I have mixed feelings about the show at the Palace of Auburn Hills Friday night. After seeing them at Cobo Arena in the eighties, and the Palace for the Show filmings in 1992, and then comparing those performances to last weeks radio sponsored stint I wish they would of simply set out on a mini tour of their own.

In one way the show was a treasure, being able to hear some songs they have not played in years...stuff Holy Hour, 100 Years, etc. was great. But its tough to get into a show when half the stadium empties 6 songs into the set. I think I would have rather they played more of their singles like the NYC Halloween show for an audience of this "caliber". The show was attended by mostly radio station pop/modern rock devotees who were simply blown five rows back when The Cure took the stage. The uninitiated had stupified expressions on their faces.

I must say the overall sensory experience was awesome. Tremendous lighting, and dark, coupled with blinding strobes and whirled in clouds of smoke. There was an aura surrounding the stage and by the end of the set most of the lame attendees had been weeded out. Not to mention they did'nt take the stage until 11:20, so it was close to 12:45 when they came out for their final two song encore. By that time I had wandered up from sixth row the the stage barrier in front of Perry. About ten feet in all separating me from his feet.

I'm not going to go over each song, but here is what I remember. Overall the sound was great. Opening with Plainsong - tons of smoke and Robert wandering around the stage from corner to corner like only he can do in the shadows. It was errie and powerful, and lovely all at once.

FTEODGS wasn't what it used to be with Porl. Cut and Torture were suprisingly good. Wrong Number jammed. Disintegration, Untitled, 10:15 Saturday Night, Killing an Arab. What can I say that hasn't already been said? I can still close my eyes and I'm there.

I guess when it comes down to it, I say screw everybody else, the setlist was great, the sound was near perfect, and being that close to the stage made the night completely surreal, unforgetable. I an looking forward to next year, Robert said he would be back!

great show....the band got on quite late (well after 11:00 pm) by the time they got to KILLING AN ARAB(1:00 am) a good portion of the sold out radio friendly crowd had left...100 YEARS, UNTITLED , and SAME DEEP WATER AS YOU were stunning....

The Cure was great last night (12/12)! Their performance definitely made up for having to wait through the sets of toad the wet sprocket, huffamoose, etc........ Although there was a bit of a scare when they (the radio station putting this on) decided to announce over the p.a. that The Cure would not be playing tonight and they would be replaced by K.C. and the Sunshine Band!!!! So gullible me becomes all speechless and has to go up and ask one of the security people if it's true, and of course it wasn't.