A RTS Monday, August 16, 2004 - The Michigan Daily - 13
Cure, Rapture, Interpol unite for Curiosa fest
By Andrew Gaerig even fewer. showed just how indebted the band is to
Daily Arts Editor Due to the lack of excitement on the The Cure, their atmospheric keyboards
second stage, the focus shifted, justly, and sparse, forthright bass lines driv-
CONCERT REVIEW to the main stage, where four bands ing Luke Jenner's shouted, passionate
- The Cure, Interpol, The Rapture, vocals into the air.
Festivals are not often associated with and Mogwai - were slated to play. Next up was Interpol, a band who has
The Cure: The seminal '80s megastars Mogwai, an instrumental rock collec- long been accused of stealing from both
rarely conjure the sorts of fun, sum- tive from Scotland (from whom the The Cure and their peers. That night,
mery images that people want to asso- Cure borrowed liberally for Bloodflow- however, they were their own band,
crate with warm-weather music bashes. ers) opened the show in broad daylight taking the stage to a mostly full crowd
Indeed, the doom to a mostly empty ampitheatre. Despite as dusk settled into the sky, finally pro-
'n' gloom rock- Curiosa the poor attendance, their three-guitar viding the kind of atmosphere the fes-
ers have always Festival maelstroms translated suprisingly well tival deserved. Interpol tore through a
catered to dark to the large stage. 45-minute set, disappointingly drawing
bedrooms, lonely Wednesday, Aug. New York dance-punk revivalists most of their material from their 2002
nights and blatant At DTE Energy The Rapture took the stage next, this debut, Turn On the Bright Lights. With
abusers of eye- Music Theater time to a stronger, more vocal crowd. their a new album, Antics, scheduled
liner everywhere. Their funky, rhythm-heavy machina- to come out in Septemeber, the hope
Which is why the Curiosa fest - this tions have been haunting hipper dance was that the band would lay to rest the Ewwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwww! COURTESY OF THE CURE
summer's Cure-curated package tour clubs for almost two years, and need- material they've been touring on for the
- is such an anomaly. less to say, the grooving, "we are a fam- last three years in favor of new songs. ing at a slothlike pace around the front mouth. The other half of the fantasy is
Upon closer inspection, however, the ily" aspect of their live performances They did provide a couple of previews: of the stage, shaking hands and bask- supplied by the fans, who have attached
tour makes a lot of sense. The Cure's was lost on a crowd whose members Longtime live nugget and Antics track ing in adoration before finally grab- themselves to this angsty apostle.
seminal '80s albums - especially their still had a lot of empty seats between "Nare" made another appearance, as bing the microphone. The set lagged heavily in the middle,
bass-heavy dance explorations - have them. The band still managed to infuse did another new track, "Evil." On the The band alternated graciously dominated by new songs and some rainy
recently been unearthed by art-punk a sense of energy into fan-favorites whole, the band seemed less confident between the tolerable new mate- early material. The Cure have a vault of
revivalists. Their increased relevance, such as "House of Jealous Lovers" and in their new material, finding solace in rial and their excellent old songs, with material to draw from, but much of it
coupled with a new self-titled album, "Sister Saviour." Set opener "Olio" the manic guitar slashes of "Obstacle 1" Smith noting several times the dras- sounds the same when strung together.
has once again shifted attention to a and "PDA." The slow, ethereal "NYC" tic switches in tone from one song to This was the only obstacle to overcome,
band that was all but dead in the water was one of the night's highlights, its the next. The mood, however, stayed however, in an otherwise strong show.
upon release of 2000's unforgivable washes of sound pouring out over an mostly grounded during the band's set, The band elevated themselves during
Bloodflowers. eager crowd. as an endless barrage of ominous lyr- the encore, hittinig fan-favorites like
r The Curiosa tour featured two stag- Despite the strong, underground-ori- ics and sickly slow guitars leaked out "Friday I'm In Love," and "Just Like
es of bands handpicked by The Cure, ented lineup, the festival's main attrac- of the speakers. The crowd sung along Heaven." In an odd way, The Cure
headlined, of course, by the legend tion was still The Cure. A well received with unabashed glee, a sight that would are very much like The Who: A band
ary goth auteurs. There were precious new album and a fervent following had be odd in just about any other setting. whose best days are admittedly behind
few hallmarks of recent festival tours -T the ampitheater buzzing as the lights After all, what could possibly be nor- them, butwho stilltourrelentlesslyand
- no lifestyle booths or activists, dimmed and smoke came pouring from mat about thousands of people singing release occasional bits of new material
just the standard overpriced t-shirts. the stage. The band entered first, grab- about how alone they are? Therein lies to a loyal group of fans. In fact, Cure
Even the second stage seemed like an bing their instruments and laying into the charm of The Cure: Robert Smith rock shows have become such a staple
afterthought: Also-rans like Melissa the searing, glacial "Plainsong." Lead is a happily married, very wealthy man. of rock culture that no amount of eye-
Auf De Maur and Radiohead mimics COURTESY OF MATADOR RECORDS singer and Cure mainstay Robert Smith His melodramatic lyrics are only half- liner, lipstick or deathly black shirts
Muse drew few fans and impressed Hot damn! Interpol sure are swanky! slowly emerged from backstage, mov- believable coming from his well-fed can destroy the atmosphere.
'Simpsons,' 'Futurama' discs feature fourth seasons
By Alexandra Jones
Daily Arts Editor
"The Simpsons: The Complete
Fourth Season" and "Futurama Vol. 4"
highlight different stages of primetime
. animation comedy genius Matt Groe-
ning's most famous
televised projects. The Futuramal
more recent of the two, Vol 4
"Futurama," shows i
some of the genius Fox Home
behind "The Simpsons" Entertainment
in a sillier, wackier for-
mat: Phillip Fry, an everyman loser-
type, gets stuck in a cryogenic
freezining machine while deliver-
ing a pizza. He stays frozen
and forgotten 3 for a thou-
sandyears,then meets up
with a groups of
aliens, weird- ly-
evolved
humans and sassy
robots. Much of
the a show's
humor is based on Fry's adapting to this spin outlandish plotlines and introduce
new world, similar to but drastically tertiary characters that were interesting,
different from his own. funny and true to the characters' iden-
Unfortunately, Season The tities - unlike now, when the show's
4 was "Futurama"'s Simpsons: production team is just begging to get
last. The cancelled with tired, hackneyed ideas
Available next like foreign trips to coax a breath of
week, "Futurama Vol. Complete newness from the series. In Season 4,
4" includes the usual Fourth Lisa became a beauty queen, Bart got
extras. Almost all Season a Bigger Brother, Marge was sexually
18 episodes feature Twentieth harrassed by Mr. Burns and Homer
commentary, deleted Century Fox even quit drinking for a month. In the
scenes and peeks into DVD's introduction, Groening men-
the show's 3-D animation techniques tions that his favorite "Simpsons"
will interest animation buffs and die- quote ever occurs in Season 4. (Homer,
hard fans. While the show didn't con- regarding the family ofpossums living
nect with viewers with the same in the cab of his
universality that "The Simpsons"
did, it's still entertaining, sharp
and witty, deserving of the title
- up until its cancellation, any-
way - of the funniest animated /
series on television at the time.
Flash back to 1993: "The Simp- .
sons" had become a wildly popular
prime-time cartoon. Season 4 - ah,
Season 4! - was the first perfect sea-
son for Groening (back when he was
still involved in the show) and Amer-
ica's favorite yellow-skinned, chinless
animated family.
Along with gems like "Mr. Plow"
and the immortal "Monorail," Season
4 stands as a great example of the time
when "The Simpsons"'s creators could
doomed Monorail train, says "I call
the big one Bitey.")
As well as the pitch-perfect shows,
the DVD is packed with extras. Com-
mentary from the show's production
team, numerous deleted scenes, anima-
tion tutorials and featurettes on real-
life "Simpsons" controversies - they
angered the town of New Orleans with
a satirical song and even drew criticism
from then-First Lady Barbara Bush.
"Whacking Day," "Kamp Krusty,"
"So It's Come to This: A Simpsons
Clip Show" - this four-disc DVD is
an essential release for anyone who's
ever enjoyed the best animated series
the world has ever seen.
Futurama Vol. 4
Show: ****
Picture/Sound: ****
Extras: ****
The Simpsons:
The Complete Fourth Season
Show: *****
Picture/Sound:****
Extras:*****