Taking its cue from Pink Floyd, the original rock band for depressed
high-school loners, the  Cure  apparently figured out that if the music
isn't getting any better, then the light and stage show should.
 
   The British mope-rockers, fronted by sole original member  Robert Smith,
hada different color scheme or lighting pattern for each of the staggering
31 songsthey played Thursday at the Erwin Center. These were in addition to
the moving, carnival-like stage setup that would have made Tim Burton proud.
If only the group's music had had that much of an effectively changing
vibrance, the show could have been truly mesmerizing.
 
   Instead, the nearly three-hour  concert  (three hours!) remained a fairly
constant drone of the  Cure's  trademark swirling guitars, ambient keyboards
andwholly unfunky rhythms. The group's latest album, ''Wild Mood Swings,''
returnedthem to their moodier, grayer sounds, but the songs from it proved
to have little effect live, except to lull the crowd. It didn't help that
many of the older songs which came early in the  concert,  such as ''A Night
Like This'' and''Like Cockatoos,'' were equally drab and musically lifeless.
 
   What would you expect, though, with a lyricist like Smith. ''Is this how
it ends?'' he sang in the new ''Jupiter Crash.'' ''Killing time again,
waiting for the end,'' he sang in ''Prayers for Rain.'' And on and on it
went, so that the one song that really rang true was ''If Only Tonight I
Could Sleep.''
 
   This lengthy dreariness only dragged down the  Cure's  most popular pop
songs, ''Just Like Heaven'' and ''Friday I'm in Love,'' both of which came
earlyon. Though these hits did perk up the crowd, the change from cold to
hot was too abrupt.
        Still, there were some exceptions. Pulling out a relatively obscure pop
gem, ''Push,'' Smith proved his undeniable talent at crafting lush melodies.
With thequirky new single ''Mint Car'' (though as fluff-filled as ''Friday
I'm in Love''), the band gave the crowd its first worthy dance number. And
''Fascination Street,'' which came near the end of the regular set, remains
an example of the band's eeriness at its best.
 
   Smith, a lasting icon to all the young, black-fingernailed, dark eye
shadow wearers in the crowd (male and female), was rather ironically dressed
in a hockey jersey, sneakers and jeans. He looked like a member of Soul
Asylum ratherthan the  Cure.  But in keeping with his gloomy image, he
talked very little to the crowd, only saying ''thanks,'' and at one point
asking, ''The drugs just kicked in, right?''
 
   The band, featuring a brand new drummer and guitarist, was as tight as
the Cure  has ever been. Not that the  Cure's  music, as acutely
orchestrated as itoften is, really requires  much outstanding playing talent
(a point Smith supported by not even bothering to introduce the members to
the crowd).
 
   It took the two encores to finally lift the show to some sense of climax.
Starting with the irrepressible ''Catch,'' the band bounced between the
new''Gone'' to dim-witted standards like ''Why Can't I Be You,'' ''Boys
Don't Cry'' and ''Killing an Arab.'' Classics, these are not. But at least
the  Cure  finally admitted it's best as a pop band, and not some haunting,
post-'60s,cinematic, psychedelic-rock experience.
 
   If fans did take anything, my guess is the drugs never did kick in.

The more the Cure changes, the more they stay the same. Five years ago,I 
managed to catch them on the Disintegration Tour,also at the Erwin Center.
Back then,you could buy a beer on the premises--or maybe the guy in the seat
directly behind me had snuck his in.Either way,sobriety was rare amongst
audience and band members alike.This show was different.Not only was the
crowd amazingly sedate throughout most of the two-hour-plus show,but,
distressingly,so was Fatbob and the band.Perhaps as a concession to the
ghost of Pete Townsend's eardrums,Cure `96 seemed a bit tame--quiet,reserved
and not at all the melancholy darkchasers that released Carnage Visors so
long ago.Yes,they ran through a career-spanning gamut of moribund hits--
three-quarters of Staring at the Sea, Kiss Me, Kiss Me, Kiss Me, and
Disintegration,but clad in a crimson football (?!) jersey,Smith,along with
longtime players Simon Gallup and Perry Bamonte seemed positively chipper,
saving many of their back catalogue hits for an embarrassing "Cure on 45"
medley positioned for most effective swoon-inducement towards the end of
their set.
Surprisingly,much of the material off the new Wild Mood Swings sounded best:
"Strange Attraction," "Mint Car," and "The 13th" proving far more 
interesting live than squashed through my tinny car speakers.The Cure's
trademark post-goth misery is apparently little more than a fading memory in
the minds of the black-clad fans;despite the perpetually-teased hair and
soggy mascara,Smith is obviously a far more relaxed,animated musician than 
before.You get the feeling he's haunting more Wal-Marts than cemeteries 
these days....

Here is my take on the Austin show last night:

I sure as hell don't remember the song order, but I did count 33 songs.
They played for about 2 1/2 hours or so.  It seems the crowd didn't get
into it super-heavily until they played "Return", oddly enough.  Robert
even made a comment at this point about people's "drugs kicking in" (no new
drug thread, please!).  After this it was very energetic, very powerful,
everyone standing up, just great.  I was really trying to just burn every
moment into memory.
Robert said some stuff that I absolutely could not make out as I was almost
deaf by about the third song ( I was in the first row directly in front of
the bass cabinets. ouch).  Songs that were standouts to me were push, like
cockatoos, a strange day, if only tonight we could sleep, gone!, prayers
for rain, bare (he sang this in an interesting way:  he "put on" a
different voice for the "other ways to give", etc. lines like he was having
a conversation.  It was very intense and sad).  Right before "Why Can't I
Be You", Robert said (I think) "I'm going to fuck this up", and then
screamed.  Oh, and at the beginning of the encores, he was having some
funny argument or something with Roger;  he said a bunch of stuff to him I
couldn't make out, but then he GROWLED into the mic for a while.  As usual
at the Erwin Center, the sound was not ideal.  The drums and bass tended to
distort heavily at certain points.  They had half the arena curtained off
to accomodate their stage, but it seemed as though the rest of the arena
was full up to the rafters, for the most part.  Great show overall, I
absolutely did not want it to end.

Don't get me wrong, the Dallas show was awesome and longer than the
next night's show in Austin by about half an hour. But, the Austin setlist
was just gorgeous.Where they had concentrated a little on
Disintegration tracks in Dallas,they hit more of the "KMKMKM" album
and a couple more from Head on the Door.

The first two songs were Want and Club America (like in Dallas),but
the third and fourth were A Night Like This and Push.Back to back
HOTD, I almost exploded.They also played Catch, Hot Hot Hot!!!, Why
Can't I Be You? and Just Like Heaven, but also played Like Cockatoos
and If Only Tonight...Sleep.They were both incredible versions.

And,to top it all off, the final encore began with Play for Today. I could
not have asked for a better concert and better visit to Austin. Plus, the
intense rain really set the mood. It was all over much too quickly,
especially having to return to Fort Worth right afterwards.

In any case, that's my take on the scene at the Austin show. A great
couple of nights running around the state, but it was all worth it to see
my favorite artists.