Get Up Kids/Superchunk/Hot Rod Circuit

live in Norfolk (2002)

ChadBrown

As a band that ranks pretty
high
on my favorites list, I was certainly excited to go see a live show.
Playing
along with Hot Rod Circuit and Superchunk, the Kids rocked a sold out
show
at the Norva. While I was fearing I wouldn't enjoy the show due to my
high
expectations, I walked in with an open mind, and expecting to have an
awesome time. Little did I know, any and all expectations I had for
every
aspect of the show would be blown away completely.

I arrived at the Norva around 7:30, and was greeted with the
ever-so-long
line to get in the door to the facility. Since the doors didn't even
open
until 8, I ran over to the McArthur Mall and grabbed some eats, before
heading to Will Call to pick up my tickets. I got inside, looked over
the
merchandise, and just hung around waiting until 9, when The Hot Rod
Circuit
finally hit the stage to a nice reaction. Before the show, I'd only
heard a
few HRC songs, so I wasn't sure quite what to expect from them. What I
got
was a forgettable set, which didn't really do much for me. I'd heard so
many
good things about Hot Rod Circuit, but personally, I didn't see
anything
special about them. I was rocking to a few of their songs, but that's
about
as far as my liking for their set goes. They sounded dull, uninspired,
and I
couldn't make out the lyrics in almost every one of their songs. I was
also
surprised at the length of their set – around 30 or 35 minutes. While
the
HRC didn't do too much for me, I'm sure hardcore fans of the band were
more
than pleased with their performance, so I guess my opinion isn't a fair
one.

After a small break, Superchunk hit the stage, to a mediocre reaction
from
the crowd. Before the show, I hadn't heard anything by Superchunk, so
everything they were playing was new to me. I enjoyed a little of what
I
heard, but for the most part, again, I was unimpressed. The crowd
didn't
seem to be impressed, either. At one point, about 1/3 of the audience
had
middle fingers pointed at the lead singer, who responded by asking,
"What
does that jester mean in Norfolk, anyway?" Needless to say, the crowd
was
less than amused. Their set continued, and while the crowd got into
some
songs, like myself, they just seemed bored for most of their set.
Superchunk
really hyped The Get Up Kids, however, which got the crowd somewhat
excited.
They exited the stage, and that's when my night really begun.

Immediately, chants for the band began, and the crowd became
ever-so-anxious. What they got in return, however, was a horrible 45
minute
wait. I'm not sure if there were technical problems or what not, but
the
wait seemed like an eternity. By this time, I was about 6 or 7 "rows"
from
the front in the general admission seating area, so I didn't have much
room
to stretch out, or even move period, making the wait seem much longer.
But
it all seemed worth it when the kids hit the stage, and began rocking
the
Norva.

They kicked off their set with "Let the Reigns Go Loose", a rather slow
song, and in my opinion, not a good one to start off a set. They then
went
into "The Worse Idea," and then "Stay Gone." By this time, the crowd
was
getting restless, and bored. That didn't last for long, as the band
broke
out into "Holiday," next, which got the crowd rocking in no time.
Definitely
a crowd favorite, the song sounded great live. This is where most of
the
"moshing," and crowd surfing began, and went on for the remainder of
the
evening. Kids were doing both at every opportunity, and several Norva
security personal had to be on-hand in case anyone got injured, or
things
got out of hand. I noticed the band played a lot of stuff from "On a
Wire,"
which is rather disappointing, because that isn't the stuff you wanna
rock
to at a live show. But just when the crowd would show signs of boredom
from
the slow songs, the GUK would throw in a great song from "Something to
Write
Home About," which would get everyone energetic again. The band
could've
done a lot better job of organizing their set, and mixing slow and
faster
songs, but oh well. After about 45 minutes, the band played "Coming
Clean."
And just walked off stage, and the lights went out. My fear was the
show was
already over, but nobody moved. I'm not sure if the band had planned on
being done, or they just left for a water break, but either way, they
came
back on about 10 minutes later, and busted into some crowd favorites.
"Mass
Pike" got a huge crowd reaction, and the crowd vocals drowned out
Mike's
vocals almost the entire time. Next up was Action & Action, another
crowd
pleaser. After a few more songs, the band played "Ten Minutes to
Downtown,"
one of my favorite GUK songs. The tune sounds amazing live. The boys
had hit
every note all night long, but they just outdid themselves with this
song.
It had amazing energy behind it. James, the keyboardist, had great
energy
the entire show, and near the end, even took a stage dive to the
crowd's
delight. The band ended their hour and 12 minute set with a song which
I don
't even remember. It's not a good thing when a band closes with a
crappy
song, but I guess that's the way things go some times.

I can't really speak much for HRC or Superchunk, but I can say that I
wasn't
impressed with either. However, the Get Up Kids' performance made
everything
worthwhile. Any expectations I had for their live show were demolished.
They
hit every note musically, and got the crowd going when they needed to.
The
only disappointing factor of the show was that "On a Wire," was
overplayed,
but I'm not sure if that was completely the band's fault. Either way,
The
Get Up Kids solidified their spot as possibly my favorite band after
this
show. Yes, they were that good. If you get a chance to see the GUK
live, don
't miss the opportunity. If I had of, I would've missed what was
possibly
the best live band I've ever seen.