By Julia Reidy
the five men of Man Man onto the Variety Playhouse stage
after they finished their plain-clothes sound check and ventured off to get
into costume. The cats would stay still barely long enough so that you’d think
they were lifeless, then move just slightly and blink, reflecting the black
light and making you jump out of your skin in a mixture of surprise and almost
unbearable anticipation. When Man Man re-emerged in their all-white to match,
the creepy kitties nodded in approval and the full, albeit young, Variety
echoed enthusiastically.
The guys played a set replete with numbers from their
2008 release Rabbit Habits (“Hurly /
Burly,” “The Ballad of Butter Beans,” “Top Drawer”), but also delved into
previous material, like the requisite “Van Helsing Boombox.” Though the Variety
isn’t the ideal venue for Man Man (a smaller room they can fully fill suits them
better), their syncopated, testosterone-infused carnival funk, performed with
ecstatic emotion and just the right level of silly showmanship, never fails to
entertain.
act, must be pretty discouraging. Fortunately, Cursive
absolutely doesn’t lack for confidence. Nor should they. An utterly different
type of tour de force live performance issued from this band, bass heavy,
piercing and showered in stage lights. Between songs replete with angst-filled
howling and the type of incisively cynical literary lyricism of which only he
seems capable, Tim Kasher cracked the one smile his audience would see from him
the whole evening. He said something to the effect of, “We’ve been having a
great time on this tour. We feel pretty lucky to have been doing this as long
as we have. If you get the chance to be a great band for this long, I really
recommend it.”
The Omaha quartet played a selection of songs spanning their
more-than-a-decade-long career, leaning, of course on tracks from their March
Saddle Creek release (their seventh LP), Mama,
I’m Swollen. As visually un-stunning as Man Man is spectacular, Cursive
nonetheless delivered, and led an enthusiastic crowd fist-pumping through their
encore and out the exits.
