Say Anything and AJJ begin their summer tour at Uptown with a bang

June 19, 2024

Andrew Dodderidge, Kylee Gregg,

Say Anything. // photo by Kylee Gregg

As Max Bemis slowly exhaled vape smoke from his mouth up into the air in the middle of Say Anything’s 15-song set at Uptown Theater on Thursday, June 13, several members of the crowd did the same, either in imitation of the famous frontman or as a sign of relief that yes, we can indeed vape in here, because he just did (Even though Uptown is a completely smoke-free venue).

This wasn’t the only time Bemis took his pen out of his pocket before, after, or in the middle of a song from his now 20-year-old baby Is a Real Boy—an album the pop punk band played in full that night. Was he trying to look cool? Can he not go through 75 minutes of singing and talking to a crowd without getting a bump? Any way you piece it together, the stage presence was quite something.

Earlier, AJJ’s Sean Bonnette began their fellow comrade’s 40-minute set—a combination of the folk punk sound that brought them to the attention of many, combined with their newer edge of indie rock found in their most recent material—as a chance to set the scene on a night that brought them back to KC for the first time a while.

“Some might say this is the first show of the tour. Some might say this is the halfway point of the tour. We haven’t played Kansas City in many, many years, back at recordBar.”

Surfacing some of the things we spoke about, the technicality encapsulating Bonnette’s attitude was sweet and kind and refreshing. You felt safe, and in good hands, with two-minute blitzes defining their set.

Disposable Everything, their most recent foray into their old indie punk sound, won the evening with four touching stones—“Strawberry (Probably),” “Death Machine,” “Dissonance,” and “I Wanna Be Your Dog 2.” Yet, it was the show closer “Big Bird” from 2011 record Knife Man that sent the first chills down your spine.

The countless nods toward being scared of everything life has to offer brought some of the best audience moments of the night, as Bonnette turned the mic to the crowd often during Knife’s closing number.

Greet Death. // photo by Kylee Gregg

Just an hour prior, shoegaze wonders from Flint, Michigan, Greet Death, filled out the half-hour time slot in the best way possible, leveraging three new and unreleased songs (one titled “Motherfucker”) amongst vocalist Harper Boyhtari’s almost therapeutic, but hilarious ramblings between songs.

“My brother just bought a Tesla, so he’s probably broke now. I want to see one of those catch on fire,” Boyhtari said.

Only two LPs into a brief career thus far, the new (Sweam) and old (Red House Painters) influences feel abundantly clear, and the long-stretching jams in the middle of each track are proof that they can hold down a crowd of over a thousand.

Overhearing some pretty negative and toxic concert goers complaining about Bemis’ stage presence on the first leg of this anniversary tour, my skepticism was on full alert by the time Say Anything took the stage, but I really can’t help but think people are just having trouble separating the art from the artist.

Standing more towards the back of the bottom level of the KC venue for the night closers, I inched closer for their two-song encore—“I Want to Know Your Plans” and “Admit It!!!.” As “Admit It!!!” began, a woman directly to my right knew each and every word, head bopping and lifting her arm to the stage, pointing at Max during the entirety of the Boy closer. It was right then and there that I felt the true effect Is a Real Boy has on people and knew that Say Anything still has passionate fans after everything that has happened over the years.

By the night’s end, and after a lovely duet with his wife Sherri DuPree-Bemis of Eisley fame—who has been making surprise appearances throughout the year—Bemis took some time to press the new album.

“We were 19 when we wrote this record, we didn’t know anything,” Bemis said. “Now we’re 39. We’ve been through everything. If you think that record is fucked up, wait till you hear the new one.”

Say Anything will always be fucked up.

Our photographer Kylee Gregg was there to capture the night:

Say Anything

Say Anything setlist:

Belt
Woe
The Writhing South
Alive With the Glory of Love
Yellow Cat (Slash) Red Cat
The Futile
Spidersong
An Orgy of Critics
A Walk Through Hell (from Menorah/Majora)
Every Man Has a Molly
Slowly, Through a Vector
Chia-Like, I Shall Grow
Wow, I Can Get Sexual Too

Encore
I Want to Know Your Plans (with Sherri DuPree-Bemis)
Admit It!!!

AJJ

AJJ setlist:

Strawberry (Probably)
Death Machine
Cody’s Theme
Kokopelli Face Tattoo
Body Terror Song
Bad Bad Things
Junkie Church
Dissonance
Children of God
Linda Ronstadt
People II: The Reckoning
I Wanna Be Your Dog 2
Brave as a Noun
Big Bird

Greet Death