This story is featured in CityBeat’s April 5 print edition.
If you cut your teeth on early Midwestern emo — think the Get Up Kids, American Football, Cursive — you’ll likely relish the opportunity to see trailblazers Sunny Day Real Estate. While originally from Washington, Sunny Day Real Estate went on to perfect the Midwest emo sound with arguably one of the greatest albums in the genre, 1994’s Diary.
Bridging the gap between the post-hardcore of the late ’80s and early ’90s and the emo of the early 2000s, which the album strongly influenced, Diary was a polestar for veterans of the scene and newcomers alike. With songs as indelibly part of the emo canon as “Seven” and “In Circles,” Diary perfectly fused melodic, intricate playing and time signatures that turn on a dime to create a lasting and hugely influential classic.
Sunny Day Real Estate are currently on their fourth reunion tour after the recent departure of founding member Nate Mendel, who has been the bass player for Foo Fighters since their debut album. The band’s future has seemed uncertain in recent years despite a surprise appearance on Jimmy Fallon and the release of a few singles, with new material apparently recorded only to be quickly shelved. Whatever the band’s future, we still have Diary, The Pink Record, How It Feels to Be Something On and The Rising Tide — the last two records released after their first breakup and reunion.
And now we also have the chance to see them live and relive the experience of hearing a band that altered the emo landscape as soon as Jeremy Enigk sang, “When time is poetry/And stolen the world outside/The waiting could crush my heart” on opening track “Seven.” If you feel like you’ve waited long enough and your heart is still intact, catch Sunny Day Real Estate headlining Bogart’s with the Appleseed Cast.
Sunny Day Real Estate plays Bogart’s at 8 p.m. April 19. Doors open at 7 p.m. Info: livenation.com.
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This article appears in Apr 5-18, 2023.