Album anniversary tours are a big thing as of late, mostly to elicit our fawning and declarations of a “seminal piece of work”. But to see Cursive perform The Ugly Organ ten years old last night at The Echoplex and recall my teenage talons clasping at the jewel case of the CD is a jarring thing. But it seems all the more apt, as if Cursive is anything, it’s jarring. Streaks of ominous cello drone over ramshackle flights of guitar and sudden bolts of trumpet, steadied by a solid backbeat, all upon which Tim Kasher’s shouted lyrics prevail. Sounds which, through headphones in youth, plea an urgency and complexity you don’t quite understand but are drawn to take on new depth without losing a molecule of their foreign danger: an emotionality so intense and so well crafted it might be contagious. And it is. Nothing feels forced, phoned in, or overstated, the energy proves delectably raw and songs like “Bloody Murderer” and “Art Is Hard” feel palpable as confessions, fables, and primal truths. If “you’ve gotta fake, fake, fake the pain”, consider me well fooled, as the performance felt worthy of bandage and antiseptic, even if we are all old enough now to know better than to incur such injuries in the first place.
1. Blink 182
2. Taste of Chaos
3. Vans Warped Tour
4. MY2K Tour
5. Justin Bieber
