After 20 years of morbid music-making, Robert Smith's teen-scream appeal
is alive and well.
  And it helped the 37-year-old singer-guitarist last night at Varsity
Arena as his band, The Cure, took the stage while fans were still filing
into the venue.
  The British band even put their early set time ahead 15 minutes to 8:30
to allow for stragglers.
  Fortunately, the 4,000 Cure fans sounded off like a crowd of 14,000 -
which the band was playing to a decade ago - at the mere sight of goth-rock
hero Smith.
  Sporting his prized Maple Leafs jersey and leading the band into Want,
from their latest album, Wild Mood Swings, Smith shifted into a perpetual
sigh that would last two hours.
  The performance was geared toward Cure afficianados.
  Smith, bassist Simon Gallup, guitarist Perry Bamonte, keyboardist Roger
O'Donnell and drummer Jason Cooper concentrated largely on obscure album
tracks from the past decade, like Catch and If Only Tonight We Could Sleep.
  Superb favorites like Just Like Heaven and In Between Days seemed to be
thrown in for the more casual fan.
  A twisted set of rollercoaster tracks winding behind The Cure on stage
couldn't have been more symbolic of the up-and-down emotional ride to which
Smith subjected the audience.
  Fascination Street and This Is A Lie, which was pumped along by weepy
string sounds from
  O'Donnell's synth, had misery down to an art.
  But apart from the intriguing Lullaby, from 1990's Disintegration,
Smith's trademark morbidity dragged the set out.
  And it didn't help much that his good-natured, between-song banter was
too mumbled to understand.
  Friday I'm In Love and current hit singles The 13th and Mint Car were so
uncharacteristically boppy that they verged on the sarcastic.
  They also gave the set a much-needed boost.
  Perhaps all that doom and gloom is dated.
  Still, with less filler and a few more old hits, last night's show could
have been as good as The Cure's appearance at Eden Musicfest near Oshawa
this past July.
  Instead, Smith fell victim to his own diverse repertoire.
  SUN RATING: 3 OUT OF 5

Wednesday, September 11, 1996

Correction: The Cure played for 3 hours

 The Cure's performance at Varsity Arena Monday in Toronto was more than
three hours long, not two as reported in yesterday's review of the show
 Frontman Robert Smith and company tacked the unscheduled hour of Cure
favorites onto their set much to the delight of fans, who reportedly
reacted with less indifference than for the first two hours.

 -- Kieran Grant

 Cure fans have also reported to Jam! that The 13th was not played Monday
night.

Sombre melodies, depressing lyrics and pained vocals:What kind of cure is
that for what ails you?

Well, it was precisely the musical medicine heaped apon a near sell-out
crowd of 4,800 last night at Varsity Arena by British quintet The Cure.

The group has been dispensing the same sound for 17 years and while
attendance was considerably lower that for the band's 1992 show at SkyBowl
(its headline appearance at the Eden festival near Toronto a mere two months
ago may have accounted for last night's smaller venue), the fans were
spirited and devotional.

They were a highly diverse group, ranging from fresh-scrubbed teenies to
faithful, casually dressed thirtysomethings to assorted blackcaped vampires
and various other Goth-garbed members of the undead.

By contrast, frontman and lead singer Robert Smith,his trademark bird's
nest bob of spidery black hair at its dishevelled best,more a Toronto Mapel
Leaf's jersey.

The opening number, "Want", set te tone for the two-hour, 25-song
set, with dark, cerebral melodies underpinned by thumping rhythms and
Smith's brooding vocals.  Although the band has released 10 studio albums
since its 1979 debut,11 of the songs performed last night were from the new
disc,Wild Mood Swings,while most of the other tracks were from its three
preceding albums,Wish,Disintegration and Kiss Me Kiss Me Kiss Me.

The audience clearly wasn't bothered by the lack of pre-1987 material.Such
new songs as "Club America" and "Return" were greeted with the same
sustained applause as the more familiar tunes.

Consistently dynamic lighting and a stage designed with mangled,
roller-coaster tracks were a bonus, as the crowd soaked in the moody,
morbid, yet irresistible sounds of "Jupiter Crash" and "The Kiss".

Who would have thought this spoonful of lemon and vinegar would go down so
delightfully well?

   
                              The Cure

              Varsity Arena, Toronto. September 9 1996.

       You pay your money and takes your chances. It's true of
       most entertainment. Except a Cure live show. For over a
       decade, the band has been giving its legion of fans
       exactly what they want, time after time after time.
       Solid performance, lots of hit songs, stunning
       colourful light show and a sense of wonder. If it aint
       broke....

       As per usual, The Cure opened this show with the first
       tune from its new release, Wild Mood Swings. Poster boy
       Robert Smith appeared in a Maple Leafs hockey jersey
       (as he did for Eden fest in July) trademark red lips
       and big hair. The stage set-up included suspended
       railway (roller coaster?) tracks aglow with Xmas lights
       and an ambiguous cloth backdrop with billowing fabric
       swirls. Smith said it was important to return to
       Toronto to play a show more representative of the Cure.
       Well, he kept his word; the intimacy of Varsity (a much
       smaller venue than the band's usual stadiums) was a
       special treat. Bassist Simon Gallup's Ramones-esque
       appearance and posture would have been better off seen
       at a far, far, distance, however. What The Cure lacks
       in performance antics it makes up for with stamina.
       This show lasted three hours, with two expanded
       encores. Wild Mood Swings was well represented with
       Strange Attraction, This is a Lie and the two singles,
       Mint Car and 13. Recent hits heard included Friday, I'm
       In Love, Why Can't I Be You?, Just Like Heaven and
       Facination Street. Old favourites like Close To Me,
       InBetween Days and Let's Go To Bed amused the crowd.
       Then The Cure delighted everyone with performances of
       really old songs like Boys Don't Cry and Killing An
       Arab. For anyone not obsessed with the band, the set
       was a long one - drawn out by few dynamics and little
       between song banter. Yet Cure fans don't care - they're
       satisfied to hear song after song - even if the sound
       is rough - hour after hour. The funniest thing is that
       a band whose image is so gloomy and depressing can make
       people so joyful and happy. A class act, once again.

1996=1987

Wow! A truly incredible show!  7 songs from Kiss Me Kiss Me Kiss Me (the 
Kiss, If Only Tonight, Just Like Heaven, Hot Hot Hot, WCIBY, Like Cockatoos,
and Catch) ...you'd think it was 1987 again! I counted 36 songs in all, 
from Want to Forever.  Anyway here are some of my thoughts on the evening:

THE WRISTBANDS

 At the entrance to the arena, the security seperated us into two lines:
 one for people on the floor and another for stands. They then gave
 everybody in the floor line a wristband that would let them get onto the
 floor. The weird thing is, they never checked our tickets to see if we
 actually had floor seats.  So anyone could've gotten onto the floor simply
 by going in the right line.

THE VENUE

 The venue was the right size, but the sound was downright terrible, 
 especially at first. I guess that's what you can expect from a hockey 
 arena. Robert kept on gesturing to one of the technicians and apoligizing 
 to the fans during the 1st eight-or-so songs.  He said something about how
 it's hard to sing when you can't even hear yourself, but I actually thought
 that his vocals were fine--it was the bass, and occasionally his guitars
 that sounded terrible.  It was so bad that they were playing Lovesong for
 about 20 seconds before I figured out what song it was!  An any case,
 either the sound improved later on, or I was so overwhelmed that I stopped
 caring.

THE GUITARS

 Being a guitarist (and someone who likes to pretend he can play bass ;-),
 I decided to stand by the right side so I could see what Simon and Perry
 were up to (as well as Robert, obviously).  I managed to catch how they 
 played certain riffs that have always stumped me, so I'll be able to post
 a bunch of tabs when I get around to typing them up.  Anyway, for the 
 record, I noticed that:

  - Perry played about a third of the stuff on a cherry red Gibson ES-335 
   (with a Bigsby vibrato), and another third on a black Gibson Les Paul 
   Custom.  He did all the Bass VI stuff on a black/red one, identical to
   Robert's except left handed. This is weird, since I've never seen him use
   it before. He also had a black Ovation acoustic 12-string for Like 
   Cockatoos and Mint Car, and the black Gibson Chet Atkins (that he used on 
   the Wish tour) on one song.

  - Simon started off with a sunburst Gibson Thunderbird bass and his old
   black Gibson EB-2 (which he probably had tuned DADG). Then some guy took
   the EB-2 away and replaced it with another Thunderbird. I guess it 
   stopped working.

  - It seems that when I was ranting about how much I dislike that 12-string
   Robert usually plays, he listened to me. He seems to have traded his
   Ovation for a (imho much better sounding) Guild. He also had a 6-string
   acoustic for This is a Lie, and his usual cherry Chet Atkins and black
   Fender Bass VI.

 (beleive it or not, I didn't spend the whole concert trying to figure out
 trivial information like this... I just happen to notice these things)

THE PERRY

 I'd always worried at how Perry would fill Porl's shoes, since Porl was
 so incredibly talented, but it turns out I worried needlessly. Perry is
 actually a much better guitarist than he appeared to be back in the Wish 
 era. He even looks more comfortable. Hooray for Perry!

VARIOUS HIGHLIGHTS

 For the first several songs, I wasn't really into it (maybe because of the
 shitty sound), but then If Only Tonight We Could Sleep hit me, and I was
 floored! The Kiss and From the Edge of the Deep Green Sea were also
 amazing.  Robert broke into tears and was weeping uncontrollably when he 
 reached the "too many years I've cried over you" part.  He stopped playing
 his guitar, and there was a stunning silence as he repeated "over you...
 over you". Wow!

 In the past I've complained about their recent trend towards "sugar pop", 
 but Mint Car, Friday, and Strange Attraction were enormous fun and turned 
 out to be some of the best songs of the night. I really love these songs
 now.

 When he started Bare, I was excited because it is one of my favourite Cure
 songs... but also dissipointed because I thought it would close the set,
 meaning that I wouldn't get to hear Disintegration, another favourite.
 Nevertheless, I let the song take me over. Then when it ended and I was 
 expecting to hear "thank you and good night", there was a sudden wall of
 sound as Simon started pounding out Disitegration after all. That moment,
 when my wish came true, was for me the most special moment of the whole 
 show.

LOOKING FOR MY MINT CAR

 The show closed with A Forest/Forever, followed by 10 minutes of trying to
 get out of the building. I was surprised that some idiots were standing
 around outside selling cheap bootleg Cure T-shirts for $10--I'd thought I'd
 seen everything. Anyway, as I walked back to my car, I realized that my
 mind had been so blown that I'd forgotten what I did with it. Of course,
 it started raining on my head as I wandered around looking for it. Funny
 thing is, when I found it half-an-hour later (soaking wet by then), I 
 discovered I'd parked it on "Robert St."  Fate?

OVERALL

 A great show, with a good set list. I was dissapointed that they didn't
 play Faith, though.  And I would've been really happy if they played The
 Big Hand, The 13th, Untitled, Lament, M, The Figurehead, Piggy, or Dressing
 Up, but I guess you can't have everything.

Oh well, that's it. I wasn't planning on writing much, but it looks like I 
did anyway. Oops!