well.. for some context i got into the Cure around Kiss Me Kiss Me although I can remember driving around in 1986 with high school kids with standing on a beach blaring.... then in college I really got into them freshman year with Disintegration.. I mean really got into them.. bought everything..
then i guess in 1996 they came out with wild mood swings and i hated it... i bought tickets and forgot about the show and didn't go...at that time i was really into the Matador bands and indie bands and discovering things like Nick Cave and Nick Drake.. so I was just not into the Cure any more... then I liked Bloodflowers more but still not enough ..but i got tickets for 2000 but i had some function i could not skip so i didn't go..so its been a star crossed history but of course over the ensuing years i guess i just got into them again and was always sad I had never seen them.. then i thought that if i did see them robert smith would be old and it would suck... but then they announced this tour and i got excited.
then the set lists started rolling in and i was like "whoa nelly"
last night getting there was like a root canal for me... picked up SideSquat in Fairfax and then it took us like two and a half hours to get parked....so when i walked in to MPP with the hordes walking in i was definitely a little discombobulated... went down to the pit and i was surprised there was a lot of space.. i guess many people were getting drinks cause the twilight sad had wrapped up.. or maybe people were having trouble finding parking.. i dunno.. point is that without any trouble about 745 i was able to amble over to the middle of the pit and find a great spot in what would be the equivalent of 15th row center.. not too shabby.. i kept thinking a huge horde of agressive rude people would show up but it never happened... everybody was polite and nice.. there were way more women than i can remember seeing at a show in a very very long time.. .and the men/boys were not the bro crowd... not the frat fuck kind... for example very few people were wearing baseball caps.. very very few.. i foudn that unusual...anyways the tech guys worked on the sound.. the setlists got taped.. and about 5 minutes later the band comes out and it hit me "holy shit this is happening.. i'm just a few feet from frickin' robert smith"... yea i am a fanboy.. a woman next to me had the same reaction.. like "holy shit... this is like too much.. too perfect.."... and for $80? i really could not beleive it.. anyways the band started up and they pretty much maintained the same course the entire time..
robert smith was very still.. not the traditional frontman.... no "hey DC.. HOW YA DOIN!!!!!!!!!".. NOTHING like that.. not a single concession to traditional rock strictures.... but his face was quite expressive.. his eyes very much so.. i was so glad i was close by cause otherwise i would have really missed it....he appears nervous/uncomfortable up there.. no "rock star" vibe... he started in and immediately kind of scanned the crowd . .i mean really looked to get an idea what was what....i have no idea what he thought....a few songs in he said something like "you expect to get used to playing for this many people but you never do..."... which brings me to the next point.. a few very few times he tried to communicate to the crowd.. something..ANYTHING..and every time - at least where i was- it was hard to make out what the fuck he was saying.. i'm not sure if it was that weird accent he has.. or the sound balance or what...i felt like i wasn't the only one that couldn't tell.. melania who is a huge robert smith fan and was a bit on the borderline psychotically obsessed teenager about robert smith was a bit closer to the left and she could tell what he was saying so she told me later... but from where i was it seemed like he would say something...look at the crowd to see some recognition and the people in the crowd we would look at each other like "what the fuck did he just say? he's so weird!" but in a good way.... anyways the sound was quite good but it did seem to fluctuate like the noise levels went up and down... they definitely toyed with the levels.. at one point robert smith asked his vocals go up a little bit.... the drums on a few songs- to me- sounded plodding but on others sounded great... the ace in the hole was the bass dude Simon Gallup who sounded great and more importantly gave the band some much needed pep.. cause obviously the drummer can't move... the 88 year old guitarist next to smith kept a low profile only stepping out on 2-3 wailing guitar solos that to me did not fit.. i love reeves gabrels (saw him twice with bowie)... but if he were a garnish he'd be parsley...they could ALMOST get away with being a four piece but that would be a little too much heavy lifting for robert at this point... ANYWAYs... simon gallup didn't just sound magnificent..a nd his bass didn't just lead and carry the songs.. a lot of the songs are really built around the bass and last night just emphasized that.. and he was bopping around the stage.. standing on top of something so everyone could see him wailing (a very physical approach to the bass)... and he looks like 15 years younger than Robert even though they are surely the same age.. he looked kind of like a slicker out of a james dean rebel without a cause flick... anyways thank god for him because they sorely needed him....
so some songs i loved the drummer.. some songs i thought it was just like thud thud thud thud thud monotone beat boring.... not that many but a few
thing is as has become apparent the Cure has like 100 songs that are really beloved to choose from and the fact you know you are getting a long show makes it really exciting because you know you're going to get so many songs you love.. this is pretty unusual.. when you go see legacy acts that play 17 songs and they're pushing 5 songs from the recent album everybody loathes, 1 "surprise" cover.. there isn't that much space to hear many of the songs you love
not so with the cure
we did not get the disintegration heavy show with 9 songs from that album.. intead we got a more diverse set list in some ways..
32 songs the bulk from head on the door (6) , kiss me kiss me (I think 5), disintegration (I think 5), wish (4).. so 20 out of 32 from the 1985-1992 period... oh and also the to me execrable never enough which was the beginning of the end for smith's penchant for writing great stuff.... anyways out of the rest the vast vast majority was stuff from the top (3), japanese whispers (2) etc...
worked for me.. although love cats, charlotte sometimes and one other tune where missed...
but enough about the set list.. it was a killer set list... the high moment for me was the push-in between days- just like heaven trifecta... perhaps my two favorite cure songs back to back.. you kidding me?
so a few songs in i settled in and no longer felt discombobulated... being in rush traffic for over two hours only to get in line with thousands of strangers will do that to me..
so what am i forgetting.. obviously roger o'donnell on keyboards.. the fact i forgot him tells you that i didn't think that much about him during the show.. sure he was there going ploink ploink ploing.. another real effusive outwards personality not....good lord.. he seems like a real nice guy.. and i love his contributions to their albums.. the flowing synths on disintegration must be him at least in part....but up there he didn't do all that much interesting. he had a small keyboard and seemed to be channeling a kraftwerkian sprockets vibe up there....standing kind of still ...
i guess i was kind of fixated on robert smith who was 15 rows or so straight in front of me.. i watched his guitar playing with great interest... he sure came up with a lot of great riffs.. and reeves did not get to play all of them.. laid back on quite a few.. may have completely sat out 1 or 2 songs..
at some point robert smith talked about how the floor reminded him of his parent's floor and he'd bring out a toy train set during the 3rd encore.. it seemed like nobody hear or understood it...
to me the sound seemed to improve for the last half of the show (the encores)......it no longer oscillated in my recording device which leads me to believe something improved and i don't think its just that i moved back 2-3 feet... the crowd like i said was very friendly.. no testosterone.. no people going back every other song to get better/use bathroom.. none of that bullshit... it worked.. robert had no testosterone going and neither did the crowd.. lots of women everywhere.. women who probably dragged their men to the show.... one of the oddest phenomenon how a butt ugly guy like robert smith can have thousands of women fawning over him but there's something to be said for poetry..... at least where i was everyone stayed fixed .. nobody tried to cut in.. nobody bumped into you... nobody held a camera for 45 minutes striaght blocking your view..
the crowd.. i dont' know.. tough to say.. .probably good but could have been more outgoing...i thought one of the songs towards the end the crowd kind of let down the performance and it was a bit of a trainwreck but not sure which
overall, i was spellbound.. i thought the sound was really good, the crowd didn't get in the way of my enjoyment as can happen.... security was not an issue running around hassling people... my favorite instruments were the bass and smith's guitar... i loved it and it made my contretemps over the years seeing them totally worthwhile.. i think it would be hard for me to have a more enjoyable experience.. maybe if they could get those two giant fans to move a little faster.... at one point i moved about 15 feet diagonal to see how melania was doing and then moved back cause it just wasn't the kind of scene where if you're even somewhat tall you can just move in and block people.. and i was fine with that... i saw quite a few guys singing along to the songs which -given the lyrics- was interesting.. but i am guilty of doing the same....i did see two young teens macking which was also interesting.. one guy repeatedly held up a really cool looking robert smith MUPPET!.. the first time robert saw it he kind of chuckled a bit... .somebody kept holding up a small square sign.. what it said i haven't the foggiest notion....
after the show couldn't even buy a water.. i guess they want people to drive home drunk... i barely drank at the show...thanks SideSquiint fo the beer!
the show was so good for me that i would be reluctant to see them again unless i could replicate the circumstances... it would be hard to top for me..
