Show Pics: Get Up Kids & Diet Cig @ Mohawk (9/16)

It was quite a night for Team ATH at The Mohawk earlier this week. Nathan is Emo kid. Hashtag child of he nineties. I relate. He gets excited about The Get Up Kids like I get excited about The Cure. That was the outside show. The inside show later was Diet Cig, a two-piece that has been heaped praise upon by us and much of the intarwebs. Turns out, they got in early to hang out and watch their openers, heh.

We have tons of pics from the night and a few notes. Get ready for Josh Berwanger, Hotelier, The Get Up Kids, Rose Selavy, Pleasure Venom and Diet Cig and then click read more…

Starting with Josh Berwanger Band was pretty rad. Straddling hair-metal, emo, Guns and Roses, Iron Maiden and just about anything guitar driven, the band was a level setter. Harmonic solos, a stage full of amps and guitars, dangled cigarettes and a big sound, these are the kinds of openers we love. They threw down a gauntlet for The Hotelier, which came out and produced the purer sound you’d expect for a Get Up Kids show. If Josh and company threw out the puzzle pieces, Hotelier put it back together. Consider the stage set.

So many adults regressed. Heh. Singing along with songs of youth and rebellion, no cares, fists in the air, voices raised in unison… It was infectiously energizing. No cares of sitters or house payments. And to add to that, there were a ton of new fans in the crowd. Twenty years as a band and The Get Up Kids still put on the show and own their fans from start to finish. Great live set.

After community load-in and political conversations with Paul of Templo X, we turned attention to the inside stage. Rose Selavy thanked The Get Up Kids for opening for them. Obligatory jokes are obligatory. Having just seen them at Popfest, we knew what we were in store for. We love these songs. They are friends now so we can’t be trusted. You should judge for yourself and see them ASAP. Pleasure Venom can only be explained as R&B gone wrong in the best way possible. You see them mosey up and have an idea of want is going to happen and BLAM, you slapped with power pop punk rock unapologetically. Make no doubt, you are locked on to Audrey as she basically destroys the stage.

Diet Cig had been walking around all night. I saw Alex talking to Josh Berwanger about loving their set. I like bands that hang. Speaking of Alex, she has an infectious energy that I haven’t had to deal with in a while. It is harder to take photos when you are grinning like a mental patient. So much energy and the straightforward-honest lyrics that you either relate to in the present tense or relate to as part of your youth. I loved it. Can’t say a bad thing.