After I was finished with my interview with Jeremy Enigk, pizza with some good friends at Frank’s Pizza, and a long walk all over downtown, I made my way back to the venue just as the night’s first band, The Cops, were setting up for their set. The Seattle four piece took the stage shortly before nine and tore into their half hour set. The music the band played was very catchy and made people want to dance. However, the songs being sung left more people, including myself, bored rather than moving. Cliché songs about heroin and constantly saying that “everyone is sexy” turned most of the crowd off. Luckily the night got much, much better with each band.

After the Cops finished up, the group Zykos came out and played. These four guys and a girl knew how to construct songs, and play them very well live.
It is well known that Austin is a musical mecca, and Zykos is just further proof of this. With lots of slide guitar, keyboards, and powerful vocals, the group kept the audience entertained for the length of their set.

The next act for the night was Jeremy Enigk, best known for fronting the influential group, Sunny Day Real Estate. Many of my friends in high school loved SDRE, but for some reason I never really got into them. The man’s solo work is an entirely different story. I received a copy of his new solo album “World Waits” a few weeks ago, and had it playing in my car for a few days straight. It is very different from his work with SDRE and Fire Theft, but he isn’t the same person that he was when those albums were released.

Enigk played his entire set completely by himself, using only guitar and piano (which he was finally able to break). The World Waits record is filled with lush orchestrations and layers of vocals, but stripping down the songs for a live solo set gave them a much more intimate feeling. The love songs he played felt like a window into the man himself, painting a picture of his personal life.

It didn’t matter if he was playing piano or guitar, the songs were beautiful, and his vocals moved everyone in the room that night. The biggest treat for the fans came when he announced that the next song would be a Sunny Day song, which the audience responded to by screaming every word back at him.

After Enigk called it a night, the stage was set for the night’s headliner, Cursive. The Omaha group was back from an extended break, and ready to please the fans that had been waiting for them. I last saw Cursive on the Plea for Peace tour in the summer of 2004, and the show was spectacular.

The band has had a slight lineup change, with their original cello player being replaced, and the band has added a horn section. All of these changes didn’t effect the intensity of the band’s live show. From the moment the first note was hit, until the guitars were set down, the band played their hearts out.

The veteran band played plenty of older songs, as well as a few off of “Happy Hollow”, the groups latest release. Older songs, such as “The Martyr” sounded better than ever with the additional instruments. Tim Kasher gave up some of his vocal duties to Ted Stevens, though Kasher’s singing has never sounded stronger. The man would scream notes and hold them for extended periods of time, even when the music would stop.

The audience, myself included, sang along throughout the length of their performance. In fact, leaving the venue my throat was sore from screaming all night.

After the encore, the venue emptied, though I am pretty sure that no one left the show disappointed. Hopefully Cursive won’t wait another two years before coming back to town, and will be releasing more music. The night’s show proved that no one had forgotten about them, and it isn’t likely that anyone will anytime soon.