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:*****