"If this is the world we helped create, then I apologize."
Those are the words of James Suptic, guitarist of The Get Up Kids, spoken in front of a crowd at a recent show, renouncing the emo genre that they were once a major part of, the emo genre that is now overflowing with total trash.
And due to the current state of things, it's easy to understand why they'd want to remove themselves as much as possible from the stream of haircut bands plaguing the airwaves, calling themselves emo. Emo isn't the first genre to be totally bastardized. Look no further than the late '90s for the bastardization of punk. And the '80s hair metal craze may be the most disgusting. The difference with this emo trend is that there is no clear defender of the good name. The pioneering bands all seem to be disbanded, there's not a long history, and there aren't any new acts strong enough to act as a defense. And if there are, they steer clear from letting themselves be called emo. While hair metal happened, Metallica and Slayer were peaking, so metal remained a positive term. And mall punk couldn't kill punk's rich history.
This is why the return of Sunny Day Real Estate is so meaningful. For those of us over the legal drinking age, Diary is the archetype of the genre, long before its bastardization. They created a sound that shifted flawlessly from quiet to grand with an admirable technical precision and most importantly Jeremy Enigk's sincere vocals. He spoke to and for an entire generation, just like Morrissey, Robert Smith and Kurt Cobain. Along with bands like Rites of Spring, Mineral and Elliot, SDRE pioneered emo, creating a solid foundation to work from.
With Sub Pop recently reissuing their now classic first two records, Diary and LP2, the original lineup has reformed and begun touring the states—including Nate Mendel, who was lost to the formation of Foo Fighters. It may be nearly 15 years since the release of these records, but when played in front of the sold out crowd at Terminal 5 on Sunday, all of the songs still felt inspiringly fresh. Receding hairlines and fading youth have not taken away from the vitality of their songs. It was as if Sunny Day Real Estate had found a way to transport the room back to '95 when the older crowd were still in high school and college. Fond memories of our lost youth were not singularly responsible for such positive vibes. Toss away all these fond memories, and their performance of songs like "Seven," "Sometimes," and "Theo B" was still about as good as any I've seen in a long time. Technically, the band may be even more proficient, even though drummer William Goldsmith can no longer play the fills he used to, and Enigk's voice may have dropped an octave.
The best news of all is that the band has begun writing songs again (which actually sounded good live), and unlike The Pixies, it's pretty likely that we'll actually see another record in the not too distant future.
While most band reunions act as nothing but nostalgia trips, Sunny Day Real Estate's could serve as a mode to restore the good name of emo that once existed so long ago.
SET LIST:
1. Friday
2. Seven
3. Shadows
4. Song About An Angel
5. Grendel
6. Guitars & Video Games
7. Iscarabaid
8. Theo B
9. New Song
10. 47
11. J'Nuh
12. Sometimes
Encore:
13. In Circles
14. Spade And Parade
15. 48
Photo by http://www.flickr.com/photos/papermakesplanes/
