Photo Gallery: The Get Up Kids / The Casket Lottery at Lemonad(e) Park

Matt Pryor of The Get Up Kids. Photo by Aaron Rhodes.

Two beloved bands that emerged from Kansas City in the late nineties teamed up for a sold-out, mid-pandemic outdoor gig on October 10, raising money to help keep recordBar alive. Before kicking off their headlining set, The Get Up Kids' Jim Suptic remarked that it was the band's first performance in seven months -- "Let's have fun. This is weird, but let's go." And, not-so-surprisingly, it was fun, and the least awkward social distance set I've caught so far. Aside from Kansas Citians slowly adjusting to life during the pandemic, that sense of near-normalcy can be credited to The Get Up Kids' enduring sense of humor. Guitarists and vocalists Matt Pryor and Jim Suptic took every chance presented to them to tell a joke or tease the other, making light of Lemonad(e) Park's proximity to Hy-Vee Arena, a passing motorcyclist, or their (relative) old age.

 

The geezers have still got it, too. The band's energetic, 20-song set included songs from five of their six LPs, pulling most heavily from the classic Something To Write Home About and their most recent Problems. One wholesome high point was an unexpected crowd singing-along of the backing vocal aahh's during "Out Of Reach," catching Pryor off guard and forcing him to laugh as he played. The Saturday night show also marked one of their first local outings with new live keyboard player Dustin Kinsey (of The New Amsterdams and Koufax) following the departure of longtime member James Dewees last year.

 

The Casket Lottery opened the show by showcasing new music from their upcoming album Short Songs For End Times. Though the band sounded good, their set came to an abrupt halt thirty minutes in after guitarist/vocalist Nathan Ellis seemed to experience some equipment problems mid-song.

 

 Full photo gallery here.