Yes, the Cure’s Robert Smith looks a little scary these days. But he and his band still sound as good as they did in 1987. Photos by .
I spent Wednesday morning writing about a legendary show at Red Rocks 25 years ago – U2 recording “Under a Blood Red Sky.”
I spent Wednesday night watching a legendary show at , in real-time from the 17th row – playing a career-spanning retrospective that came in 10 minutes short of 3 hours.
Not that Robert Smith and his band’s show will go down in the history books as a defining point in their career – or in Red Rocks’ books, even. But it was a concert that pleased nearly every single soul in attendance. And how could it not have made them happy?
The band played tons of hits and lots of album tracks. They opened with some beautiful songs that weren’t familiar to everybody (“Underneath The Stars,” “Prayers For Rain”), and then they would play three radio hits in a row – “Friday I’m In Love,” “In Between Days” and “Just Like Heaven” – giving them the dark rock ’n’ roll treatment they deserve. Plus, the lights were friggin’ sweet – the perfect accompaniment for such a band.
More importantly, they sounded lovely. Smith’s voice was as bulbous as ever, sounding full and confident with each stride. The band was solid and cohesive, although the bass player lacked the nuance that makes so many of the Cure’s recordings so special. It didn’t help that his volume was a bit high in the mix.
Most noteworthy about the Wednesday-night show was the lack of a synthesizer on the stage. The Cure was playing Wednesday’s show as a four-piece rock band – an ’80s rock band, mind you, but songs like “Lovesong,” “Why Can’t I Be You?” and “Close to Me” took on entirely new lives without the keys.
The approach was deliciously straightforward. Sure, you missed the keys (and horns) at all the obvious parts, but the band – and the fans – managed creative ways around their absence. Oddly, the band was using a backing tape – but it only accompanied the group consistently on percussion with occasion assists to the other players.
Early-set highlights included an intoxicatingly on-point “Pictures of You” and a lovely “The Perfect Boy.” The late-career single “Wrong Number” was surprisingly vibrant, but it didn’t compare to the mid-set blast of the popular “Friday I’m In Love,” “In Between Days” and “Just Like Heaven” – which had the crowd in an understandable frenzy.
The songs sounded fresh, crisp as the night air. Smith took some liberties with the vocals, often talking his way through some of the more melodic parts. But it didn’t matter. Other people were there to carry the lead melody. And the fans loved every minute of it, especially as the show crossed the 2.5 hour mark.
The first encore, which included “Disintegration,” seemed half-hearted. But the group had fun with the second encore, which rocked a sweet “Close To Me” and a lively “Why Can’t I Be You?”
But the real star of the evening was the third encore, which was unexpected given the hoards of crowds heading to the stairs at the time the band came back out for more. The band launched into the classic “Boys Don’t Cry,” and it only built steam as they worked through an exciting “Jumping Someone Else’s Train,” a killer “Grinding Halt,” an enlightened “10:15 Saturday Night” and a downright giddy “Killing An Arab.”
Ten more minutes, and the band would have had a 3 hour set on its hands. Not all of it was perfect, but overall – and with such a strong ending – it was a night for Cure fans’ record books.
Ricardo Baca is the pop music critic at The Denver Post.
is a Denver photographer and a regular contributor to Reverb.
A couple videos found on YouTube:
A clip of “Underneath the Stars:”
A clip of “Close To Me:”
And more photos of the Cure at Red Rocks:
