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Review & Photos: Cursive w/ Kevin Devine @ The Ruby Lounge, Manchester [Live]

Monday 4th June 2012 // "He may look like a young Charles Manson, but he’s a fellow who knows how to lead..."

by Lauren, June 7th, 2012 and has been Read 519 times.
Last Edited by: Chris MUG5 Maguire June 14th, 2012.

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Manchester’s Ruby Lounge has recently been host to some of the finest live shows the city has to offer and when, like me, you attend a lot of them within a small timeframe you tend to compare them, it’s hard not to.

So, whilst witnessing the emotional acoustic tones of scene darling Kevin Devine I struggled to see past the fact that he wasn’t quite Jonah Matranga, who played the same venue a week earlier. Now, of course, that’s unfair and ridiculous. Devine was acting as support for Cursive and playing to a strangely mixed audience—in a jubilee weekend haze many seemed to have simply stumbled in for a drink. In this environment Devine’s heartfelt tales failed to subdue a chatty audience and his attempts to rouse those who were paying attention didn’t really take flight either, he ended up talking about politics and then playing ‘Ballgame’.

His actual performance though was somewhat ironically divine. He’s a stirring proposition of a man who emotes more than your MySpace page ever did, when he plays tracks like ‘Brooklyn Boy’ you get a sense of who he is and what he stands for; he’s not so much an open book as an illicitly read diary. The small venue would, on any other day, be perfect for his use of the mic, which allowed him to use distance and create echoes, but sadly his almost pre-pubescent voice just wasn’t powerful enough to be heard over the incessant buzz of the uninterested.

WATCH// 'Brooklyn Boy'

The crowd, as I say, was a strange one, with a mixture of young girls, 20 something guys covered in tattoos, and straight laced hand holding couples, it was never going to be easy gauging who was here for what, but such is the appeal of the eclectic sound of Cursive. The band has been going—on and off—for nearly 20 years and are pioneers of the American indie scene; with Tim Kasher’s lazy vocal conversations happening over a backdrop of jazz trumpets, funky bass lines, and a thick powerful chorus of guitars and drums it’s hard to not find something to love.

Live though they do leave a little something to be desired as they choose to barely speak a word to the crowd or each other for practically the entire show. If you’re after out and out entertainment then Cursive are not the band for you. In fact rather than speech it’s all steely glances and a sense of resentment. Having said that Cursive are a band who come alive when they play and when their fans react to what they’re playing, as the audience respond to tracks like ‘Art Is Hard’ in the encore the bands faces are enlivened with smiles.

Cursive have never been an easy band, as I said earlier, their sound is dynamic and challenging, but new concept record I Am Gemini is them back on the heavy welcoming form of yesteryear, it’s only suiting then that they bookended their set with album opener and closer ‘This House Alive’ and ‘Eulogy For No Name’ before doing one of the most applauded and passionate encores I’ve had the pleasure to witness.

Backed by his usual cronies and the impressively talented Patrick Newbury on keys and trumpet—he can play them both at the same time—Kasher once more showed off his understated frontman prowess. He may have barely said anything and looked like a young Charles Manson, but he’s a fellow who knows how to lead and tonight was no different. There’s just something in the assured way he moves and how unfazed he is that cuts to the heart of what makes Cursive great.

With an extensive back catalogue to choose from the band perform a set which gets louder cheers with every new track, there’s no mosh pit and no crowd surfing, but there is blind eyed singing and devotion from everyone who’s stuck around. The room’s capacity might not be bulging, but that never mattered to the Cursive fans.