NOTE: All photos are copyright of Howard Shiau Photography 2025
“The Hurting” by Tears for Fears was the very first CD I had ever purchased. Before that, it was always vinyl and cassettes. I was starting college and that album became very much the soundtrack of my freshman year. The teenage angst and pains of childhood expressed by Roland Orzabal and Curt Smith through their lyrics spoke to me on that record and the issues they dealt with in subsequent albums were always expressed in such a beautiful yet upbeat way. After the huge success of their first three albums: “The Hurting”, “Songs From the Big Chair”, and “The Seeds of Love”, Smith left the band and Orzabal continued to release new music under the Tears for Fears name. They reunited in 2000 to write a new record “Everybody Loves a Happy Ending” and briefly toured in the UK. In 2010, they started touring again. With turmoil all over the world with war, global warming, racial tensions, etc as well as Orzabal losing his wife in 2017, they began to write new music resulting in their latest record “The Tipping Point”. As issues and emotions surfaced, they once again had much to say. As with their early work, the expression of their thoughts and feelings on these subjects is extremely well done and the album has received critical acclaim. Of note, during the lockdown, many artists stayed home and streamed performances over the internet to their fans. One of my favorite of these moments was Curt Smith and his daughter performing “Mad World”. It was incredibly beautiful.
Tears for Fears kicked off their US tour in, yes, Ohio. I had to opportunity attend one of the first shows and drove to Cleveland for their performance at the Blossom Music Center in Cuyahoga Falls, Ohio on Saturday, May 21st. While 80s mainstay Alison Moyet would open for them in the UK, 90s rock band Garbage are opening for them in the States. Garbage has been touring pretty regularly the last couple of years after a lost 2020, primarily opening for Alanis Morissette. Their most recent record “No Gods No Masters” was also critically acclaimed and displayed some of the anger and fierceness of some of their earlier work.
Whether the show would actually happen was a bit questionable at the start because thunderstorms were forecasted and a torrential downpour occurred soon after doors opened. The show was first pushed back 15 minutes, then 30 minutes, as the rains continued. The regular seats out on the lawn were all moved to seats that were under cover and the show soon began. Garbage was in excellent form and Shirley Manson’s voice is as good as ever. She has that relentless energy that’s evident as you see her pace back and forth on the stage. As the opener, their setlist is shorter and only had two songs from their latest record. However, they did play most of their bigger hits which had the crowd giving them a standing ovation, which left even Manson speechless. I was waiting for Manson to say something about “I’m Only Happy When it Rains” but it didn’t happen. Nevertheless, a great set!
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Tears for Fears played a nice long set which not only included all the hits from their heyday in the 80s but also seven songs from their new record! Their oldies got the most cheers but the intense “My Demons” from “The Tipping Point” also received a loud and raucous reaction from the crowd. Both Orzabal and Smith sounded amazing, although maybe not quite as smooth as the kids from 1983. Backup singer Carina Round did an amazing job and even sang the lead for “Suffer the Children”. The highlight for me was probably “Badman’s Song”. It’s a track that really lets the band stretch themselves and rock out. Several times, some less familiar with the song thought it was over and started clapping as the song continued. They wrapped up the night and the encore with “Change” from “The Hurting” and their biggest hit “Shout”. Not even the rain could dampen the mood of this crowd as they exited the venue.
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