When the Cure first launched themselves into the white hot spotlight of the
late '70s punk explosion with songs like ``Boys Don't Cry'' and the Albert
Camus-inspired ``Killing an Arab,'' no one could have possibly guessed that
the brash British band would somehow survive to grand old masters status.

So many other bands of the era seemed much more likely to carry the flag.

But the Clash are long gone.
The Sex Pistols disintegrated so long ago that now they've reunited for a
take-the-money-and-run nostalgia tour.

And,yes,even the rock-steady Ramones have finally called it quits.

Meanwhile,the Cure have just kept rolling along.

The prototypical punksters poured forth an avalanche of rage and anger,but
the Cure turned toward a more melancholic sound full of hopeless despair and
resignation.They became--dare I say--the Pink Floyd of the punk era.

With bad make-up and even worse hair,the Cure were the torchbearers for the
nihilistic set,churning out a dark,gothic sound that was tagged
``mope rock.''

On Wednesday night,they rolled into the Knickerbocker Arena for their
long-overdue Capital Region concert debut.

In concert,vocalist Robert Smith and his bandmates revealed the Cure to be
more than they might appear in their recorded legacy--more tenacious,more
complex,and certainly more ironic.
The band hit the stage at 8:35 p.m. -- considerably after their scheduled
8 p.m. starting time--and front man Smith--affectionately referred to as
``Fat Bob'' in the ruthless,unforgiving British rock press--was sporting the
hometown colors,decked out in an Albany River Rats hockey jersey.

There was a full-frontal assault of fog rolling off the stage and engulfing
the crowd as the band rumbled through such twisted pop gems as ``Wish,''
``Pictures of You'' and the new ``Treasure,'' which was as close to a ballad
as the Cure was going to get.

Despite their punk roots,Smith and the Cure have always been a pop band at
heart,and that's where they shone the brightest.

The galloping ``Just Like Heaven'' sparkled amid the roller-coaster ruins of
the stage set.Visions of seahorses and tropical fish swam across the aquatic
backdrop as the band swam through ``Catch.'' And the undeniably perky 
``Friday I'm in Love'' totally dispelled any notions of the Cure's legendary
mopiness.

For two and a half hours,the band oozed through a set that lived up to the
title of their latest album,``Wild Mood Swings.''
``Hot! Hot Hot!'' served as an appropriate encore,but they came back for
another round of encores magistically bridging ``The Love Cats'' into ``Why
Can't I Be You.''

It was a surprisingly small but undeniably loud crowd cheering on the Cure.
And after all these years,it was great to finally find the Cure in town.

Of course any Cure show is going to be great,but unfortunatley the show at
the Knickerbocker Arena in Albany NY will not stick in my mind as legendary.
Don't get me wrong they played an excellent 2 1/2 hours,but unfortunately
that something special was missing,and the boys had nothing to do with it. 
I've found that during this tour the audience has a lot to do with how well 
the show goes.Considering the second encore was only 2 songs,we can only 
assume that maybe the audience wasn't sending the correct vibes.I can't do 
it all myself you know.Didn't anyone ever tell you there's no sitting 
allowed?Nonetheless a few things really did stand out.Like Cockatoos was 
amazing,I've never heard it live and was really impressed with the 
instrumentation.Lovesong was eerily sad.Robert sang it very quietly and 
without the usual emphasis on "with you".I really liked it from a different 
perspective.Hearing A Strange Day any day is fine by me,and it was the only 
"old" song in the first set.And of course,Hot,Hot,Hot,and WCIBY with Young
at Heart and Lovecats thrown in was fun.I think the Cure should come out
with a cover album of pop standards,as Robert's voice is so versatile.
Anyway the evening ended uneventfully,no A Forest.The first show I've seen
without it,and it was sorely missed.

it was a fairly last minute decision to go to the albany show, so by the 
time we drove there from amherst ma and found the damn knickerbocker 
arena and our seats it was at the end of a night like this (btw, if 
anyone has a full setlist can you send it to me, i don't think i fully 
remember).  the arena was only half full, literally, the back half wasn't 
even open, and we had gotten fairly good seats the day of, so to me the 
crowd wasn't as enthused as they should be.   it was still good, i heard 
about nine songs i hadn't heard at worcester, um, not too much sticks out 
in my mind, it all being overshadowed by great woods last night.