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

Paléo Festival 2019 - Jonas Follonier

The legendary band The Cure performed on Thursday, July 25, 2019, on the main stage at Paléo. The audience will remember three things about this two-hour concert: their music, including the vocals, is still top-notch; they don’t really like to interact with the audience; and they’re really ugly.

Who were all these people who had come out in droves to see The Cure? That was the question I was asking myself, under my hat, which had turned into an umbrella. The thing is, there’s always going to be something about The Cure’s music that just doesn’t sit right. «I like it, but...» is followed by «It's always the same thing.» or «The atmosphere is too gloomy.» 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 far from being universally loved and seem to occupy a niche within the rock world.

«And yet», Charles Aznavour would say. «They came, they're all here», he’d say again. The Asse plain is packed to the brim with people who arrived early enough to see The Cure. And there are people of all ages, all styles, and all genders. Mind-blowing. When I ask a drummer friend standing to my left what he thinks, in general, of the drum rhythms on the band’s albums, I realize just how differently we perceive them, even though we’ve both listened to the same ones 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 now it’s already 11:30 p.m. They’re arriving. My friends and I were wondering how the band was going to make their entrance on stage. The answer: they didn’t. Even though The Cure took the stage, there was no grand entrance. Just five guys walking out onto the stage without any fanfare. Kind of like Deep Purple in Montreux last year, even though they had set aside an afternoon to come up with some sort of staging. «Take care of your entrances and exits; in the middle, do your job».», Maurice Chevalier had told Johnny Hallyday—advice that he followed to the letter. Apparently, the British take a different approach.

Read also: Tribute to Jean-Philippe Smet

So let’s turn to the music. And here, thank you and hats off to them. The vocal prowess of Robert Smith, the band’s frontman, is remarkable. The musicians’ instrumental skill is undeniable. Their joy in making music is evident. The concert’s soundscape possesses an unexpected coherence, even as the repertoire varies widely. And perhaps that is ultimately this band’s strength: unity in diversity, which the Irish philosopher Francis Hutcheson defined as the very condition of beauty. The vocals—part adolescent, part sad—and, needless to say, masochistic—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 major downside to the headliner of this 2019 Paléo—THE band set to perform for two hours on the main stage—was their lack—no, their complete absence—of interaction with the audience. Smile at us once in a while, please! Say a few words to us. Okay, I’m being harsh: Robert Smith said Thank you twice, and Roger O’Donnell—who looks like a cute zombie—flashed a two-and-a-half-second smile when he got to show off on his keyboard. That was all you could ask of them. And that’s a real shame, because we all know that rock and pop are cultural cornerstones that have long transcended linguistic boundaries. The Cure—whom I adore precisely because I don’t find them cheesy, but rather pioneering—yes, really!—will therefore forgive me for taking issue with their disgusting faces, because their strength that night was precisely in making us love them anyway. Through their music alone.

Write to the author: [email protected]

Photo credits: © Paléo / Nicolas Patault