Minus the Bear is an indie-rock band, producing upbeat tunes in a unique manner with great rhythm, which I don’t find in many other artists. Their style is similar to other great rock bands, such as The Killers and Dispatch. Yet, their quality of music is even better.
However, as soon as the band started playing, and I saw some of the band members seemed to be missing from their Blue Note performance, my enthusiasm fell. My ticket said Minus the Bear and Cursive, so I had assumed Cursive would open for Minus the Bear.
This was not the case. It turned out that Minus the Bear mixed their band with Cursive and instead of using Jake Snider, Minus the Bear’s lead singer, they used Cursive’s lead singer, Tim Kasher. This was a great disappointment, as they could not play many of Minus the Bear’s good songs without Snider.
However, my disappointment wasn’t as pronounced as I had thought. The unexpected combo didn’t make the concert a terrible letdown, as the two bands synchronized well and created a very entertaining performance.
Many of the individual band members were astounding. Cursive’s Patrick Newberry showed amazing talent by playing the trumpet and synthesizer at the same time periodically through the show. Minus the Bear’s drummer Erin Tate rewarded my anticipation by consistently playing hardcore beats with a fast tempo, incorporating many play styles into his technique. Lead signer Tim Kasher from Cursive gave a fair performance and impressed with his range of octaves, yet he confused me and some of the crowd with odd mannerisms and conversation. For instance, at the beginning of the concert Kasher said to the crowd, “I assume everyone’s genitalia is on fire.”
While this started the concert off to a comical and positive start, Kasher made several strange comments afterward. Once he compared himself to Hannibal Lector from Silence of the Lambs and even stopped the music to discourage the crowd’s cheering, disapproving of a slip-up he made.
Most disappointing though was how long the bands played. Running for 80 minutes, Minus the Bear and Cursive took up the same amount of time as an average opening band.
Still, aside from the oddities, shortness and unexpected turnout of band members, the concert was entertaining nonetheless, invigorating me for the rest of the night.
By Blake Becker
Did you see the concert? What were your thoughts?