The Get Up Kids + City Riots + Between The Devil And The Deep - Metro Theatre (06.08.11)

I caught the end of Between The Devil And The Deep’s set. The mixture of punk with screamo/hardcore leanings. Their songs were aggressive and the singer had the presence of a caged tiger pacing the stage awaiting to attack.

They were followed by Adelaide’s City Riots. Their sound has an impressive melodic rock n’ roll vibe, and they feel a hell of a lot like an old Jet - without the blatant rip off in 70’s rock sound. Though a great watch and performance, it did feel a tad out of place from the headliners.

With The Get Up Kids, I was expecting a reminiscence set but what I got a was a solid indie rock show. Some may call them punk some may say emo but the fact is they are a just a great band with great songs whether new or old. Obviously we went off for the older material from “Something To Write Home About” but tracks off the new album “There Are Rules” still had place.

“Red Letter Day” and “Action & Action” was awesome to hear live and even the smallish crowd were receptive to every song. It's hard to think that this band broke up for a few years because watching them live they looked like its all they've done for the last the six years.... play music on stage.

Songs off the new album have a more expansive sound allowing the band to move away from that dreaded emo tag even if any band fitted to it perfectly, it was them. Emotional punk rock. The show was better than I expected and I think The Get Up Kids are a perfect example of a band who can break up and come back and continue to grow as musicians.