THE CURE- have they lost their appeal?

[FLIPPERFINS]

Hey there guys. I wasn't a huge fan of The Cure back in the day, but I did like a couple of their songs and still do. They have that great nostalgic appeal to me. They remind of this chick that I used to date who was into them, Depeche Mode, Smiths, Love & Rockets, etc. It's was good, moody music if you feel melancholy or somber. Like going through a breakup or being hungover on a rainy day. Well, over the weekend, The Cure made their triumphant return to the concert stage. Kicking off the summer concert festival series, the Cure were the headlining closing act for this years Washington, DC's wHFStival. Most of the crowd have never ever heard of the Cure. Needless to say, the modern alternative rock crowd was like...huh?? They fled the stadium in droves from the mopey music. Sad day for those Cure fans out there. They were bitch slapped by today's youth. Here's an excerpt of the Washington Post article. F.Y.I.
........................................
CURE

At the HFStival, Sweatin' To the Alties
The Washington Post
By Sean Daly

There aren't many people who can kill a buzz as beautifully as the Cure's Robert Smith. Looking, as always, like the woe-is-me twin of the film ghoul Beetlejuice, the iconic British mope-popper used his jangly melodies and goth-deep delivery to chase away half of the some 60,000 hard-partiers who engulfed RFK Stadium on Saturday for the HFStival, the annual alt-rock endurance test hosted by local radio station WHFS-FM (99.1).

It was just as well. Even after sundown, Haiti-appropriate heat punished the half-naked high-schoolers and collegians, many of whom had started at 10 a.m. and continued to unleash sexy-violent energy through sets by such get-'em-nutty acts as Jay-Z, P.O.D. and the Offspring, who finished up their punk-pop set at 9. But then, with the temps still stubbornly in the 90s , closing act the Cure arrived -- just in time, too.

In the past decade, the HFStival has evolved from a modest collection of offbeat acts into a nationally recognized bacchanalia, this year crammed with 36 musical offerings spread out over three stages and a techno hideaway called the Buzz Tent. Humble beer stands now do battle with top-shelf giant Bacardi rum, which showed up with a mechanical bull and half-naked girls on trampolines, in the manner of Comedy Central's "The Man Show." Funnel-cake vendors are now flanked by body-piercing stations and thong merchants, where the eye-patch-size panties feature parentally petrifying messages. (The best Mom and Dad can hope for is that their li'l miss is wearing the "Don't Even Go There" undies. Sorry.)

On the stadium's other side, the Street Stage showed off up-and-coming national artists, many of whom, not having to deal with the mumbly acoustics inside the big bowl, put on the most ear-pleasing performances of the day. Mixing metal, pop and rockabilly, the Living End was a Stray Cats for the body-slam set. And as the rare female performer at the fest, Karen O of the Blondie-meets-Siouxsie Yeah Yeah Yeahs put on the most talked-about performance. In a mini-dress and thigh-high fishnets, the frontwoman cooed out the chorus to current hit "Maps" ("They don't love you like I love you"), then chomped on the microphone and let out a guttural howl.

Because sitting in the stands is sooo lame, most of the crowd inside the stadium swarmed the field, pushing up skin-on-skin to the Main Stage. Swirling eddies of anger started for stoner rappers Cypress Hill and veritable oldies act the Violent Femmes, who played the downright appropriate "Blister in the Sun." But those eddies became mosh lakes for sets by pop-punkers New Found Glory and nu-metalists P.O.D., who are a lot like Rage Against the Machine but with, you know, more rage.

Good Samaritan Jay-Z -- backed by two turntables and special guest MC Memphis Bleek -- finally gave the crowd something nice to do, as he had everyone swaying to "Hard Knock Life," "Big Pimpin' " and "Izzo (HOVA)." Getting the loudest applause of the day, Jigga free-flowed a cappella for close to a breathless minute, grinning at his watch the whole time.

The Offspring, led by likable lead singer Dexter Holland, proved you can sing along and beat the heck out of each other at the same time. As the mosh pits doled out the day's final batch of bruises, the merry punksters chugged out hooky arena-rockers "Come Out and Play (Keep 'Em Separated)," "Self Esteem" and new smash "Hit That."

But the crowd came to a startling standstill -- that is, those who weren't already zombie-walking toward the exits -- when the recently reunited Cure front-loaded a 70-minute set with gloomy soundscapes, including exquisite downer "The End of the World," from an upcoming album. The now slightly pudgy and still very pale 45-year-old Smith -- his hair a Broom Hilda tangle, his eyes raccoon black, his lips cherry red -- still has that voice that can go low with sadness and soar high with longing, but he was a curious headliner indeed.

Even when he dusted off the guitar-prickly classics "Just Like Heaven" and "Inbetween Days," which features not one but two pop-perfect melodies, the crowd barely mustered modest applause. Perhaps that's because his die-hard lonely hearts were off weeping. Or maybe most of the audience wasn't alive when his '80s tunes helped make WHFS a broadcasting powerhouse. Whatever the case, for those still around for the bouncy encore "Boys Don't Cry," Smith rewarded the most durable festival-goers with a rare treat: a big, silly smile.

[worldcupfever]

I think people were just unable to applaud because their brains were leaking out of their ears and noses from listening to New Found Glory, the Living End and the Offspring all day.

No love, I tell you.

[Tenebrini]

Yes!

CRAP!

I'd rather listen to someone licking a dogs asshole!

[bdix]

wierd line-up.

[Rob]

they are doing a tour with interpol, rapture and mogwai.

[andydiesel]

I used to fucking hate the cure until about a year ago, one day it just clicked and the are one of my favorite bands these days.

[worldcupfever]

they are doing a tour with interpol, rapture and mogwai.

i'd see this in a heartbeat. the rapture would give me a nice chance to take a leak and get more beer.

[Rob]

I used to fucking hate the cure until about a year ago, one day it just clicked and the are one of my favorite bands these days.

me too.....get the DVD "Trilogy". it's a show in berlin where they play the albums "pornography", "disintegration" and "bloodflowers" all the way through. pretty damn good if you ask me and it was only like a couple years ago.

i think they still have it from what i can tell. have your heard "watching me fall" on the bloodflowers album? fucking good.

[bdix]

I used to fucking hate the cure until about a year ago, one day it just clicked and the are one of my favorite bands these days.

Will you start wearing mascara now? :P

[FLIPPERFINS]

yeah, wierd line up indeed. I went to about 9 of these throughout the years and saw/heard some GREAT bands. But nowadays, everything is so watered-down.
Here's the actual day's lineup......

HFStival 2004
Sat. May 22, 2004
RFK Stadium

MAIN STAGE:
11:15 VooDoo Blue
125 O.A.R.
10 Yellowcard (aka Lunchbreak)
1:50 Lostprophets
2:50 Papa Roach
3:40 Cypress Hill
4:30 Violent Femmes
5:30 New Found Glory
6:30 P.O.D.
7:35 Jay-Z
8:35 The Offspring
9:45 The Cure

STREET STAGE:
120 Taking Back Sunday
12:45 Fall Out Boy
1:35 The Living End
2:25 Lit
3:20 Yeah Yeah Yeahs
4:20 Modest Mouse

LOCALS ONLY STAGE (10):
10:30 Evenout
11:15 underscore
120 Subculture
12:45 Ballyhoo
1:30 Aphile
2:15 Jah Works
30 Army of Me
3:45 Washington Social Club
4:30 Stars Hide Fire
5:15 Jimmie's Chicken Shack

BUZZ TENT (:
Hybrid
DJ Swamp
Scott Henry
DJ Feelgood
Loco Dice
John Tab
Juju
Reid Speed

--unknown--
The Start (not CONFIRMED on whfs.com yet)

take a look at these pics...
http://207.126.125.160/graphics/gall...ml?picture=032