Just got back from Lawrence where Jolayne and I saw the second of two nights of shows by The Get Up Kids, who were celebrating their 10th anniversary as a band, and also recording a live album. We got there about halfway through Veda’s set. They were a local band, and didn’t really do anything for me one way or the other, although there was a dude yelling into his guitar pickups at one point, which was amusing. Murder by Death was up next and I really enjoyed their set, so much so that I picked up one of their cds. They play kind of a metal tinged alt-country with good old fashioned songs about whiskey, the devil, and the electric chair. The only detraction was that they had a cellist that was pretty buried in the mix, and I think it would have been interesting to be able to hear more of that during the heavier parts.

The Get Up Kids took the stage next, and played a really good, really long set with a good mix of songs from all of their albums. I guess that makes sense, to give them more tracks to choose from for the live album they were recording. Given that they were recording, I would have expected the vocals to be a little louder but I guess that doesn’t matter if you’re recording from the boards. They had a few equipment problems during some of the songs too, but that’s probably why they did 2 shows. Suprisingly this was the first time I’d seen them, even after living in their hometown for 2 years. Hopefully I’ll get the chance to see them again sooner than that.