The Cure On Tour: Mope Rock For The Masses

THINGS DON'T LOOK good. A couple of days after two extraordinary sold-out concerts at Paris' 15,000-seat Bercy Auditorium, The Cure is getting ready to play a glorified gymnasium in Reims to a crowd of only 4,500. Even at 8:30 in the evening, when the band hits the stage, it's not yet dark; the sun streams through the skylights, turning the place into a muggy greenhouse and overpowering the band's extensive lighting rig.