Aug. 30th,1989-Detroit,Mi. (Palace of Auburn Hills)

The Cure Injects Energy Into Songs

by Robin D. Givhan of the Detroit Free Press (8/31/89)

There are times when music has to be played loudly,not with such intensity
that it causes pain,but with enough volume and energy to engulf the audience
in the music and the lyrics.

The Cure plays that kind of music.And,at Wednesday night's sold-out concert
at the Palace of Auburn Hills,the Cure blasted its synthesized brand of
musical angst with enough intensity to keep the audience swaying in a spell
of hypnotized fascination.

With the plaintive vocals of Robert Smith,the quintet played favorites like
"In Between Days" and new songs from the album "Disintegration."

Wailing from a smoke-filled stage that gave the illusion that the band was
reaching out from some strange underworld,songs like "Peeking in the Mirror"
and "Pictures of You" drifted through the arena in a perfect mix of pounding
bass and rambling guitar riffs.Whether elements of songs were live or
rogrammed didn't matter,thanks to smoothly blended sound.

The Cure's music is ponderous at best and angst-ridden at worst,but the
performance drew the audience into the band's artificial world of sad love
songs and dour opinions.

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