Despite the fact that both bands were returning to the Tampa/Orlando area for a second time in less than a year, Minus the Bear and Circa Survive still managed to sell out The Ritz Ybor last Wednesday night.
Now, Now opened for this last leg of the tour, and caught my ear instantly from the side room. I wondered to the ballroom and squeezed myself closer, catching some of the action with a better point-of-view. A three-piece from Minneapolis, Now, Now had that all-encompassing sound that you might hear through headphones, one that filled and surrounded and enfolded us in a mystical arrangement of notes and melody. In other words, I enjoyed the set.
Every time I catch Minus the Bear, there always comes a point where I find myself wondering just what the fuck they’re going to play. Being my typical snobbish self, I generally don’t want to listen to anything later than 2007’s Planet of Ice. Of course, it’s never my call and whether you’re more a fan of their old material or new, Minus The Bear knows how to bring it. Though the set was heavier on 2010’s Omni and last year’s Infinity Overhead, they also treated us cuts off Ice, Menos El Oso (2005), and even “Absinthe Party at the Fly Honey Warehouse” off 2002 debut, Highly Refined Pirates.
Game on, I thought, as Circa Survive made their entrance to close out the night. Visionary leader Anthony Green stood at the edge of the stage, staring out and grinning while rubbing his hands together like a mad scientist with a diabolical plan to fuck some shit up. Green and his projects, Saosin and Circa Survive, have a relentlessly loyal following and likely it has much due to with Green’s sweet cherubic stage presence and his temperament, much like I’d imagine that of a cow getting milked. Green welcomed the crowd by rubbing his microphone (cockrophone?), and didn’t speak right away. Instead, his fiery gaze swept the crowd and the screaming built up to a frenzied pitch until Circa Survive finally launched into “Glass Arrows” off 2010’s Blue Sky Noise. The band did an excellent job of cherry-picking all the goodies from their four albums. Green howled through the songs on the tips of his toes, literally, adding small burst of screams where there was silence on the records, his perfectly-timed stage rage synced to the hard-rocking instrumentals of his bandmates. Overall, I left satiated, stuffed full of good music and ready to feast all over again.
Minus The Bear Setlist:
Steel and Blood
The Fix
Secret Country
My Time
Absinthe Party
Knights
Diamond Lighting
Toska
Into The Mirror
Listing
Pachuca Sunrise
Drilling
Circa Survive Setlist
Glass Arrows
Fear and Faith
Stop The Fucking Car
Brother Song
Hitman
Sharp Practice
Semi Constructive Criticism
Living Together
Suitcase
House Of Leaves
All Your Friends
The Difference Between Medicine And Poison Is The Dose
Get Out
This article appears in Apr 4-10, 2013.