It was Black Thursday in the O'Connell Center.

Just over 4,000 people attended the concert by the English band The Cure on
Thursday night at the University of Florida,and some of them-a small but
terribly obvious bunch-were dressed in the standard gothic rock concert
uniform:black clothing,black hair,black lipstick,black rings around the
eyes.Pale white skin.Vacant Expressions.It looked like a casting call for
the next Addams Family movie.

The costumes were in honor of Robert Smith,the singing,songwriting and
guitar-playing frontman for the 19 year old Cure,the guy who pretty much 
wrote the book on rock 'n' roll depression,gloom and it's attendant black
wearing in the early 1980's.His followers have looked this way forever.

Smith,however,seems to be giving them notice that it's time to move on:he 
hit the Spartan stage clad in dark jeans,sneakers and a red and white hockey
jersey.He smiled and he laughed...and his makeup was minimal.

Over the course of nearly 2+1/2 hours,Smith and his four bandmates played
songs from every phase of their successful career,from the early,gloomy goth
standards to the more optimistic material from the latest Cure album,Wild
Mood Swings.

The Cure is not a harmony band-Smith was the only one who opened his mouth
the entire evening.He sings like a hurt little boy,in a pleading,adenoidal
voice.In his songs,he's vunerable and scared,and often misunderstood by the
lover or friend he's addressing.The lyrics are emotionally underscored by
the band's melancholy,dreamlike music,which can go from a whispering wind to
a barreling freight train in a matter of seconds.

Songs such as Want and Catch,with their hypnotic,repetitive scores tended
to drone after a while,and Smith was smart enough to break things up by
tossing in the occasional melodic,upbeat number.Friday I'm in Love,and
particularly Mint Car(with it's unforgettable line-from Smith,anyway-"I'm so
happy I could scream") were uplifting,almost joyous.

The O'Connell Center was less than half full for the first concert of the
semester,but Cure fans-the costumed crew,and the many others in their street
clothes-saw and heard a satisfying,well-exectuted show of quality music.

Nothing to be gloomy about there.