Backstage Pass

Hard to believe, I’m sure, but The Cure’s Robert Smith – he of the gravity-defying hair and the over-dramatic mascara – sometimes forgets that less can be more. His band’s long-awaited return at Madison Square Garden Friday night was a sprawling, three-hour affair, with tons of hits, several misses and a sense of excess that, while bold and charming, eventually became, well, excessive.

Our Bob was in fine voice the entire evening and, seemingly, in equally fine spirits. (See the video below for the evening’s stage banter. He also introduced “Friday I’m in Love” by saying “Well, it’s a shock that we’d play this,” on, y’know, a Friday night.) And some of the new songs from the forthcoming album sounded pretty great, especially the lush opener “Underneath the Stars” and the first single “The Only One.”

The problem with the clunkers – especially “The Perfect Boy,” which sounds like The Cure doing a recent Bryan Adams cast-off, and “Baby Rag Dog Book,” which has Smith and the guys getting their Metallica on – is that they not only interrupt the flow of the show, but they do it in spectacular fashion. Then, once the interruptions become cumulative, it gets harder and harder to start up again, though, with The Cure’s outstanding back catalog, they were able to do it time and time again.

The gothic aura of “Pictures of You” followed by “Lullaby” followed by “Fascination Street” was gorgeous. The pure pop buzz of “Friday I’m in Love” followed by “Inbetween Days” followed by “Just Like Heaven” was a thrill, matched later in the encores of “Close to Me” and “Why Can’t I Be You.” If they carved the thing down to a tight, muscular two hours, it would have been an amazing show. Of course, it really wouldn’t really be the massive show of force that Robert Smith clearly wanted to create either. Nevertheless, I’m thinking the abridged version that aired live on Fuse Friday night as part of their “Fuse Rocks the Garden” series and will, no doubt, re-run many times over, may actually pack a more powerful wallop than the diluted version fans got at the show.

The Cure, "Baby Rag Dog Book" (Live at MSG)

SETLIST: Underneath the Stars / Prayers for Rain / A Night Like This / The End of the World / Lovesong / To Wish Impossible Things / Pictures of You / Lullaby / Fascination Street / From the Edge of the Deep Green Sea / The Perfect Boy / Hot Hot Hot! / The Only One / Wrong Number / The Walk / Sleep When I’m Dead / Push / Friday I’m in Love / Inbetween Days / Just Like Heaven / Primary / Shake Dog Shake / Charlotte Sometimes / 100 Years / Baby Rag Dog Book // ENCORE: If Only Tonight We Could Sleep / The Kiss // Freakshow / Close to Me / Why Can’t I Be You /// Boys Don’t Cry / Jumping Someone Else’s Train / Grinding Halt / 10:15 Saturday Night / Killing an Arab