memorial day weekend to me has meant sit on your ass weekend. i managed to get out of the house saturday night for a get together and some drinks at jen’s, and last night to go see godfather part II at the new beverly, but otherwise i have been here, relaxing. it’s been fantastic. even finished a book finally.

the best part for sure though was the back to back concerts thursday and friday night. i feel bad that my regular concert buddy joe was busy this week, because he missed the best two shows of the year so far. now that’s bad timing.

the cursive show thursday night at the troubadour was probably the fifth or so time i’ve seen them, so i knew they’re always good. i just love their sound so much and they really play a powerful show. now maybe tim was drunker or more energetic than usual, maybe a little of both, but they layed into their songs that night with some definite fury. even though the set included a higher-than-usual percentage of older songs i didn’t even know, it was top form start to finish and i could not get enough. lucky for me then that they also played way longer than usual, maybe over 90 minutes even. they’re still on the road with the plea for peace tour, so i’d say catch them if you can.

then friday, the sweet sweet sounds of the mountain goats, who i’d never see play live before. since tallahassee came out i’ve been seriously in love with this guy though, so my eagerness had been growing all week. the two opening bands pretty much wasted my time, so that didn’t help, but as soon as the mountain goats (i.e. john and his bass playing accompaniment) started i was fully engaged and energized. with a catalog of hundreds of well-written ballads to choose from i don’t know how that man writes a set list, but i was in heaven. the songs from we shall all be healed sounded great, and the dozen tunes i’d never even heard before all pleased me just as much. when he played an extra-soft version of “shadow song” i almost wanted to cry, and when he came back out for an encore of “no children” i cheered pretty loudly. maybe it’s a little pretentious that they left stage three times and came out again for more encores, but i wasn’t about to complain at getting to hear more songs. the best of which was probably the ‘HAIL SATAN’ chant-along in ‘best-ever death metal band out of denton’.

sadly, i think that pretty much wrapped up his tour for this year so i can’t encourage you to go see him in the near future, unless you will be in chicago on june 4th, in which case GO! DON’T MISS IT! NOW’S YOUR CHANCE, DON’T SCREW THIS UP!.

but for the rest of you, i recommend instead you check out the pay day song, a new track they played called dance music, recorded here from a live spot on kexp. most excellent.

happy memorial day all, i’ve got some grilling to do.