Review: Cursive at Dingwalls

Ohhhhh my eardrums are hating me right now. It’s tinnitus central around here. Nonetheless, it was a brilliant show.

I’ve just realised that I’ve liked Cursive for AGES. I have to admit though, I haven’t listened to them all that much in the past couple of years. The first time I saw them was in just over 2 years ago in Brighton when the band were touring for Happy Hollow. They released their follow up to that record, Mama, I’m Swollen, this year. Cursive are shouty and yet melodic. 

For the first time ever, I actually sincerely wished I had some earplugs tonight. I don’t know why, but my right eardrum was rattling like crazy and it was uncomfortable. I would have liked to have put my hands over my ears (just to soften the sound!) but I thought this would both look rude and make me look about 4 years old.

I loved their performance, it was very energetic and the horn parts were brilliant. They actually played alot of old songs; a few from Happy Hollow, a few from The Ugly Organ, and even touching on Domestica. Before Some Red Handed Sleight Of Hand Tim grabbed the mic stand and came onto the speaker area in front of the stage. Adam and I both felt the splats of Tim’s sweat dripping down onto us. Lovely. I’m not surprised he sweats so much, it looks tiring to play with so much gusto. I love the energy and the extravagant gestures. Art Is Hard is my favourite Cursive song, I kind of wish they had a cello live but it sounded great anyway and I loved it. For What Have I Done? Tim climbed up on the side of the speaker and sat up there, with their roadie holding the mic stand up to his mouth. They went away and for the encore did The Martyr, Big Bang and closed with Gentleman Caller. Tim went right the way into the crowd for these songs, I could only really see him when he was illuminated by the flash of other peoples’ cameras. Good set, enjoyable show.