a little pop/punky at times mixed with a little emo like the great 'Martyer Me' which has a real bouncy feel to it, 'The One You Want' which you can't help but sing along too, and 'Coming Clean' sounds bit like New Found Glory. There's great crowd participation on the nicely titled, 'I'm a Loner Dottie, a Rebel.' 'Mass Pike' is also wonderful with added piano clinking. Hometown song 'Campfire Kansas' might've been a better song to finish with after the cheer that goes up when the crowd recognised the song.
The band are of course made up of brothers Robert Pope on bass, and drummer Ryan Pope, with Matthew Pryor and Jim Suptic on vocals and guitars, and lastly keyboardist James Dewees. This may be their last album as The Get Up Kids but all band members have side projects that they all hope to continue with - James Dewees' group is called Reggie And The Full Effect. Matthew Pryor has an acoustic band New Amsterdams, the Pope brothers play in Koufax, and Jim Suptic has formed a new band called Blackpool Lights.
The Get Up Kids bring forth simple catchy music with more thoughtful lyrics and less harmonies than some of the punk-by-numbers bands that are appearing every other day like a new found craze. It's fair to say that they will be missed, but whether it's this album you pick up or one of their back catalogue, you know that you will have a good time - and that my friends is the sign of a great band...