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Cursive / Engine Down / Minus The Bear

live in Orlando (2003)
Saddle Creek Records

Reviewer Rating:

User Rating:

Contributed by: Kevin11
(others by this writer | submit your own)

Published on April 8th 2003

Ahh, saddle creek season in Orlando, over the past 3 months, every active band on their roster has graced the stage at the social, except the faint, who play may 2nd.

Anywho, this show was sold out, a solid crowd of 475 or around there, typical emo/ indie crowd, purses with pins, long hair on the dudes with matching thrift store jackets. and girls with shirts with such witty phrases as "Princess" and "Thursday".

The First band of the night was seattle's Minus The Bear, aside from having one of the coolest names in rock, this band put on a solid set, almost all of the songs played resembled Cursive's slower jams. The crowd seemed into them as well, overall a good time.

Next up, was quite possibly the worst spectacle in rock history, Engine Down, from the first note, it became one of the most boring sets in music this side of the Juliana Theory. I think these dudes thought they were Radiohead, i fell asleep alot during this band, awful. All of their songs had an Outro somewhere in the range of 3 minutes, just feedback and open string playing. I had no idea what was going on...BOOOO for this band.

So Cursive was up next, but i lost all excitement after seeing the last band, the intro to the Ugly Organ played after a little bit, and the band, predictably jammed into "Red Handed Slight Of Hand" . This shit was so cool, they played a good mix of both old and new tunes, including "The Casualty", "The Recluse", "Driftwood" and "The Martyr", an hour set overall. The great set was capped by Tim's surprising clever between-song banter (usually cleverness is reserved for more...light-hearted fellows) He seemed much happier than his "kill me now" persona he portrays in his songs. Anywho, Cursive was amazing, the addition of a cello= FANTASTIC. they "finished up" with Art is Hard, then Tim said he's not gonna pretend like they are leaving, so they just stood there for about 30 seconds and blasted into more songs. Finishing up with (oddly enough) "Staying Alive" off of the Ugly Organ, a 10 minute epic that finishes off the album. Gone from the live version however was the 5 minute "Do Do Do Do, the worst is over" choir part, if you've heard the song, let me tell you, they make is sound amazing, Tim and the other guitarist played while crowd surfing, then the other dude got on the floor and started emo-ing out, it was fucked up, i think he was crying. whatever though.

Overall a fantastic show, but if you're gonna go, make sure engine down doesn't show up .

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Anonymous (December 11, 2004)

Yeah, this review wasn't very good.

Also, suck it. Engine down is great.

Anonymous (September 17, 2004)

forget the score, i'm not critiquing the critique. i just wanted to add more comments about that show. (i can't belive i'm going to add comments... it's been over a year and a half). but there are some things i remembered about it.

setlist:
Red Handed
Gentlemen Caller
Lament
Road to Financial Stability
Ceilings Crack
Tides Rush In
(drunk After The Movies that Tim played on the keyboard)
Radiator
Driftwood
Casualty/Martyr
Excerpts
Art Is Hard
Sink to the Beat
Recluse
Staying Alive

i really want to stay anonymous, so i hope those two girls that i was standing near don't read this. they were very sweet and made me smile as i stood alone in a crowd. during Staying Alive, Tim jumped in the crowd and one the girls's head got hit by his Corvus (she said it didn't hurt, and i belived her... 80's Gibsons weren't that heavy). but he kissed her on the head, so it was cool.

Anonymous (April 14, 2003)

Just for the record....
ENGINE DOWN SUCKS

Yes, you heard it. Completely unoriginal music. Thankfully, when I'm going to see Cursive the opening bands are No Knife and Appleseed Cast. (Yay for the Glasshouse)

And I don't understand the comment about the chicks in Thursday/Princess shirts being typical indie girls. Can't say I've seen too many, or even any at all, of those at shows.

Anonymous (April 10, 2003)

Please don't post anymore Cursive reviews unless they are actually good. Thank You

Anonymous (April 9, 2003)

all those bands are good, and if you dont like engine down, youre missing out

Anonymous (April 8, 2003)

minus the bear kicks your ass

Anonymous (April 8, 2003)

anyone have a set list?

Anonymous (April 8, 2003)

eat shit. engine down owns you.

sweetsugarpezz (April 8, 2003)

pretty solid review... engine down > you though. and for the guy below me, i hate you... i wanted to go to the altanta show, but no, damn weekday show, damn college classes 3 hours away. [/pointless rant]

-sweetsugarpezz

Anonymous (April 8, 2003)

oh, for anyone who is interested i took pictures at the Atlanta show for this tour. some aren't great. my camera sucks. but atleast look at the cursive pictures to see the rapping gorilla. he was smooth.
http://www.picturetrail.com/gallery/view?p=6&uid=1026796 &

Anonymous (April 8, 2003)

I don't see how someone could not like Engine Down. That band is so good! And they rocked it at the Atlanta show. This was one amazing tour. Minus the Bear, Engine Down, and Cursive. ahhhh.

-greyicewater

IlikeSKA (April 8, 2003)

i missed this show (yes, you can start throwing rocks at me) because as like tenderbransonx, was not impressed with that parking lot show, so i assumed i would never be able to like em, but i heard some of the new stuff and it's, well, interesting. i am definetly curious about them now...i'll try to catch them next time they come around. oh and BTW-shitty review...no one is perfect i know... but it was rather vague. just because you think a band sucks doesnt mean they only deserve a few lines about their performance.

Anonymous (April 8, 2003)

Wow. This reviewer sucked. Engine Down write some damn intelligent and kick-ass music! And they're fucking amazing live! This guy must be an idiot...

timis (April 8, 2003)

wow....anyone that says anything negative about engine down must be INSANE. you all should be damned!

Anonymous (April 8, 2003)

Wow, this is the first negative review of Engine Down I think Ive ever read. I heard that they can be a let down live, but not when I saw them.

"girls with shirts with such witty phrases as "Princess" and "Thursday"."

Haha, yes so true. Solid Review.

Anonymous (April 8, 2003)

i agree about engine down. i saw them with thursday and cursive a while back. normally opening bands that i've never heard before don't do much for me, but after the first song engine down simply blew me away. fucking amazing band live and on record.

Anonymous (April 8, 2003)

hey Kevin11,
i like cock too!! we should get together and compare our funny and creative online handles.
peace out,
autumn2ashley

tenderbransonx (April 8, 2003)

The score is for the review. I was at this show. I thought about posting a review but I seriously could not put into words how blown away I was by.... ENGINE FUCKING DOWN. They were amazing. I had never heard a thing they played before this night and I stood there with my jaw to my ankles ashamed at the fact that I didnt know everything about this band. They simply are amazing.
I thought Minus the Bear was boring and they made absolutly no impact on me what so ever.
As for Cursive, I had seen them live before and didnt really get it but it was in a shitty venues with poor acustics (parking lot). They were a lot better in this venue, I still find it hard to absorb them live. It's almost to much to handle live. There cd's also tend to be better becuase each song builds off the last and live that just does not happen.
But as for this guy with his opinion on Engine Down... well he has a right to his own opinion. He's wrong of course, but he has a right.
-Steven
www.amiracole.com