The Curiosa Festival

Come 3:30 PM on Saturday, August 28th, an unlikely crowd began flooding through the gates of SBC Ballpark in San Francisco; effeminate boys shrouded in black mesh shirts and eyeliner, their female counterparts in white pancake makeup and knee-high buckled boots, suit-clad rockers with ugly-hip hairdos, and a general swarm of those who flock under the alt rock banner. Conceivably, many of these spectators hadn’t been inside a baseball stadium since pre-pubescence, if ever, but a similar state of anxious glee vibrated around them as they made their way to their seats or the stadium floor. The Curiosa Festival was making its stop in San Francisco, and Cure fans showed up in melancholic droves, dressed to kill, ready for a day-long dosage of manic pop music.
This would be an evening of promise; though having varying degrees of familiarity with the main bands on the bill — Mogwai, The Rapture, The Cooper Temple Clause, Interpol, Cursive and The Cure — I’d yet to experience any of them live. Everyone besides The Cure would have to work to earn my approval; The Cure, on the other hand, would have to blow it for me to be less than ecstatic at the long-forgone opportunity of catching them in concert.
Arriving through the fairway, two things immediately met with my disproval; the full-bore hair-farmer rock being issued from the side stage by an unfamiliar band, and the fact that I had missed Mogwai’s opening slot. Between negotiating a photo pass, I was able to catch about a quarter of The Rapture’s slightly hum-drum performance, and half of Reading, UK’s The Cooper Temple Clause. The Rapture’s set, although vaguely entertaining, suffered from the daylight conditions which made both band and crowd a bit lethargic; The Cooper Temple Clause, although far less known, fared better with a blistering set of electronic-infused and blisteringly performed rock ‘n’ roll.
The next set, however, was the surprise highlight of the evening. As the sun began to set, Interpol, dressed to the nines in dark suits and ties, proceeded with a rousing set full of dynamic and dramatic indie rock. Playing songs off both their critically acclaimed debut Turn on the Bright Lights and their forthcoming follow-up Antics, Interpol came to life amidst colorful backdrops and passionate delivery. While Daniel Kessler’s dark, Ian Curtis-driven vocal eulogies provided the set’s subtle stoicism, guitarist Paul Bank and bassist Carlos Dengler amped up the performance with classic but unobtrusive rock star moves. A good portion of the swaying crowd even unraveled their crossed arms and showed outward signs of enjoying themselves — a rare feat at such a fashionable rock show.
Cursive’s set, though relatively short, was ferocious and tunefully discordant, and turned more than a few heads. However, most in the audience stayed positioned in front of the main stage, awaiting the evening’s headliner.
Beginning with the sparkling and otherworldly “Plainsong,” The Cure were on-point the entire evening, rending their songs with pure, devout emotionalism and road-worn efficiency. Splitting songs fairly evenly through their catalog, a few highlights of their set included “A Strange Day” and “Close to Me.” As the evening wind whipped smoke across the stage, a pudgy Robert Smith careened and moaned his happily depressed lyrics, interacting little with the crowd, save a few intermittent thank yous. Instead, his distraught emotion was saved for the songcraft, issued in short bursts of plaintive perfection. After a four-song encore, The Cure thanked the audience, and with fitting fanfare, exited the stage.

Bookmark:

Comments down for maintenance.