Las Vegas Weekly

July 1, 2009 · 8:01 PM

In case you missed it: Cursive at Beauty Bar

By Deanna Rilling

Cursive at the Beauty Bar, 6/30/09.

Photo: Deanna Rilling

“If we disappear after this song, it’s because we need to towel off for a second.” Cursive’s frontman Tim Kasher was right; it was around 100 degrees at 11:30 p.m. on the Beauty Bar’s outside patio. A packed crowd may have had something to do with it—an unexpected sight for a Tuesday evening at the Fremont Street venue. Guess it takes an indie band from Omaha to get people out of the house.

Cursive really is a band’s band, and it appeared almost every local musician was in attendance. Most of the crowd had Cursive’s entire catalog memorized, hung on every note, shouted out every lyric and raised their hands in unison at all the right moments.

Though the sound wasn’t what one would have hoped for (got too much bass?), the imperfect levels only mildly detracted from the set, which touched upon the majority of the band’s 10-plus years of music (see set list pictured). Though a bit sloppy live, that’s part of the charm of Cursive that carries over from the albums. Perfection is dull anyways.

Highlights included the crowd going insane and reaching almost mosh-pit status during “Art is Hard” (odd choice of songs to shove people around, but okay), and a multi-song encore including a wonderfully heart-wrenching performance of “I Couldn’t Love You.”

If you enjoy listening to Cursive, you had a great time at the show. The girl who climbed on top of the neighboring roof to watch seemed to enjoy the gig, too. If you don’t know the band, you probably didn’t hear about the show in the first place, so it’s time to check out their albums.

“I’m sure this city is a lot more than all these losers who lose money all the time,” Kashner commented. Judging by the number of fans at a Cursive show, we at least have better taste in music than he might have thought.

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