Sept. 22nd,1989-Mansfield,Ma. (Great Woods)
For The Cure,There's No Success Like Failure
by Jim Sullivan of the Boston Globe (9/23/89)
The Cure's Robert Smith has fashioned a pretty successful
career by writing
about failure.Well,not only failure:There's loss,dislocation,despair,ennui,
inertia,futility and a whole bundle of other fun stuff that makes a case
that
the Cure may just be the Pink Floyd of the post-punk generation.Aside from
the thematic link,both groups favor chemical smoke baths and spectacular
stage lighting;both embrace the notion of atmospherics and muted grandeur;
Pink Floyd is probably just a little more dramatic,bombastic and humorless.
Not to say the Cure is made up of five merry pranksters exactly,but last
night at Great Woods keyboardist Roger O'Donnell cracked a smile now and
then
and Smith completed his black uniform not with Doc Marden boots but with
sneakers.Hey,a guy's got to be able to bounce,especially when he's not
just
an existentialist worrywart and cynical romantic,but a pop star too.Smith
handles both roles well.He's serious without being pretentious;he can accept
a hug from a stage-crashing young woman without looking like Rod Stewart.
The Cure put about 12,500 under the shed and on the lawn at Great Woods
for
the first of two local dates on the band's "farewell" tour,and
played a set
that hit the 2 1/2-hour mark.The show opened with "Plainsong,"
the
death-obsessed first song on the band's latest LP,"Disintegration,"
and
closed with four poppier songs from its debut disc,"Three Imaginary
Boys."
In between,the group touched base with pretty much all phases of its
decade-plus career.The lighting was superb and complementary;even the
chemical smoke,usually a cliche and an annoyance,was utilized expertly.Agreed
:The Cure belongs in a smoke bath.
The show had two fairly distinct segments--the intense,swirling "regular"
set,highlighted by the elegiac "A Forest," and the extended encores,
highlighted by the playful "Let's Go to Bed" -- playful in the
Cure's
universe,you understand:It's about two bored lovers who go to bed without
any
particular passion or reason.
Even when Smith writes upbeat,melodic pop songs--and last night's show
was
sprinkled with them--he is apt to find himself wishing for death ("In
Between
Days") or being attacked by giant spiders ("Lullaby").In
"Love Song," which
features a gorgeous,chiming guitar figure,Smith proclaims,"I will
always love
you," but it's not exactly a celebration.To paraphrase Lou Reed (in
"Pale
Blue Eyes"),down for Smith is up.It works.There's a beauty in sadness,
sometimes,and the Cure find that spot with consistency.They glide,float
and
pummel,engaging body and mind.
The opening Shelleyan Orphan,a sextet fronted by singer Caroline Crawley
and
featuring violinist Julia Singleton,made a mark with its careening,somewhat
abstract sound.Like the Sugarcubes,Shelleyan Orphan utilizes unorthodox
song
structures and textures,playing,say,an abrasive lead line off a seductive
vocal.A strong set that built to a fiery climax with the appropriately
titled
"Burst!"