?,?, 1992 - Bravo (Germany) |* (Translation below)
Article; "The Show - An Emotional Trip"

Article; "The Show - An Emotional Trip"

The fans in front of the Olympic Hall in Munich were all excited. When it was late afternoon before a Cure show, time for soundcheck, and the tour bus still had not arrived, immediately wild rumors were turning up again: that Robert Smith had freaked out in Austria the night before, left the band and went back home by plane again. Although everyone knows that the Cure boss does not board planes. Rumor number 2, that the Cure boss' bus broke down on a motorway due to an engine failure, and number 3, that Robert had become seriously ill, so that the whole rest of the tour had to be cancelled, were in fact closest to the truth. The hardest penny dreadful that worked a circuit among the vault rockers in front of the Hall, which all seem easily accesible for horror news, was that The Cure had gotten stuck in Croatia between frontlines of the civil war, and that Robert and Boris got wounded perilously by shell splinters, and Simon only mildly injured.

It will of course never be possible to determine where all these absolutely absurd paroles(?) come from. It's interesting, though, that they are whirring through the air before every Cure show. If you count in all the times Robert has been pronounced dead, he could become a thousand years old. Because of his weird and subtle humor, it could also be himself who likes to spread these rumors. In any case, they serve their good cause: that Cure fans get something to talk about during those long hours waiting for shows to begin. This collective suffering and worrying about their idol is what joins them together.

Of course, finally, The Cure then arrived in Munich, not exactly fresh as a daisy, but visibly intact - half an hour before the show began. Not the bus had had an “engine failure”, but the band itself.

Robert's illness, which still did mark his pale face at 7:30pm, was a hangover of the roughest kind. The Cure had been celebrating their Innsbruck gig with a swooshing hotel party. They had rolled into their beds late in the morning, and got dragged out again by their tour manager in late afternoon.

In the dressing room, decorated with lots of white sheets, flowers and fruits, a magical transformation takes place for the slightly chubby and pale kip-monster Robert, as soon as stage fright and pre-show excitement are crawling in on him. The Cure singer shakes off the weight from his lids, and actually opens his eyes.

He ceases to scuffle, lifts his feet to walk, when walking to the toilet every four minutes. From time to time, he even lets out a smile and gets almost talkative, for his standards. With the help of cherry-red lipstick and a bit eye-liner, he then changes completely into the dazzling, mysterious King of Goth, who is captivating hundred thousands of fans in the whole wide world with his psycho-trip, or just messing about with them.

In the Olympic Hall, you could  spot dozens of Robert-Smith-fans copying their master to the back-combed hair, smutted eye-liner, veiled gaze and scuffle walk.

Robert (22, bank accountant): “I'm bearing the same first name as Robert. I think, this is yet a sign. But I also feel attached to him in another way. Robert is a magician. I know he can easily read thoughts and feelings of other people. Also, he is one of the very few real individualists still around. Someone who would never adapt. This is what I admire him for. Maybe, one day, I will have this courage myself. Most people are still just fuddy-duddys ...”

Cure-Robert, by the way, finds his fans' unconditional adoration highly unpleasant, at least he claims  to do so. “I am just a normal guy with quite a lot of weaknesses. I never asked anybody to copy me, and I never claimed to know what's right. I just want people to let me be the way I am. I scuffle, because I'm still tired, after getting out of bed. I don't want to stop anyone from copying my way to walk, my hair or how I talk, if he wants to. But, really, I can't understand those people. “

What Robert, Boris, Perry, Porl and Simon really do understand, though, is how to pull off a great spectacular rock show. The new show is just about the limit, the stage as well. After all, this is supposed to be the last life spectacle from the Cure for us to see. Robert has already announced, again, his final retirement from his active rock life. The whole stage set is kept in Golden and pastel colors, and overcast with a wave pattern, which appear, under certain lightning conditions, quite mind-boggling and psychedelic. Huge pillars are effusing an atmosphere like Roman ruins or the time of Emperor Nero. Large ventilators keep the band's hair and clothes fluttering about with wind force 6, and create, together with elaborate light effects, an intense and strangely weird atmosphere, which takes hold of the shows' audience - and does not simply go away when the show is over, but stays with them for the rest of the night. An emotional trip of the extraterrestrial kind.

(page 1, picture caption)
The “Wish”-Tour was the last ever tour for The Cure. Once more - Robert often has announced his “final” retirement.

(page 2, picture caption) Cure fans, the most loyal Goth rockers, are always easy to spot from a distance, by their deep black clothes, that eye-liner-make-up and wild, Robert-Smith-style hair.
 

Thanks so much NIKA for Translation!!!