REVIEW: The band goes back to the future with an enjoyable set.

It just can't go on like this.  Fortunately, Cure leader Robert Smith knows
it. Every time the Cure puts out an album and goes on tour, Smith threatens
that it might be the last.  This time, though, his actions are doing the
talking. The Cure gave a supremely satisfying show at Irvine Meadows on
Saturday night, but there was the feeling it was a goodbye to the band's past.

The Cure's moody, intimate music is being held hostage by the conventions
and demands of arena rock, and Smith recognizes he has taken that about as
far as he can go.  The lights and lasers are a little more spectacular this
time, making him look like he's in the midst of a three-hour video shoot.
The sets are longer, the songs more varied, and more obscure, the sound
pristine and punchy.  In the arena, it rarely gets better than this.

But he has done this for years now.  Even Smith admits he can do it now with
his eyes closed.  After a four-year layoff, Smith nearly had the gumption to
try the big shake-up this time out.  Instead, the Cure fell back on a solid
mix of old and new that provided a strong, sure concert.

Still, you can't imagine Smith or the band ever again undertaking a full-on
rock tour like this.  Smith's new music is too strong, his desire to create
too driven.  This is finished.

Smith is considering an album of his personal-favorite Cure songs and doing
radically reworked versions of them - a piano-based "Faith", a lilting,
acoustic "From the Edge Of the Deep Green Sea".

To be sure, some of the songs in the Cure's catalog are ripe for a good
shaking up.  He explored a little of that on Saturday night, experimenting a
bit with the guitar structures in "Fascination Street" and the vocal lines
of "In Between Days".

But mainly it was a solid career overview.  With 200 songs rehearsed for the
tour, he has taken each night as an exercise in Cure history, working
through some (overly) familiar songs as well as obscurities.  He reached
into the past for songs all the way back to "Seventeen Seconds" and offered
such rarely played songs as "The Kiss" and "Like Cockatoos".

You can tell, though, he's had it with some of that history.  The difference
in energy between the new "Want" and a lackluster "Fascination Street" two
songs later was palpable.  The intensity and commitment to harrowing new
songs such as "Treasure" and "Trap" (the later with Smith's lyrical
insistence that he's "sick of it all, sick of it all") showed where his
heart is.  It's clearly time to move on.

Some other older songs weren't such a chore.  He was still willing to
intimately explore all seven minutes of "Pictures Of You" concentrating on
his vocal and reworking his guitar breaks in between.  While it was a loose
set, Smith threw in ringers throughout to keep it interesting - the one-two
punch of the sprightly new "Mint Car" coupled with the always-fun "just Like
Heaven", the majestic, "Kashmir"-like "Prayers For Rain", old standbys
"Boy's Don't Cry" and "Killing An Arab".

After probably a few too many years of defining himself and his music by
what his fans and the record industry expect, Smith is poised to change.
And the odds are very good it will be as artistically satisfying as his
first 19 years of music.

Craig's Rating: A+

     This is the best show I have ever seen.  I know I said the 2nd LA
rocked (it did), but I had no idea they would pull out all of the
songs they did in one show!  This one was by far the best.

     The soundcheck was absolutely amazing.  The band were in shorts
and sunglasses in bright daylight, and there were 500 people there
tops.  Everybody who yelled something got a reaction from the band
because it was so incredibly intimate.  Someone was holding up a giant
Faith banner, and Robert said "We can't play that now.  I'll be
rolling on the floor singing it later tonight though.".  We were
holding up a Piggy in the Mirror sign, and we got our wish.  Robert
would kneel down into the audience and sign things while he wasn't
singing.  There was a soundcheck-before-the-soundcheck, and here is 
everything they played, that included:

Plainsong
The Kiss
M
If Only Tonight We Could Sleep
A Strange Day
The 13th (robert apologized for this being bad, but it was actually
          quite good.  Much better than TOTP and Jules Holland.  I
          don't think they will ever play this song again, unless they
          have a change of heart.)
Play for Today
This is a Lie
Piggy in the Mirror
--- At this point the audience voted on which Cure era the next song
    should be from.  Robert gave us the following choices:
    1) First 4 albums
    2) Japanese Whispers to Head on the Door
    3) Kiss Me and beyond
    The audience chose 1) and then they played:
Fire in Cairo (just Robert)
Three Imaginary Boys

     The show itself had very good atmosphere since it was outdoors
and it was perfect temperature.  Here's what they played for the show:

Want
Club America
Fascination Street
Push
Lullaby
NUMB
Lovesong
Strange Attraction
M
Pictures of You
Treasure
Trap
THE KISS (just as good as '87)
Prayers for Rain
InBetween Days
From the Edge of the DGS
Bare 
END (for the most part not quite as good as '92, but Robert let out a
     yell at the end 'THIIIIINGS!' that was as long as the Prayers for
     Raaaaaaiiiin yell)
Catch
Hot, Hot, Hot (Robert was messing up so bad he started to do it on
               purpose.  He was singing really slowly and out of
               beat.  This completely cracked roger up.  He backed away
               from the keyboards as if to say 'I give up!'.)
Let's Go to Bed (Wait until 8.  Same thing with the messups and
                 Roger.)
WCIBY/YAH/Lovecats (Robert kneels into the audience and accepts about
                    3 dozen flowers)
Mint Car
Just Like Heaven
Jupiter Crash
Return
LIKE COCKATOOS
DRESSING UP
Boys Don't Cry
10.15 Saturday Night
Killing an Arab
A Forest (Robert started doing something wierd on this song.  He did
          it in Phoenix tonight too.  It's basically just him and
          Jason, and he isn't really playing anything the song nearly
          stops for a couple minutes and then pics-up again.  The band
          (esp Simon) looks to him for instructions, but I'm not sure
          what he is trying to do.
FAITH (Robert was very subdued and unmoving.  This is the song I have
       been waiting for, and it lived up to every expectation)

     Aftershow was pretty dumb.  Just Roger of course.  I look forward
to the refreshments more than anything!  Back at the hotel the band
was being absolutely mobbed by idiots screaming Robert's name.  Big
Brian punched out someone who got a little too close.  The guy was
bleeding in the street!

Started off a pretty average Cure show, everything you would expect 
played, in the order you would expect it.  Except for the fact that this 
was outdoors.  The boys did seem a rested and played better then last 
Sat. night.  Numb stuck out in my head as being much better live then on 
record (Rogers keyboards kicked ass on this song).  During Strange 
Attracion someone from a radio station here came up and gave us front 
row tickets!  Unfortunatly the front row was full of people who rushed 
up to the stage, so we had to settle for 3rd row center.  Big surprise 
of the night was when Robert said "This is a song we haven't played in 
like 9 yrs. Back when Roger first joined."  It was The Kiss!  Pretty 
cool to hear it, could've been played a little better tho, but for the 
first performance it was ok.  For M Robert said that here was a song 
that they hadn't played yet this time.  To end the show I was expecting 
the usual Disintigration, much to my surprise they launched into End 
(which I also thought could have been better, but I won't complain, 
cause at least they played it).  

First encore was the usual pure pop encore with Why Can't I Be You 
including Young at Heart and Lovecats.  During This song Robert 
interracted with the crowd quite a bit, and recieved a crap load of 
flowers.

Second encore was what the Cure is all about.  First Robert comes out 
and says, "I was just told back stage that this is a pop song."  The 
song was Dressing Up.  Then the usual Boys Don't Cry, 10:15, Killing 
Arab, and A Forest.  A Forest was great!  I saw them play LA last Sat, 
and I thought the A Forest blew, Robert was just mumbling his improvised 
lyrics.  But this performance was great.  Instead of the extra lyrices 
he kicked into a cool long guitar solo.  For a bit it was just him and 
Jason playing.  Simon and Perry were lost, just looking at each other, 
and then at Robert.  Roger was the first to start playing along, adding 
in a tad of keyboards, after a bit Robert got back closer to the way 
their little jam is usually structured and Simon and Perry got back on 
track. The song ended with Simon on the floor playing, and then getting 
up to pound the last noted out on his bass.  About 12 mins.

And the show wasn't over yet.  Robert grabbed his 6 string bass and they 
kicked into Faith.  Great show, 2 hrs 55 min!  And for those keeping 
track, the yell in Prayers For Rain was only about 15 sec.  And Robert 
even said something about that yell not winning the contest.  Just for 
the record, I think the lights were better inside then outside.