As I continue to interpret the Cure's current 'Wild Mood Swings'
Tour in six different ways - 6 shows in two weeks - I will turn my focus to
the actual process involved in putting on a Cure production, with close
attention given to the  people behind the scenes who are never given the
proper credit they indeed deserve.  In addition, the Cure's performance at
the Thomas and Mack Center on the campus of UNLV was made unique by the fact
that the show was filmed in its entirety by a PBS film crew, for future
broadcast on the network's "On Tour" concert documentary series...
        Across the desolate desert, baking under the intense blaze of the
sun, my 'Cure-mobile' sped thru the uninhabited and seemingly endless
stretch of highway towards my destination: Las Vegas, Nevada (to many,
translated as 'Lost Wages'). The reason for the excessive speed on my second
major road trip in four days was quite obvious: the New York Yankees were a
-220 favorite, and a sure bet, to defeat the hapless Tigers, with the 1:05
game-time quickly approaching. For this adventure, I had the fortune of
riding with easily the biggest Cure fan in the world, Ryan from Malibu -- I
say that not only to piss off those fans out there who claim to be the
'biggest' fan of the Band, but also to give him his props for amassing the
largest possible Cure collection in the world, numbering over 80 CD's,
studio and live, and still counting (that would be 81 as of next week, right
Ryan?!).  The world's largest thermometer, in the thriving hub known as
Baker, California, announced to us that it was 115 degrees outside the car,
relative to the 90 degrees it was inside...
        I regret to admit with shame, that I was responsible for introducing
the world of gambling to Ryan. We placed our bets for the Friday slate of
baseball, and decided to gamble some more by going straight to the T&M at
3:00 to begin to familiarize ourselves with our new temporary home.  We
entered the arena, and were greeted by the sounds of hammers striking wood
and metal.  Mere inches away from us, the Stage Crew scurried about,
conducting their mission of building the backdrop to what was to be a
surreal night with the Cure.  Large scaffolding equipped with lights were
sprawled across the entirety of the floor, sandwiching the carts of
collapsed chairs.  Everything was splendid...until it happened.  We had been
spotted by a crew member.  As he ran over to us, he shouted "excuse me!".
Game Over.  "...could you please hand me that extension chord over there on
top of the second speaker?!".  Surely I was capable of that, and I quickly
complied with delight (sorry, I know it may sound lame, it's just that I had
never 'helped' to put a Cure stage together before...).  Our afternoon was
indeed just beginning.
        This busy stage crew had had little opportunity for rest, having
trucked in from the Salt Lake City show the previous night, arriving into
Vegas at 9:00 Friday morning.  I was told that the entire stage set-up,
under the most optimal conditions, took only five hours to complete.
Perhaps these were not the most optimal conditions, as the clock struck
5:00.  Just two short hours before the doors were to open to admit the
crowd, the stage was only half-finished.  Around us, the hustle and bustle
continued at an incredible pace.  A forklift was used to load the bulky
amplifiers and heavy speakers up onto the stage.  The massive light
structures were lifted by chains to take their place right beneath the
ceiling.  It even took six men and women just to carry the portable steps,
with which Robert and his mates would use to ascend to the stage, to the
opposite side of the stage -- someone had constructed and placed it on the
wrong side of the stage..!  The infamous wooden rollercoaster tracks were
assembled together in sections by hammer and nail.  By 6:00, instruments
made their way on stage, including not just the 12 guitars and basses, but
the two different drum sets which Jason was to use that night.  Amidst all
of the chaos and shouting, the stage manager, Bill, was able to maintain his
calm composure, patiently barking out his commands, while passing on
occasional smiles and laughter.  And in the tunnels of T&M, in the Tour
Production room, Tara handled the business aspect of the evening's
performance, counting off all of the credentials and passes for distribution.
        The craziness and confusion on the floor was indeed further
complicated by the fact that the independent PBS film crew were also setting
up their own equipment -- no less than 11 cameras which would be scattered
throughout the arena.  In fact, at one point, concerns were voiced because
the most important cameras could not be installed until the stage set-up was
eventually completed at 6:15.  As the instrument technicians stepped onto
the stage, the camera crew were quickly constructing not one, but two
mammoth camera booms/cranes.  And at 6:30, the local crew finally began the
laborious task of individually placing each chair that was to make up the
floor section.  The big question: where was the Soundcheck?  Even more
intriguing at such a late time, was the uncertainty of whether the Band
itself was in the building...
        One by one the equipment was tested.  Jason's drums banged out a
beat.  The mics were tested with a crew member speaking "...Robert's vocal,
Robert's vocal, spare vocals, spare vocals..." and "One...Tsoo...Tsoo"
("Two", to us Americans).  A guitar tech, Nick, pounded out the bass line to
the Cure's latest hit "Gone"...a million times, each time ending up with the
notes to "Fascination Street".  The 12-string and 6-string guitars were
tested by Jez with the intros to "Like Cockatoos" & "Push" [neither of which
were played that night], which was played in a slow, but incredibly
beautiful way.  Jason's second drums were tested, acknowledging the presence
of "This Is A Lie" on the evening's set-list. Roger's keyboard was toyed
with by Martin, who deafened the arena with the Vibraphone and Synth
Strings.  Soon enough, the taping of "Want" roared out of the powerful sound
system, restarting several times in succession.  Once again, the bass was
tested with an interesting medley of "Fascination St", some Zeppelin,
"Inbetween", "Friday", "Mint Car", and yes, ending up again with
"Fascination", this time with the incorporation of the flanger pedal (the
effect which provides the spacey, cyclical wind-like variation in pitch).
        The technicians ended up with a nice drum and bass duet of "Let's Go
To Bed", and the intro to "Drowning Man".  As the instruments were tested,
others continued to put the finishing touches on the overall production.
Throughout the soundcheck, the lighting wizard, Gary (backwards baseball cap
and all), could be seen having a blast punching out every possible
combination of the colorfully blinding visual effects which would serve to
captivate the audience throughout the performance -- now mere minutes away
from the scheduled starting time.  In fact, the crowd had actually already
been let into the building, only to be restricted to the concourse level.
Smoke erratically poured out on stage, as a PBS crew member had difficulty
attaching a camera to the wooden structure that was the eerie, broken down
rollercoaster tracks. The 20-foot camera booms, which would provide the
'floating' close-ups of Robert, were now in place on either side of the
stage.  And the local crew, who had spent so much effort in just placing the
floor seats, now had to wipe clean and fold each individual chair...
        It was now 7:15.  The Band was nowhere to be seen.  Either the
dinner in the catering room was really, really good (ie- artichoke pizza),
or else the Band was simply behind schedule, having arrived into McCarran
Airport after 3:30pm.  Maybe they had gotten stuck up on the 'Big Shot',
high atop the tallest man-made structure the west of the Mississippi, the
Stratosphere...or maybe they were watching the Yankee game at the Caesars
Sports Book...or perhaps they were experiencing vehicle troubles, having had
the wheels to their Limo simply melt away under the Nevada sun...  Maybe
they were just waiting for Ryan and I to leave the building, before they
finally did come on for their shortened soundcheck.  We left the building at
7:30, just having witnessed in very slow motion the construction of the set
over a four hour period.  The coast was clear for the Band to finally emerge
on-stage at 7:31, to fine tune their songs... :(         Outside, the
once-blazing sun gave way to the much brighter and dazzling lights of the
Las Vegas Strip.  We stepped outside and immediately wilted in the lingering
heat.  As part of a radio station promotion, there was a band outside that
covered various alternative tracks.  Cars had begun to fill the lots, and
soon it became quite clear that, similar to the lots up in San Jose, there
would be no tail-gating at this event.   As mentioned, as soon as a car
would pull up, its occupants seemed to rush into the building...no real
mingling amongst strangers and fellow fans.  Those who dared to dress up in
their black Cure garb were very much in the minority in this town.  Las
Vegas can sometimes be a confusing city.  It must have been the heat that
made the Las Vegas crowd seem somewhat confused themselves.  Ofcourse, it
was indeed 8:00pm by now.  The crowd must not have realized that the Cure
was to come on 30 minutes late, most likely in an effort to allow Ryan and I
sufficient time to drink our 'beverages' before the gig started... :) We
realized one important thing: we possessed no tickets! Because we were
inside throughout the day, we had missed out on our rendezvous with our
pre-arranged tickets (...sorry, Jess).  We went to the box office at 8:10,
and managed to score a pair of floor seats at cost, which had just been
released for sale by the venue 30 minutes earlier...
        It was indeed weird to re-enter the arena which was now dimmed. The
smoke had already started to flow.  The overly-familiar intro of "Want"
blasted out moments later, marking the beginning of what promised to be
another solid performance by the Cure.  Robert appeared, decked out in his
black Las Vegas Thunder (IHL) jersey, pretending not to notice the cameras
which were floating several feet from his face.  He remained simple
following "Club America", limiting his words to "...thank you, and Hallo",
as the Band broke into three from Disintegration.  It was a smart move to
play the upbeat and fast version of "Fascination St" - accompanied by Gary's
dazzling green laserlights - next, as the crowd got into the show early.
Following "Pictures", Robert babbled "...do you think this stuff (cameras?)
might be having an influence on the set-choice?" as "Lullaby" broke out.
        As the seats up front were arranged without any aisles leading any
closer than the 8th row, the security was unchallenged, and were thus very
very friendly towards movement about the floor, as I temporarily moved up
just in time to catch Robert introducing track 6 with "...well I thought
that I should reassure myself, this ISN'T the Prayer Tour('89)...this is
called "This Is A Lie", as Jason made his way frontstage to play the
alternate drums complimenting Roger's great work on the keyboard.  The
inevitable 'pop' set played out with "Mint Car", "Heaven", "Round&Round",
"Lovesong", "Friday" ("...there's only one day out of seven that this makes
sense"), and "Strange Att", interrupted only by the melodic "Jupiter Crash".
Right above our heads the towering camera booms panned from the stage onto
the vibrant crowd.  Two older classics, "Charlotte" and "Catch", preceded
two songs off of Wild Mood Swings, to which Robert described the first as
reminding him of "an old, dis-used ice cream van", "Return", and "Trap".
        The crowd inside the T&M excitedly welcomed the PBS cameras, and
seemed to remain somewhat inspired.  An interesting aspect of this show was
that there was not a single bad seat in the house.  Meanwhile, on stage the
Band continued on, neither unenthused, nor overly-inspired.  Perhaps they
were discouraged that they couldn't spend more time casino-hopping...  It
was more likely that they were either looking forward to - or were weary of
- the two shows in the next two days down the road in Los Angeles.  The
beginning of the end of the main set followed, in its rightful place as the
strongest segment of the show.  With each passing performance, "Treasure"
slowly but surely continues to assume its role as one of the best Cure
anthems ever written... "Prayers" update: slipping down to 19 seconds
(although it's probably 19 seconds longer than I can sing it...). Once
again, words cannot adequately describe the final four songs which closed
out the main set: the timeless "Inbetween", the epic "Deep Green Sea", the
sentimental "Bare", & the explosive "Disintegration".
        The Band bid farewell to the crowd and cameras with a pair of
four-song encores.  Following "Hot x 3" and "Gone", the Cure showed that
they had not quite called it a night, as Robert played around with several
songs.  During "Let's Go To Bed", he sang "...you think you're tired now,
but wait until... (pause)...eleven-thiiirty" -- perhaps the curfew time for
the venue.  This was followed by a pretty spastic version of the infamously
extended "W.C.I.B.Y.", as Robert broke into an interlude which featured
lyrics from "Young At Heart", segments from "Lovecats", when he used his
best American accent to quickly blurb
"LadiesAndGentlemen,Mr.ElvisPresleyHasL-e-f-tTheBuilding", before quoting
two lines from the rarely-played "One Hundred Years".  Without missing a
beat, they jumped right back into "W.C.I.B.Y.".
        The second encore ended the evening with "Boys Don't Cry", "10:15",
and "Arab".  Following the final song, "A Forest", Robert walked up to the
mic and told us "...thank you very much...I don't understand how we never
came here before...you've been fucking excellent, Good night".  After a
pause, he said "See you again..." -- perhaps this won't be the final
Cure-Tour after all... :)
When the lights returned, I thanked more people on the floor for their kind
generosity in making my second show a memorable experience, from Bill, to
Gary, and even to Glen, who had absolutely nothing to do with the Band.  He
was shooting one of the lead cameras, and informed me about the PBS
production which will take no less than two months to conclude
post-production.  Although the concert was filmed in its entirety, at this
early stage there are no plans for it to become a Cure Documentary.
Instead, it will feature the Cure alongside several other bands (ie- Sting)
as part of their "On Tour" documentary series (airing on the weekends in LA)...
        If there was any kind of after-show reception, it probably was kept
minimal, with the ensuing shows in Los Angeles mere hours away.  With our
business at the T&M concluded, we left the arena with ringing in our ears,
and Jack-in-the-Box on our mind.  Following up on a wild rumor of an
after-show visit by the Band, we drove down Tropicana Ave to a dive called
Crash Corrigan's where we began to discover the full impact of the strange
attraction that the Cure give off.  It would not be incorrect to assume that
40% of tonight's crowd at the show did not even live in Las Vegas.  At the
club, we met up with two die-hards who had driven quite a way just to see
the Band that they loved.  I complained about how we had to drive four hours
back to LA the next day.  As it turned out, Jorge and Gilo had driven for
two entire days, across the border into another country, having originated
out of Mexico City, Mexico...  I no longer complained.  These two guys gave
me a wonderful insight into a foreign culture, who's musical community had
indeed gained tremendous inspiration from many Bands and especially the
Cure. WOW.  After exchanging addresses, we retired for the evening at the
Hotel Continental, at the invitation of a fellow Cure fan, Kevin out of New
Orleans, whom we had met through cyberspace.  For the next 48 hours, Kevin
and Ryan would prove to play a critical part in my adventure that was far
from ending.  By the way, on his first day of betting, Ryan missed winning
$160 off of a simple $5 bet, because of just one game out of six that didn't
come through...final score: Detroit 5, NY Yankees 3 -- I TOLD you, Ryan!
Stay tuned, as there is much more to come..!

Craig's Rating: C+

     Arrived in at Vegas at about 3:30 and went straight to the Thomas
+ Mack arena to try to catch the soundcheck.  Luckily I found some
friends from Tucson there, or it would have been pretty boring.
Waited till about 6pm, and decided to bail.  the only evidence I saw
of The Cure was several cases of Bud, Rolling Rock, and Sam Adams
being carted into the arena.  I heard that they eventually did a late
soundcheck, but I was back at my hotel.

     This show was decent, but lacked enthusiasm on the band's part.
The setlist was pretty standard.
The only songs I was genuinely happy to hear were Charlotte Sometimes,
Hot, Hot, Hot!!!, and Killing an Arab.  Robert was VERY distressed
during Lovesong.  He stood there like a statue and choked some of
there lyrics out.  He was wearing a Las Vegas Thunder shirt.

     Roger was Roger, Jason was Jason, Perry was Perry, but Simon was
not Simon.  He was not into this show at all.  Didn't jump around too
much, just kinda stood there.  The way he ended A Forest pretty much
said it all.  Just the old 'duh duh', and then silence.  He
immediately walked off stage. 

      I was in the 7th row on Perry's side, and noticed that most of
the floor-ites were sitting during WMS songs.  They weren't too
enthusiastic unless Friday or JLH were playing.

     The highlight of the show was during WCIBY/Young at Heart/Lovecats when
Robert said 'LADIES AND GENTLEMEN, ELVIS HAS LEFT THE BUILING!'... and
then he sang the first 2 lines of 100 years during The Lovecats ('it
doesn't matter if we all die', 'ambition in the back of a black
car')... very weird.