Last night our favourite Kansas midweast emo band descended upon the Danforth Music Hall to celebrate the 25th anniversary of Something to Write Home About – we know because we were there!
Honestly getting to concerts these days is a battle, so that’s no small feat. I only picked up my ticket about a week ago, feeling apathetic and annoyed with how things were going at a new venue (I moonlight at a live events operator sometimes), I knew I needed a night to unwind and enjoy myself, so when I caught wise that the Get Up Kids show was only $55 AND featured Smoking Popes, I couldn’t say no.
Fed up with the Toronto subway system which always is undergoing routine maintenance that disrupts your trip every time when you’re coming from Vaughan, extending your travel time significantly and usually resulting in an uncomfortably crowded and bumpy shuttle bus trip, I drove down to the East End for this one. At least when you drive yourself and get stuck in Toronto traffic (also ineveitable) you can still pump the bands album on your stereo – and that’s what I did, just like when I was a kid.
The band was playing at the Danforth Music Hall which I was pretty happy about. The Danforth Music Hall is one of our better venues if only for the reaosn that the floor is on an incline, so you can be standing anywhere on the floor and you’ll get a pretty good view even if there are some tall people in the imaginary rows in front of you.
I was happy to score cheap $7 parking at a nearby Green P and arrived with enough time to have a coffee before hopping in line for the show at 7PM.
Just ahead of me in the queue was a young girl and who I presume to be her dad (not confirmed, but a safe bet). She had very cool colourful hair and it looked like she had drawn on her own Get Up Kids artwork on her arm. I had to laugh when she turned to her dad to say, “I feel awkward. I think I’m the only 16 year old here.” Yeah, it’s a 25th anniversary show, so you’re probably right about that one! Heck, I’ve been to enough anniversary shows in recent years and even at my age I often feel like I’m the youngest one in the room, so I don’t blame her for how obvious the gap is.
But there’s something to be said about that, too. How cool that while I head out to relive the magic of Something to Write Home About, this 16 year old is right there into it, too.
I went to loads of concerts with my own dad when I was her age, so I get it completely and I love when you can enjoy a record across generations like that.
At the door I was asked by the bag checkers if I’d be drinking tonight. “Not tonight,” – or ever, I guess? It’s the first time I’ve been asked that at the door, rather than them just asking for ID, and it occurred to me a short time later that I don’t think I’ve ever been to the Danforth Music Hall sober.
It’s smaller than I remember.
I wasn’t trying to be early, but I got there early enough to snag a spot against the barrier just left of center. I never realized the stage here was so low. I’ve been pretty close before, but I guess never close enough to get a good gauge of that. Needless to say, I was pretty stoked to have such a good spot.
What’s great about the barrier is even if a pit breaks out, it’s behind you and you don’t really have to pay much attention to it – you might get shoved against a little bit or have to watch out for a crowd surfer at best, but those don’t usually kill the barrier vibe and you’ll have a mostly chill night – at least that’s been my experience the few times I’ve been this close.
I befriended a man in his 50’s beside me while we waited for Smoking Popes to arrive, chatting about concerts and our excitement for seeing The Get Up Kids for the first time. “I don’t know why I never got a chance to see them before,” ‘Same!’
As I mentioned, in my teens I was mostly attending concerts with my dad which meant I saw a lot of legendary classic rock bands, and outside of a few of my then-favourites, I missed out on a lot of bands I listened to. Even Sum 41, who I’ve been a massive support of since they entered the scene I’ll be catching live for the first time this Janaury on their final tour run. “Insane that it’s taken me until their final tour ever to get tickets to see them, but here we are.”
I love seeing live bands but I’d be lying if I said the experience hasn’t changed a lot for me over the years, especially since getting sober and beginning to attend them solo like I was tonight.
In our chat, my new friend Bobby told me that the Smoking Popes have been around longer than The Get Up Kids. I didn’t know that – actually I didn’t know a whole lot about this band at all. I’d heard a bunch of their songs after hearing about them just a couple years ago and dug their sound, so I knew I’d enjoy their set, but that was really the extent of my knowledge. I had no real expectations otherwise and I kind of love that – that’s always been my favourite way to really get into a new band, just see them live and see if it moves me in some way.
And they did.
Smoking Popes were an incredible way to open this show. They’ve been a band for about as long as I’ve been alive, but these guys walked out on stage and tuned their own instruments like they were just your ordinary local. There wasn’t a lot of flash here, normal dudes in band tee’s playing through amps – no fluff. Just like, a live rock band or something. It’s weird sometimes to see because you get so used to going to shows now and there’s these elaborate live set-ups with insane backing tracks and god frobid you see an amplifier being mic’d up on stage.
I immediately liked them.
And they sounded great. They were tight (as you’d ecpect a band of this level experience to be) confident players. The guitar work was a major highlight for me, with both guitarists riffing off each others solos; really tasteful licks and clearly passionate players. When I leave a show thinking “I’ve gotta work on stuff like that,” as a player myself as I did after they finished, I know they’ve really hit on something special for me. Fantastic band with great energy. My only thing I was a little bummed about was it was challenging at times to hear the lead guitarist; perhaps just because of where I was standing, but his volume got lost under the others a few times and that’s a bummer because when you could hear him, it’s all you wanted to hear.
He was over at the merch booth when the show ended but was busy talking to another fan, so I didn’t interrupt before I had to head out, but I love that, too. Bands hanging at their own merch booth is such a big deal to me in concert culture; It’s just so fucking normal and cool to see because it’s so easy for some bands to get these huge ego’s and they can’t be bothered.
Hats off to Smoking Popes, I became a big fan last night and hope to see them again soon.
After a short intermission and a little Wu-Tang on the P.A, we were ready for The Get Up Kids.
I love this album of theirs so I was pretty stoked to be able to catch them playing it for my first live GUK experience.
The crowd had been pretty relaxed until this point and I mostly expected it to stay that way given the general age of the audience, but anniversary shows always have a way of surprising you and it usually doesn’t take long for you to remember that many of us in the pop-punk/emo scene stopped maturing around the time we first heard these records and some of us were a little more ahead of the curve than others in that department.
The Get Up Kids stage show for this tour is a lot like Smoking Popes in that – hey, look at that, a rock band playing everything live through amps with a simple backdrop and some fun lighting. No fluff here, just some dudes playing some of their most popular songs for a mature crowd who want to feel 20 again for a moment.
As I said before, this was my first time seeing The Get Up Kids live and I’m a little late to that party, but as soon as they started playing I was delighted that these guys sounded exactly as I expected to, just as they’d sounded in my car stereo on the ride over.
There isn’t a to say when it comes to anniversary shows. They played the record front to back as flawlessly as you’d epect, we sang along and I felt immense joy as I got to sing Ten Minutes from the front row. That’s really as good as it gets at any rock show and I was so glad I decided to take the day off work and buy a ticket for this one.
Like Smoking Popes, The Get Up Kids didn’t spend too much time talking, but they did take a few different moments to engage the crowd, encourage our participation and show their gratitude for us being there with them to celebrate this 25-year old album.
It felt genuine and reassuring that a lot of these bands I grew up listening to have always been here for the love of playing without much fuss or flash and I think sometimes I’m the type of person who needs to see that in person to be reminded of it.
These guys didn’t grow up with the expectation of having a strong social media presence and it’s something that really comes through on and off the stage; in a lot of ways they’re lucky for this and there’s a lot to be learned from that, too.
I was also stoked when after teasing us with leaving the stage, the band did return for a reasonably lengthy encore playing a variety of songs from their other records and apologize for skipping Toronto on their last anniversary tour run for Four Minute Mile.
Somewhere in the middle of the set though, some drunk dinks were getting a little carried away in the small pit they’d created a row or two behind me. It wasn’t long before they started to piss off a lot of people around me, including the dad of the teen I’d been behind in line before the doors opened.
He asked them to cool it a few times, but these guys felt entitled to their pit and their aggressive slamming into those who weren’t participating.
Now, I know I’m a little older now, but I’m not a stranger to a mosh pit but there’s like, etiquette, man, and these guys didn’t have it.
Not for anything, but if multiple people are telling you that you’re being too agressive and to stop elbowing them in the face (what is with people elbowing people? It’s happened to me too and that shit sucks), then you’re no longer just enjoying the pit, you’re just being a dick and kind of a bully, too. Especially when there has become a clear effort to shield the younger ones from your annoying flailing.
People tried to get the attention of security a couple times, but they literally just shrugged their shoulders as though there was nothing they could do about it. They didn’t even try. The one secutiy guy spent most of the show looking like Baloo scratching his back against the edge of the stage instead of, you know, ensuring a secure environment like his shirt would’ve had you believe he was there for.
Toronto crowds are genrally quite tame and I’m sure most of this venue was, so it was really just a handful of guys thgat were being a pain in the ass and this should’ve been easy to get them to simmer down or move their pit over, but if the venue team doesn’t give a shit, you just end up allowing the situation to fester throughout the night and that’s exactly what happened.
The yelling between people around me and these overgrown man-children went on for the rest of the set with small breaks and by the time the house lights came on they were still getting in each others faces about it.
I understand that father’s frustration completely, he just wanted his kid to have a good time watching the band and instead had to put himself on high alert to protect her from douchebags and these guys just cared more about heir own good time than the impact they were having on everyone else.
Vibe killers.
As security stood back watching, I even tried to get the guys to take off. “The lights are on, show’s over, knock it off now and go home.” They shouted over me instead to the father, “Why are you in the pit then if you can’t handle this?”
First of all, they were all there a long time before those guys entered the area but secondly, who decided that everyone in a General Admission venue (the entire floor of this venue) you’re forced into the pit just because a couple guys decide they want to make a pit? Absolutely stupid behaviour if you ask me. This isn’t a Chiodos concert circa 2008 at the Hard Luck, guys, it’s The Get Up Kids in 2024 and most of the audience are over 40.
The most aggressive of the bunch was extra pleased with himself when he was also granted a set-list from the security team.
Seriously, are these guys ever paying attention or what?
Clown behaviour all around and a little disappointing to say the least.
I was annoyed about it all by the time I got away from these people so I scrapped my plan to swoop by the merch table for a tee and just got out of there. My threshold for being around obnoxious drunks now is remarkably low and I wanted to remember the night as mostly good, mostly fun.
A little self-awareness goes a long way to ensuring everyone has a good time at the rock show, people. Try to pay attention.
All in, I definitely recommend you check these bands out if you get a chance to. Smoking Popes mentioned they’re working on a new album due out next year so hopefully they come back for that and crank up those guitar amps a little more.
Thank you Smoking Popes and The Get Up Kids for a great show. Drunk tomfoolery aside, I really needed that this week and I’m really pleased I was able to attend this one.
Crooked Forest 