The Cure at Worcester Centrum

[Nancy Everson <everson@SPCA.BBN.COM>]

(this has nothing to do with kate bush)

I wasn't going to go see The Cure this year, even though they're my
favorite band, but I won this contest on WFNX.  I won tickets, backstage
passes, a couple records (I have them all anyway), dinner (another night),
and a limo to transport me to and from the concert.  So, I decided to go
after all.  

The concert was Friday night.  Our seats were really good -- sixth row,
center section.  We could see the whole band very well.  (The only other
time I saw a concert at the Worcester Centrum, I was about as far from the
stage as you can get, and still be inside the arena, and Peter Gabriel
looked smaller than my thumb.)  The concert was really pretty good, though
they didn't play anything unexpected.  They played 15 songs from "Kiss Me,
Kiss Me, Kiss Me", the flip side of the 12" of "Why Can't I Be You?", 8
songs that were on last year's single compilation, and "Three Imaginary
Boys".  It was during "Three Imaginary Boys" in the third encore that
someone finally made it on the stage -- a girl flung herself onto Robert
Smith just as he was about to start singing.  They had to extend the intro
to the song a bit while a security guy tried to extricate Robert from her
embrace.  The crowd cheered and applauded the girl.

When I picked up my tickets at the box office, there weren't any backstage
passes with them, but in a rare moment of sticking up for myself, I said I
was supposed to get backstage passes too.  I was told to wait, and about
fifteen minutes later, the girl handed me two backstage passes.  I'm glad I
asked, because I actually got to meet four of the band members.  Not that I
knew what to say to them or anything, but it still was pretty neat.  

"Going backstage" after the concert involved waiting in a "hospitality
room", supplied with beer, perrier, chips, and popcorn.  I guess the record
company does this for radio and music types.  I introduced myself to an
Elektra representative as the 'FNX winner, which turned out to be another
good move on my part.  She said that she doubted the band would come out to
the room to meet people, and after half an hour, she said she only gives
bands half an hour, but I said I would wait a little longer.  

A few minutes later, she came up to me and said, "He'll meet you... wait
here.  We'll go down to meet him." Or something like that.  Then three of
the band members (Roger, Boris, and Lol) came into the room, and people
talked to them, got their autographs, and stuff like that.  Still no Robert
Smith, but the Elektra person still thought he would meet us (the people
who were there because we won tickets).  After waiting even longer (I
figured Greg the chauffeur would understand why we took so long to get out
of the concert), the Elektra person took six of us down to the band's
dressing room, and Robert came out to talk to us.

I really wish I had something to talk to him about!  He seemed very shy.
He's also as pudgy as he looks in the new videos.  On stage, it was hard to
tell if he was or not, because he wore a baggy big shirt.  One would think
that a month of touring would've taken off some pounds.  He still had his
stage makeup smeared all over his face, but that's OK, I still think he's
cute, in a Robert Smith sort of way.

I asked him for his autograph, and asked him about the book he once said in
an interview that he was going to write about the band.  He's written it,
and it will be out in October in England.  It's being published by Zoo or
Zoom -- I didn't quite catch the name of the company.

It seems so weird that I finally meet the person who has written some of my
favorite songs, songs that really mean something to me, and all I can think
to talk to him about is when his book will come out so I can READ about the
band!  I guess a meaningful conversation wasn't possible under those
circumstances, but still ...  Does anyone have any ideas for such
situations, should I ever encounter one again???

If anyone's interested in the actual playlist from the concert, I could
post it.  Just let me know.

- nancy everson  (everson@bbn.com)
bbn software products corporation, cambridge mass

P.S.  Kate is my favorite female artist, if anyone's worried about The Cure
being my favorite band.