The Cure, Duran Duran, Hot Hot Heat, Echo & The Bunnymen, the Violent Femmes, the Psychedelic Furs, and Interpol
Hyundai Pavilion, San Bernardino, CA
September 20, 2003

A cadre of Norcal and Socal friends attended the KROQ Inland Invasion in San Bernardino. I fell asleep while stuck in traffic on the 10, and awoke in traffic on the 15. We arrived in the parking lot, a gravel wasteland in the middle of nowhere (i was afraid we'd return to the car and find it surrounded by jaguars), at 4:30pm and spent another 30 minutes taking the tram and walking into the venue. Inside it was a mob scene ... we were all starving, but the food lines were enormous. We had lawn seats, but it seemed the vast expanse of grass (must've been 100,000 people there) was full. We finally picked a random hot dog/burger line at the top of the lawn and started waiting. Having missed Marc Almond, Bow Wow Wow, and Dramarama, we finally started watching the show while in line.

• Interpol: We heard the opening riff of "Untitled" while walking inside the venue, and saw the last half of their set while waiting in line for food. They sounded much better than the two other times we'd seen them. Did i care that much about them? Not really.
• The Psychedelic Furs: Still in line for food. Richard and the boys belted through "Love My Way", "The Ghost In You", "President Gas", and "Heaven". They sounded good, but not as mesmerising as when we saw them open for the B-52s and the lackluster Go-Gos. Whether it was their performance or my rapidly deteriorating demeanor, i don't know.
• The Violent Femmes: Still waiting for food, at this point slightly delirious. I watched a girl in an adjacent line fall over twice from dehydration/drink/drugs and thought to myself, "hey, that's not a bad idea!". I've never been a huge fan of the Violent Femmes, but they ran through the hits and sounded nice doing it ... "American Music", "Blister in the Sun", "Add It Up", and "Gone Daddy Gone". From our vantage point they looked like ants on the stage. At this point i'd pretty much given up on the visual element of the festival and was just concentrating on hearing some good music. At the close of their set we were finally munching on lousy tri-tip sandwiches and hot dogs, and had located Veronica's friend Gabriel and his crew further down the lawn.
• Echo and The Bunnymen: At last, one of the reasons i decided to come to this god-forsaken place! A solid set by one of the true innovators of modern music, beginning with "Lips Like Sugar" and touching upon "The Rescue", "The Back of Love", "The Cutter", "Seven Seas", "Bring on the Dancing Horses", and the Ian McCulloch-proclaimed "best song in the world" "The Killing Moon" (it did sound quite good). One of the songs fused into a cover of Lou Reed's "Walk on the Wild Side", which was excellent. Halfway through another song McCulloch asked the crowd if anyone knew the day's Liverpool result (2-1 over Leicester City). He then improvised the rest of the song about Liverpool Football Club ("... and Gerard Houllier, is the manager ...").
• Hot Hot Heat: It's no secret that i can't stand this band. If i hear "Bandages" one more time, i'm going to take one and gag the singer with it. Naturally, it was their first song. Their set wasn't bad ... energy was high, the band was tight ... and it was short. 'Nuff said.
• Duran Duran: One driving thought pounded through my brain during the completely-reformed Duran Duran's performance: Have these guys ever done anything musical or artistic that wasn't designed for the sole purpose of getting chicks? Enough of my cynical rantings. They were pretty good. Not my most anticipated act, but enjoyable nonetheless. The set featured "Hungry Like the Wolf", "Save a Prayer", "Wild Boys", "Come Undone", "Ordinary World", some truly awful new material, "The Reflex", "Notorious", and an encore closer of "Girls on Film".
• The Cure: The headlining act came on at 10pm, after Jed the Fish nearly got booed off the stage for claiming that the Cure needed a 25 minute pee break after Duran Duran. It would've been okay if he hadn't been indignant that we should be grateful. Anyhow, the Cure emerged at 10pm and started into "10:15 Saturday Night" (albeit 15 minutes early). I love this band, but let's face it: Robert Smith looks like a reanimated corpse. The set progressed as chronological highlights from each of the band's albums. Let's fire up the old memory here:
  Boys Don't Cry: "10:15 Saturday Night"
  Seventeen Seconds: "A Forest"
  Faith: "Primary"
  Pornography: "One Hundred Years", "The Figurehead", "A Strange Day"
  The Top: "Shake Dog Shake"
  The Head on the Door: "In-Between Days"
  Kiss Me Kiss Me Kiss Me: "Just Like Heaven"
  Disintegration: "Pictures of You", "Fascination Street", "Lovesong"
  Wish: "From the Edge of the Deep Green Sea"
  Wild Mood Swings: "Want"
  Bloodflowers: "Maybe Someday", "Bloodflowers", "39" (i think ... although i think this album is quite good, i'm just not as conversant with it as i'd like to be)
  By this time we were all dead on our feet, but Robert and co. came back out for three encores. The first was two more from Kiss Me Kiss Me Kiss Me, "The Kiss" and "If Only Tonight We Could Sleep". The second was two more from Disintegration, "Plainsong" and the awesome, apocalyptic title track. At long last he closed the show by coming full circle, ending with "Boys Don't Cry". A great but exhausting two-hour long set.

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