a. tiring
b. long
c. crazy
d. hot
e. all of the above

        The answer is E. I was pretty convinced that I wasn’t going to Hfstival this year, because I saw the line up and only wanted to see about 2 or 3 bands. Then, the final addition to the line up was announced the day before tickets went on sale, and my mind was changed in a split-second. It also made me hyperventilate for 3 hours. The Cure was coming back to the area after 4 long years. I was determined to go, and I called Sandhya to leave a cryptic message on her answering machine that said, “We have to go to Hfstival.”
        Hfstval is, for those who haven’t heard of it, a festival hosted by a local radio station, WHFS. It usually features bands that are popular at the moment and some bands from the area. In my opinion, the quality of the line-up has been declining in the past couple of years and I would’ve said the same about this year, but The Cure increased the quality by 500%. The acts on the main stage were: O.A.R., Yellowcard, Jay-Z, Lostprophets, Papa Roach, Cypress Hill, Violent Femmes, Offspring, P.O.D., New Found Glory, Voodoo Blue, the Offspring, and the Cure.
        I was pretty upset that I had to wake up before noon on a Saturday, but nonetheless I woke up at 6 after (pathetically) hitting my alarm to stop it from yelling. Sandhya, Julia, and I rode the metro down to RFK Stadium and unmistakably recognized kids that were heading to the same place. We were down there at about 8:30 AM to help out with the Army of Me’s street team, because we thought, “What the heck? We’re going to be bored anyways, and we’re helping a band that we want to support.” We met up with Brad, Vince, and Becca (the street team coordinator) to discuss our plan of action which was to cover RFK stadium with mounds of flyers. Vince asked us who we were here to see and we said of course Army of Me and The Cure. Then I said the Yeah Yeah Yeahs, and Vince joked, “Did you know they’re going to start to play in the middle of our set? She’s going to leave you and go see the Yeah Yeah Yeahs and say ‘see ya guys!’’’ In my defense, I wasn’t planning to do that, but to rather wait until AOM finish their set and run like crazy to the Street Stage which is all the way on the other side of the Local Band stage.
        Before the gates opened, we handed out flyers to anyone that didn’t give us dirty looks or try to avoid us all together, and we the gates finally opened at 10 we gave out the rest of our flyers. We stayed near the local band stage to wait for Underscore-a band that Brad and Vince recommended to us. They definitely have a lot of energy, but they weren’t exactly our cup of tea. They somehow digressed one of their songs into Dashboard Confessional’s “Hands Down,” and that was a pretty good cover. So we decided to head into the stadium to see O.A.R. and they are a kind of watered down Dave Matthews Band with a smorgasbord of instruments. Apparently they went to a high school in Rockville, so they’re sort of a local band. I’m surprised they didn’t play their radio single “Hey Girl,” but maybe they did that for the right reasons. They played a decent cover of the U2 song “Sunday Bloody Sunday.” We sat in the stands as we watched people mass onto the field. Yellowcard took the stage and sped through “Death of a Salesman,” “Way Away,” and “Ocean Avenue.” How I even know three of their songs when I’m not a fan of theirs is attributed to MTV2, the Take Action CD, and SSX 3. I must say though, the violinist is the hardest working member in the band, as it seems. When he wasn’t playing violin, he was singing, running across the stage or doing back-flips. And people say violinists aren’t tough?
        We decided to leave the stadium and buy some fries. We just stayed near the local stage (again) to wait for Army of Me’s set. It was amazing of course. They played “Fake Ugly,” “To My Valentine,” “Breathe,” “Sally,” “Bullets in the Back,” and about 2 other songs that I couldn’t recognize. Vince was wearing his infamous marine coat in 90 degree weather! Holy macaroni, I was wearing a t-shirt and jeans and I was sweating buckets. They were all smiling and laughing probably due to the funny signs like “Will you marry me? Brad and/or John?” and “Brad, I’m pregnant.” After they ended the set, we bolted to the Street Stage not even staying to say a quick congrats to the band. To estimate how much we had to run, it was about the length of a football field with some excess. By the time we got to the street stage, the Yeah Yeah Yeahs were in the middle of the love song “Maps.” Their next and last song was “Date with the Night.” There were so many people there, I could only see the flick of Karen O’s midnight black hair, and occasional flash of her purple shirt before she thanked the crowd and ran backstage.
        The recent buzz band, Modest Mouse was up next on the Street Stage. We stayed under the shade of a tree, because we were going to pass out from the overexposure to the sun. Their set consisted mostly of slow songs and don’t get me wrong they’re beautiful, but at the time the music only encouraged me to just pass out under the tree and take a nap. When they played their newest and hit single “Float On” the crowd was livelier, because that was probably the only song that they had heard before. We left a song after that to check out Jimmie’s Chicken Shack. We heard about them and even recalled making fun of their band name a few years back (sorry). There was a fairly large crowd gathered in front of the local band stage. They introduced their first song with “This is our first rock song,” and introduced their next song in the same fashion. We recognized their song “What Do I Do” and that’s how we knew about them a few years ago.
        After a few songs of Jimmie’s Chicken Shack we went into the Stadium. We apparently came at the wrong time, because P.O.D. (also known as P.O.S.) was on and were (in the most positive way) not so good. They were really loud, so we couldn’t just doze off during their set. I think the people around us heard all our cynical comments and left us. How they heard us is questionable considering the band amped up their instruments to the max. I wondered what Jay Z was doing at an alternative rock concert, but once he got onstage my question was answered: the man is good! He played several radio singles that I recognized. There was some kid in front us that was really entertaining, because he knew all the words to Jay Z’s songs and was gesturing “gangsta-style.” Jay Z got the crowd into the songs by pausing the songs so that the crowd could sing back the lyrics.
        The Offspring were next and blah. Julia and I went out to get some lemonade and met a guy that lost one of his shoes in the fiasco near the stage during Jay Z’s set. It was crazy up there and we saw that as we were sitting far away in the stands. We waited through the Offspring’s set and were practically at the edge of our seats after they ended. The Cure was coming up next and I didn’t know how to feel. Elated? Nervous? Sad? I was elated beyond feeling when they walked onstage. Robert Smith still had his crazy hair and still wore all black. He looked exactly like the man I saw on late night shows and in pictures. He is the ONLY man that can get away with more make up than I will ever wear in my life.
        He began with “Lost” and indeed he looked a little lost in front of thousands of people. He looked a little nervous and I looked a little nervous as people started filing out. That nervousness turned into anger as I wanted to stop people from leaving and yelling at them for leaving from such a classic and great band. It’s their loss anyways, I guess, but I didn’t want the Cure to know that people were leaving during their set. They played their latest single “End of the World” that I actually heard the first time that morning as it was blaring from the speakers outside of the gates. “Love Song” followed and it sound right on target and a little more magical than the recording that I have of it. “Just like Heaven” was just like heaven; I knew that every song they finished would bring them closer to the end of their set, but I was enjoying myself way too much. “Pictures of You” followed and it was great hearing some of their hits. “Lullaby” was a treat seeing Smith animate a spider as he crawled his fingers up and down his mic stand. I only wished for “Friday I’m in Love,” because it’s my favorite Cure song but alas it never came. “Inbetween Days” sufficed though, but after the song I had to leave to go home. I sadly stepped outside of the stadium and thought “Wow that was the Cure.” I never really imagined myself going to a Cure concert, but at last I have experienced one. I’ll be going on to my second to see them at the Curiosa fest. Now, the way back home from the festival is a very long and different story that I cannot share now.

FYI: for the people that called “Love Song” the “311 song”—you all make me want to cry. Maybe you all are just too young…

Pictures taken by Sandhya: