WORCESTER - The Cure? They're a band again! Oh, joy!

     And on tour. In our environs.

     But, what are the problems faced by this 17-year-old warhorse, fronted
     by singer-guitarist-songwriter Robert Smith?

     There are more than a few. And they're not incidental or
     inconsequential. The Cure of '96 ain't what it was in '92.

     The Cure, often, spews out a guitar-synth haze of generic, post-punk
     rock, camouflaged by the mirrors and lights. Sparkling lights, oblique
     images.

     But it was ultimately a case of a no-go, the Cure as a big, potent
     band gone - if not bad - then tragically dull. Stilted, overwrought,
     overenamored of stagey visuals ... and glued to meandering, mediocre
     songs.

     This was the first date of the Cure's US arena tour, a re-introduction
     of sorts, after four years away, to what remains of the Goth and
     post-punk, doom 'n' gloom faithful that supported the band throughout
     the 1980s and into the early '90s. The new album, ``Wild Mood Swings''
     is a modest success, no blockbuster. The Centrum show, attended by
     9,000 people (decidely short of a sellout), happened because the Cure
     didn't want to play the outdoor sheds. Their desire was to create the
     proper atmospheric/decadent/damaged scene via their staging, lighting
     and 3-D effects. It just wouldn't be right in twilight.

     Ok. Fair enough. But, the Cure's set began with the draggy ``Want''
     and ``Club America,'' crawled along, and peaked mid-set with ``Just
     Like Heaven'' and ``In Between Days.''

     The Cure kicked off its encore with ``Friday, I'm in Love.'' Other,
     classic, old-school angst-moaners like ``Boys Don't Cry'' might have
     been on tap as encores. We had to bolt. And, frankly, we didn't really
     want a jolt of how good the old Cure could be.

	Lastnight was a great show.
	Generic start, but what can I say?
	Of course, they started at 8:00 and not 7:30 as it said on the 
ticket, and parking for $8 wasn't much fun, but hey, it was the first US 
show in 4 years.
	The set is like a broken down, DARK amusement park.  It's got 
broken roller coaster tracks on both sides, lit up between songs with 
Christmas lights.  Their amps are even painted to make it look like a 
really time-warn Coney Island.  
	The lighting was really incredible for some songs, too.  I'll 
never forget how it looked for Bare and Killing an Arab.  They used 
phosphorescent paint and blacklights at times so all the colors glowed on 
stage, as well as the white in Robert's CCCP shirt.

	Quick rundown of songs:
	Want... Great start, really got it going.
	A Night Like This and Push... Perry shined pretty well in these two.
	Lullaby... Surprising lighting change.  
	This is a Lie  ONE OF THE BEST of the night.  Acoustic guitars, 
Simon on the 12 String and Perry moved over to the keyboards with Roger.  
Beautiful full sound.
	Just Like Heaven... everyone started to get into it at that point.
	Jupiter Crash...  Just as beautiful as I thought it would be 
eversince Erin was so nice enough to copy Glastonbury for me last 
summer.  Robert on the 12 string for this one and for the next two
	Strange Attraction...  Butterflies.  Perry over to the keyboard
	Return... Robert on 12 string again.
	Treasure had a semi-unrecognizable start.  Maybe bad mixing, 
don't know.  Very good, although it really brought things down which 
wasn't necessarily a bad thing.
	Prayers for Rain... not the long howl on Entreat, but a 15 second 
(yes, I timed) moan all over his range.
	From the Edge... Robert on 12 string.  I moved to the floor, so I 
missed a lot of it in the process.  Good build up.
	Bare... Lighting was so beautiful.  I won't ever forget the image 
of them on stage with all these white polka dots all over the stage.  
Robert still on 12 string.
	Disintegration... biggest disappointment for me of the night.  I 
love it when it's fast, and driving and really pushes you to move on, and 
on, and on.  This one was VERY subdued, no where near the past 
intensity.  Robert fumbled some lyrics.  It happens.  I just felt like 
the song wanted to speed up, they wanted to speed up, but somehow fell 
short.  
	Encore 1
	Friday I'm in Love.  Whoopee.  As good as you could expect, I guess.
	Close To Me... partially made my night.  It was lyricall the 
closest I've ever heard him come to the original!  For me, the best part 
of the concert started here.
	
	Now, I'm shaky where the first encore ended, and the second 
started.  I think it ended with Boys Don't Cry, though I could be wrong.
	
	Boys Don't Cry really got the audience going.
	
	2nd Encore.
	M...  I flipped out when I heard the first few notes.  I can't 
believe they played it!  I was so unbelieveabley psyched.  He fudged the 
lyrics again...
	Play For Today...  Another one which drove me crazy.  The second 
of the 17 Seconds songs.
	10:15...  Don't really like it on an album, but live, it was 
surprisingly good
	Killing an Arab...  Drove me over the edge.  I went wild on the 
floor.  Blue and Red lights on the band, another lasting image.

	THEN HE ANNOUNCED THE CURE IS COMING TO GREAT WOODS IN SEPTEMBER 

	Good thing I had earplugs in or I would have missed that one.  He 
said it on stage, and I can't wait to get it off from work (I work at 
Great Woods) and see the show.  I had already given up hope of them 
coming, and then he announced on stage they were.

	3rd Encore
	Dressing Up....  Very good, kind of a filler, though before...
	A Forest...  Better in Wish Tour, but still pretty good.  Nice 
solo areas for Robert and Perry.  Simon went berzerk at the end.
	Robert said as they walked off that we were "Fucking amazing" and 
then disappeared.

	Least favorite of the show:  the Walk, Let's Go to Bed, and 
Friday I'm in Love.  Do they really need these now?  Every Tour they play 
the first two.  I wouldn't mind putting those two songs in retirement.

	Most Favorite songs:  M, This is a Lie, Play For Today, and 
Killing an Arab (as well as Push, and A Night Like This, and ESPECIALLY 
Bare)  

	31 songs in total.  About 2 1/2 hours.  
	I really didn't feel it started until 3/4 of the way through 
their set, but once it did, it really took off.

	ENJOY THE REST OF THE TOUR!!! I'll see some of you Saturday in 
Portland!

I returned to Worcester after 4 years (since the Wish tour) last night, and
it was a good show.

There was definately some problem initially with sound balance: on the
initial songs, you could barely hear Robert.   Later on this got much
better (or at least Robert started singing louder).

For what seemed like the entire show, they played almost all newer songs.
The only one that was pre-Head on the Door was The Walk.  In the encores,
however (three of them!), they were almost all older songs.

Interestingly, most of the songs were the more popular one's.  4 years ago,
there seemed to be more variety on that end of things.  This year, it
seemed much more like a "greatest hits" list.

All the older songs, except for M (which was really cool, with great
lighting effects and a very different sound from the original version),
could be found on Standing on a Beach.

Robert also seemed to (purposefully?) forget many of the lyrics to songs or
miss lines.

The show, overall, however, was a lot of fun.

Let's see what I remember from what was played (not in order): (note -
NOTHING from the Faith or Pornography albums)

Robert was wearing a red hockey jersey that said "CCCP" on the front, and
the ever-present orthopedic shoes.  he was rubbing his nose a lot, so i
guess he hasn't quite gotten over that cold...  he seemed more talkative
than usual, too, but i unfortunately missed most of what he said inbetween
songs (except, of course, for the usual "'k you")... at one point he said
something about elephants... it's a pity i missed it.  i was in section 231
(ominous-sounding, eh?), which was closer to the stage than one might think
from the number: i was about 150 feet from bob, above him and to his
left...the stage has broken roller coaster tracks on the left and right of
jason, and has a giant merry-go-round roof, and a big screen in back...
pretty impressive, i'd say...now some notes on the songs...
want: robert did quite a good little scream at the beginning... great song
to start 
        with...
lullaby: when this song started three big weird things came down from the
ceiling at         the front of the stage... they looked like either big
cocoons (fitting for         "lullaby") or strange clown feet... actually,
they were lights, tho         bizarre-looking... they came down mainly for
songs from _disintegration_.
this is a lie: jason comes to the front of the stage to a smaller drum set
for this one.
        interesting designs on the screen, they look like bullet holes thru
glass.
mint car: the kids seemed to like this one a lot.  robert blew the audience
a kiss, but 
        stupid me missed cause i was looking at simon thru binoculars...
_this_ is why 
        one must never take one's eyes from robert...
the walk: robert, of course, walked around the stage a bit for this one, and
after it he
        said "just got that out of my system..."
jupiter crash: "another new song called..."  
fascination street: much better to dance to live than in yr bedroom, believe
me...
prayers for rain: robert really messed the lyrics here, he only sang the 2nd
verse (both        for the 1st and 2nd)... another example: "you strangle
me/in hopelessness/um        hopelessness/ and prayers for rain"  that's ok
tho, mistakes make a live show           fun... he also held out "rain"
toward the end, as is usual i gather...
from the edge of the deep green sea: it's a great thing that they've chosen
to         put this in the "regular" set for this tour...perhaps the most
powerful song of         the evening, but that may be just a personal
impression... i waited hours for         _this_- and i was not disappointed.
"put your hands in the sky": mainly people         in the first few rows
complied, but there were a few diehards in good ol'         section 231 (yrs
truly included).
bare: works well live, but i think robert should have more fun at the end...
maybe add         on a few extra "i will never forget"'s...
disintegration: greatly done... a lot of emotion from bob with the end (tho
not so much         as on the prayer tour, from what i hear...) "always is,
always, always,         always..."
friday i'm in love: extended at the end... extra verses, but repeated from
the         beginning.
close to me: the background for this is an underwater scene with fishies and
seahorsies         etc.  "headontheheadontheheadonthe..." as on _paris_.
m: it was great to hear this one... before it he said "a few older songs",
tho         unfortunately there was nothing from _faith_... this almost made
up for that.
play for today: i think he improvised the lyrics for the 2nd verse, tho i
couldn't hear         quite what he said instead.
10.15 saturday night: sad to say he didn't whisper "it's always the same" at
the end...         simon's great bass solo made up for it.
killing an arab: sooooogood live... and more danceable than "fascination
street."
        leaving the stage after this song, robert put his arm around simon
and they
        walked off together (smilin like chillins).
dressing up: great to hear anything from _the top_.  before this song robert
said quite         a few things, including saying that "this is the first
show of this tour, so it         doesn't get any better than this" (or smthg
like that).  also he said smthg         about having said smthg that one
shouldn't say... i couldn't make out what it         was, tho...
a forest: improvised lyrics, but in the 2nd verse instead of at the end.  he
added extra         "again"'s... not really wailed, but there nonetheless.
after a very long         instrumental part robert put down his guitar (this
was when simon was starting         his part at the end), then he reached
down again as if he were about to pick it         back up and play for
another 10 minutes (oh how i wished)... he didn't tho, but         he did
step back and watch simon, and he put his hands on his head as if to say
"careful simon don't break yr bass!" as simon beat those little strings to
pieces at the end... very cute!
and after this... robert said: "thank you, you're fucking excellent!" and
ran off the stage a-smilin.
if this show was in anyway an example of what's to come, i'm sure that those
of you who are seeing them later will have a darned good time... 
hope my over-extensive notes haven't bored you all...

I am fresh from the Worcester show and am so worked up about the Cure that I 
probably won't sleep tonite.First off,let me say one thing.What a fucking 
amazing show!!! I hope all you guys and girls have your tix.The stage was 
set up to look like a carnival of sorts.It had a broken roller coaster track 
that twisted behind Jason.There were 4 cones that retracted up and down and a 
host of lasers and lights.A huge screen showed pictures and swirling images 
during all the songs.They went on promptly at 8 o'clock when the fog rolled 
in and the lights went down.The jangling of Want began on recording and as 
the band came out they replaced the recording with the live stuff.
Robert came out in his now imfamous red CCCP jersey on and the
crowd went absolutely nuts. 

The show ended at 10:40 so it was a little over 2 and a half 
hours.Here's me personal song hi-lites

1. Prayers for Rain- Robert held that 
Raaaaaaaaiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiinnnnnnnnnnnnnnn for what seemed like an 
eternity.It gave me chills
2. The fact that FTEOTDGS was right after that.Excellent
3. A Forest went on for about 15 minutes.Amazing version with a lot of 
emotion.Great way to end the show.
4. Want was terrific. I love how they began to play while the recording is 
playing. 
5. I loved the 2nd encore with all the old songs.Unbelievable set
6. The new songs sound soooooooooo much better live.Don't give up on WMS 
until you've heard them live.

Well I really couldn't figure out what the hell Robert was saying except for 
two things:

1. "This is the first show here in the US.Nothing can top this show! " or 
something like that
2. "We'll be coming to Great Woods in September to end the tour" yes!! I get 
to see them 3 times in one year.

The crowd was ecstatic.The noise level was unreal.We made them feel right at 
home.The whole crowd was dancing,Robert was dancing- we all had a great 
time.Well I could babble on for hours about this show, but I've said enough. 

I just got back from the Worcester show.... what can i
say??? it was the very best show i have EVER seen!!!! i am the happiest
dude in the world right now.... the show fast full of energy and feeling
all the way through... it started at 8:02pm and ended at 10:42.. 2hr 40min
exactly... i got to meet a bunch of people from babble, it was great!!!
ok, here's the set list and a few comment:

Want: awesome!! it definitely set the atmosphere.
Club America.
A night like this: Simon was jumping around like a frog! 
Push: one of the best songs of the night... the crowd went nuts!
lullaby: i almost passed out when the started playing this.
This is a lie.
Mint Car: Another one of the best songs i think.. funny to go from this is
a lie to this.
Just like heaven: another crowd pleaser.
The Walk: This was the dance song of the night... the bass was pawerful
and Jason's drumming was impecable.
Jupiter Crash.
Round & Round & Round.
In between days: AWESOME... another one that made simon look like a frog.
Strange atraction: by now Robert was sweating a LOT!
Fascination street: The light and laser show here was awesome!
Return.
Treasure.
Trap.
Prayers for rain: I could have cried... there was so much feeling in the
song and robert held the "Prayers for Raaaaaaaaaaaaaiiiiiiiiiinnnnnnn" for
a LONG time...
From the edge of the deep green sea: The background was sea like... very
impressive.
Bare.
Disintegration: This song was just RAW power... Robert sang it very loud,
it ruled!

first encore:
Friday I'm in Love: needles to say EVERYBODY was dancing and singing...
Close to me: Another jewel... this was my first song... I loved every
note!!!
Let's go to bed: Robert was dancing very funny around the stage and making
funny noises.
Boys Don't Cry: I think this was Perry's song... he looked like a jumping
jack.
(note: they were gonna stop after let's go to bed and robert went up to
each one and told them to play)

Second encore:
M: some different lyrics... very cool!
Play for today: NOW this was the BEST song of the night!!!!! i could have
died a happy man after this song!!! wow... i get the chills just thinking
about this song!!!!
10:15 saturday Night: People where dancing so bad to this song... every
time it came down just to the little guitar thing that Bob does and then
kicked in the house went crazy!
Killing an Arab: Wow!!!

Third Encore:
Dressing up.
A forest: Not only the new lyrics were added, but the whole way it started
was different, it lasted quite a while a great version nonetheless.

Ok, so that was it... general things i remember, The backgrounds were
INCREDIBLE and the whole light/laser show created the perfect
atmosphere... This has been the coolest day i have had in AGES!!! "I
really don't think it gets any better than this"
I am off to bed now!