Though Nate Flickinger hasn't seen Man Man live before, he's gotten a good sense of the band's bizarre live show through watching YouTube videos.
"That's why I'm so excited for it," Flickinger (senior-information sciences and technology) said. "Supposedly they dress in all white with war paint and go crazy. It sounds like a lot of fun."
The Philadelphia-based experimental rockers Man Man will be joining the Omaha indie-rockers of Cursive at 8 Monday night. On top of that, comedian Andrew Wright will be joining the group.
Mike Negra, executive director of the State Theatre, said in March that Man Man has been on the State Theatre's radar for a long time and they will have a lot of support.
Kristy Cyone, marketing manager for the State Theatre, said tickets have been selling well but lots of good seats were left as of Monday.
Cursive got its start in 1995 in Omaha, Neb., and after releasing two EPs, the band released its first record, Such Blinding Stars for Starving Eyes, two years later.
Justin Shaner, owner of advertising agency JLS Solutions, said he became interested in the band in 1997 when he was in high school and started listening to more indie rock, including Cursive's first full-length record.
"I really liked what I heard. It was very different," Shaner said. "Their first album was very raw -- raw energy and raw emotion."
Though the band faced a temporary split in 1998, the members eventually came back together in 1999 with new member, Ted Stevens.
The band in 2000 released Domestica, which started to garner some national attention for the band. It wouldn't be until 2003's The Ugly Organ, which featured cellist Greta Cohn, that the band would get full exposure. The album received four out of five stars in Rolling Stone magazine and a perfect five out of five in Alternative Press magazine.
Maginn attributed the success of The Ugly Organ to the band's willingness to not only experiment with new instruments, but also the song arrangements themselves.
"Ugly Organ was far more successful than we expected," Maginn said. "We started messing around with different structures and ideas rather than ... angular, dischordant, post-hardcore kind of stuff."
Flickinger enjoys Cursive but is attending the show primarily to see Man Man. He said he enjoys the group for many reasons, including frontman Ryan Kattner's distinctive voice.
"The lead singer sounds a lot like Tom Waits. He's got a deep, raspy voice," Flickinger said. "It's all centered around piano but they're pretty crazy. There's lot of chants and random yelling in the songs. There's lots of brass instruments and the songs themselves are fun."
