The Cure and Pasadena Daydream warm the hearts (and eyeliner) of fans who braved the day’s heat
In a time when fandoms are fragmented and no longer united by radio airplay or MTV, Pasadena Daydream united a largely Generation X audience on Saturday at the Brookside Golf Club.
And the Cure’s Robert Smith, who showed up on stage at the end of the night clad in black with his trademark wild hair, heavy eyeliner and lipstick, and singing of longing and love and a forest, was that lost generation’s leader.
Smith and the band, which was recently inducted into the Rock & Roll Hall of Fame, masterminded the festival in partnership with concert and festival mega-producer Goldenvoice, curating an eclectic mix of bands that included Pixies, Deftones, Throwing Muses, The Joy Formidable and more.
Set on the golf club in the shadow of the Rose Bowl, the same site as Goldenvoice’s Arroyo Seco Weekend festivals, Pasadena Daydream was not a place for squad photoshoots among kaleidoscopic art pieces. Nor was it “influencer” bait.
No, in the ever-expanding field of music festivals, this event placed the emphasis on the music rather than the festival, but with the modern creature comforts of charging stations, upgraded food and real bathrooms.
The idea was refreshing, although the temperature, which inched toward triple digits with a healthy dose of humidity, was anything but as entry lines stretched into and across Rose Bowl parking lots early Saturday afternoon.
It was a bit of a juxtaposition to see another all-too-overlooked demographic, the goths, braving the intense California sunlight dressed in black trudging along the outer concourse of the stadium when all anyone wanted to do in the mid-day heat was crawl into the cool cave where the Cure filmed the video for “Lovesong” 30 years ago. But among those longtime fans and the folks wearing black lipstick and eyeliner long before Hot Topics dotted every shopping mall were also millennials and the occasional young child.
The Cure crosses generations, but more on that in a minute.
Before the Cure closed out the night, Deftones and the Pixies each took turns on the main stage. The former, possibly the most head-scratching act on the bill when the lineup was released, seamlessly blended in, its brand of metal drawing from a more emotional and new wave core than its late ’90s contemporaries, with “Change (In the House of Flies),” the set’s obvious highlight.
As the sun started to sink, the Pixies delivered a set of golden songs for the golden hour, one after another, including “Where Is My Mind,” “Wave of Mutilation,” “Debaser,” “Bone Machine” and “Monkey Gone to Heaven.” The band also delivered its cover of the Jesus and Mary Chain’s “Head On.”
But the big draw for the thousands in attendance, which included Lady Gaga, was The Cure.
With chimes, white lights and fog, the band took the stage to a positively dreamlike atmosphere to open with “Plainsong” before going into the equally ethereal “Pictures of You.”
And until you see the Cure live it can fade into the background that this is a band with multiple greatest hits and singles compilations. Even with a nearly two-and-a-half hour-long set the band can’t fit everything in — “High,” “Lovesong,” “In Between Days” and “Just Like Heaven” were among the highlights of only the first hour.
However, beyond the deep catalog, the Cure not only spans generations of fans, but its music is the human experience, journeying from young adult angst to wild lust to deep love to loneliness and longing and back again.
Likewise, the music effortlessly blurs the line between the darkness of “Fascination Street,” a specimen that showcased the prowess of bassist Simon Gallup, to the pop sensibilities of a hit such as “Friday I’m in Love,” both of which were among Saturday night’s set highlights.
And while Gallup, drummer Jason Cooper, keyboardist Roger O’Donnell and guitarist Reeves Gabrels played a tight set, it was Smith who seemed to truly connect with that crowd of a lost generation, animatedly emoting and crossing the stage by the end of the night to address more fans.
“It’s been the best day of the summer,” Smith said before the band shut it all down with “Boys Don’t Cry.”
And what a way to close out the unofficial end of season, and the night.