We love The Cure even if they're ugly and don't smile at us

Paléo Festival 2019 - Jonas Follonier

The legendary band The Cure took to the Paléo stage on Thursday, July 25, 2019. Audiences will remember three things from this two-hour concert: their music, including vocals, is always top-notch; they don't like to communicate much with the audience; and they're ugly.

Who were the many people who had flocked to see The Cure? Such was the question I asked myself, under my hat that had turned into an umbrella. There's always something in The Cure's music that just doesn't cut it. «I like it, but...» is followed by «it's always the same» or «the atmosphere is too dark» or «it hasn't aged well» or other absolute nonsense such as «I prefer Green Day». Too soft for some, too gothic for others, The Cure are by no means unanimous, and seem to find themselves in a restricted corner of the rock planet.

«And yet», Charles Aznavour would say. «They came, they're all here», he would say. The Plaine de l'Asse is filled to the brim with people who have come early enough to see The Cure. And there are fans of all ages, codes and genres. It's mind-boggling. When I ask a drummer friend on my left what he thinks in general of the drum rhythms on the band's albums, I realize that we don't feel the same way, even though we've listened to the same albums over and over again. best of before coming, and much more besides. The Cure, part post-punk, part melodramatic pop rock. An elusive phenomenon.

But it's already 11.30pm. Here they come. My sidekicks and I were wondering how the band was going to get on stage. The answer: none at all. Even though The Cure took the stage, there was no entrance. Just five guys taking the stage with no show at all. A bit like Deep Purple in Montreux last year, Even if they had set aside an afternoon to create some semblance of a staging. «Take care of your entrances and exits; in the middle, do your job».», said Maurice Chevalier to Johnny Hallyday, advice he followed to the letter. The British apparently take a different approach.

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So now it's time for the music. And here, thank you and hats off. Band leader Robert Smith's vocal retention is remarkable. The musicians' instrumental ease, unquestionable. Their pleasure in playing music, obvious. The concert's sonic atmosphere, unexpectedly coherent even though the repertoire varies greatly. And this is perhaps the strength of this group: unity in diversity, which the Irish philosopher Francis Hutcheson defined as the very condition of beauty. The half-teen, half-sado - and masochistic, it goes without saying - vocals of the specimen Robert Smith is enough to keep this progressive rock journey constant, from the darkness of the latest albums to the pop of nineties.

The only downside to this year's Paléo 2019 headliner, THE band to perform for two hours on the main stage: their lack - or rather, their absence - of communication with the audience. Smile at us sometimes, please! Talk to us a little. Okay, I'm being harsh: Robert Smith said Thank you twice, and Roger O'Donnell, who looks like a cute zombie, grinned for two and a half seconds when he got to do the circus with his keyboard. More than that, you didn't have to ask them. And that's a shame, because we all know that rock and pop are cultural cements that have long transcended linguistic borders. The Cure, whom I adore precisely because I don't think they're old-fashioned, but pioneering - yes, I do! -so forgive me for attacking their disgusting faces, for their strength that evening was precisely to make us love them anyway. Through their music alone.

Write to the author: jonas.follonier@leregardlibre.com

Photo credits: © Paléo / Nicolas Patault