Cure treats its fans

  • By Victor Balta / Herald Writer
  • Wednesday, September 1, 2004 9:00pm
  • LifeGo-See-Do

It was Tuesday, and Everett was in love.

In one of those right-place-at-the-right-time moments, Goth rock icon Robert Smith and The Cure ended up at the Everett Events Center on Tuesday night after rescheduling a show that was supposed to be at the Gorge Amphitheater 10 days earlier.

For those who had tickets to the original date, and those who plopped down $50 for a ticket to Tuesday’s performance, the band plowed through 29 tunes in a monster set that lasted nearly three hours.

Smith had to cancel the Gorge show because of a trip home to London for personal reasons. The original show was part of the band’s Curiosa tour, which also features Cursive, Interpol and Mogwai.

With The Cure going it alone Tuesday, more than 7,000 fans were treated to a set that lasted about an hour longer than what fans across the nation have seen on the Curiosa tour. The crowd just wouldn’t let the band go away, demanding five encores.

With 25 years of material at their disposal, The Cure had no trouble keeping fans entertained throughout the night. Band members didn’t even get to one of their best-known hits, “Friday, I’m in Love.”

The crowd was mostly made up of fans about 27 to 39 years old, or teenagers who being introduced to the band for the first time. Many scrambled at security lines trying to figure out where to put away their studded leather belts and bracelets, which weren’t allowed into the events center.

When the house lights went down and colorful spotlights silhouetted Smith’s signature rat’s nest of hair, the crowd went nuts.

Smith spent most of his time tucked behind a guitar and a microphone stand, bellowing his melancholy lyrics.

His rare slow processions to either end of the stage – he ambles in measured dramatic movements like a wise old man – were greeted with roars from his followers.

During the performance, Smith was playful and somber.

It wasn’t entirely clear whether Smith knew where he was – he never offered so much as a “Hello, Seattle” – but he effortlessly managed to make fans feel as if he were singing his lyrical pleas and cries for the very first time.

The set included a healthy dose of songs from the band’s June release, “The Cure,” with six tracks, including “Lost,” which opened the show.

The biggest crowd reactions were reserved for the hits, including “Love Song,” “Just Like Heaven” and “Boys Don’t Cry.”

“Lullaby,” a crowd favorite that had fans mimicking Smith’s charade of a spider crawling all over him, was another big pleaser.

Smith and the band truly looked as if they were enjoying themselves, placing their poppy music behind angst-ridden lyrics of heartbreak and misery.

The band closed the show – “finally,” as Smith said at the end – with Smith dancing around the stage while singing “Why Can’t I Be You?”

Certainly, many of The Cure faithful sought to be Smith. But no one else can.

Victor Balta: 425-339-3455 or vbalta@heraldnet.com.

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