There's a time, and there's a place

Last night the good ship Cursive sailed into Gainesville. The gig was in an auditorium on the third floor of the student union, with the only bar anywhere nearby closing at 8pm. That, and everyone in the audience having beards, did not set it up as a great concert atmosphere. Jeremy Enigk, formerly of Sunny Day Real Estate was in support (The Cops, too, but we missed them), and the extra-bearded older emo dudes lapped up his heartfelt-troubadour solo set.

Cursive’s newest record ‘Happy Hollow’ sees them taking on a newer, deeper sound, and so it was nice to see their set begin very quietly, with Tim Kasher strumming, joined gradually by a clarinet, some brass, a cello, and then the other members of the band. After a couple of minutes of gentle warm-up, they kicked into ‘The Game of Who Needs Who the Worst’ off their ‘Domestica’ record. The crowd remained pretty still throughout, maybe they were taking easy because of some student government meeting downstairs. Cursive played a pretty even mix of songs from their three most recent albums, with guitarist Ted Stevens (yes, I know… not that Ted Stevens, although he’s on my Fantasy Congress team) taking lead vocals on ‘Flag and Family’ and ‘Bad Science’. With strings AND brass, songs like ‘Some Red Handed Sleight of Hand’ and ‘Butcher the Song’ sounded newly beefed up. Kasher went from scream to whisper and back again in under ten seconds, and spoke a little about Thanksgiving.

For the big finale, the band rocked through an extended version of ‘Art is Hard’, with a breakdown in the middle that began with a pretty cello solo but lasted a little too long. There was a lot of energy onstage throughout, but not really matched by the audience. It was still really good, though, despite the lack of ‘Bad Sects’. Good beards, no beer, a song about heathens. Fair thee well, gentlemen. Oh, and their cellist seemed to be named Annyong.

I think the setlist is pretty much correct, maybe one or two errors. Also, the video is of the 'Art is Hard' breakdown from earlier this tour.

The Game of Who Needs Who the Worst / So So Gigolo / Driftwood: A Fairy Tale / The Great Decay / Flag and Family / The Radiator Hums / Butcher The Song / Dorothy At Forty / Some Red Handed Sleight of Hand / Bad Science / The Recluse / Am I Not Yours? / Hymns For the Heathen...
Encore: Big Bang /The Martyr / Art Is Hard