Images: Minus the Bear, Cursive, Girl in a Coma November 7, 2012 at the Hard Rock Cafe on The Strip

I discovered Minus the Bear and Cursive right around the same time in the early 2000s, and they both sounded really refreshing at the time, being so markedly different from the skate and pop punk I was used to. They were gateway bands for me, and as such, hold some special significance, even after all these years.

So after a great set from San Antonio TX’s Girl in a Coma, I was quite surprised that so few in the audience were singing along with Cursive. Maybe I had misconceptions about their popularity, feeling like more people discovered the band in the way I did. Not to say the crowd was dead, there were some fists in the air and singalongs during classics like “A Gentleman Caller,” “Art is Hard” and closer “Dorothy at Forty” but not as many as I’d think to see (or think the band deserves after so many years of releasing solid albums) and not nearly as many as Minus the Bear would get. I haven’t seen Cursive since they opened for Alkaline Trio in 2010 and I think they’ve only gotten better live, with frontman Tim Kasher’s voice sounding better than ever.

Minus the Bear on the other hand, has seen a solid increase in popularity since I last saw them. I haven’t kept up with their discography like I have Cursive’s but what I heard live from 2012’s Infinity on High sounded great and makes me curious enough to catch up with their music. Despite a hiccup with the monitors during opener “Steel and Blood” that caused the set to be put on hold for a few minutes, the band played flawlessly and the passion of the fans singing every word from the start all the way up through closer “Pachuca Sunrise” was good to see.

-Emily Matview | https://www.flickr.com/photos/holdfastnow/