i have just returned from the 2 shows this weekend in portugal and spain. i just though i would let you and your readers know that in my opinion, these show were the best i have ever seen with the current lineup. the sound was excellent, robert looked happy and the whole band looked as if they were enjoying every moment of being on stage. i spoke breifly to perry before the 'odemira' show and he was looking foward to playing both shows and in a relaxed mood taking time to talk to fans beforehand.

i would also really like to praise both portugese and spanish fans & audiences who made the cure and crew feel really welcome. i look foward to returning to both countries next year if the cure do a world tour again. not just for the songs but for the atmosphere and appreciation of the spanish and portugese fans, so thank you!

highlights for me.

'to the edge of the deep green sea', 'a strange day', 'a forest', 'faith', 'sinking', 'friday...'. robert returing to the stage at 'la coruna' saying "thank you, after this we are all going for a swim...."

thanks everyone - the cure, crew and above all the fans.....1000 miles driving later...a perfect weekend!

A Coruña concert. About 6pm there were a lot of fans waitting at the stage while people from A coruña was taking the sun and swimming on the beach, "unaware" of what was going on and what was coming soon (heheheh,).

The Cure started at 23:15 after just about 40 min with Pablo Bicho (even just get out of stage for cure fans screamming "robert, robert" and "get out" to Pablo.There were no Pablo Bicho fans and people was hungry of the cure so Pablo had to go before than what he expected) and about other 40 min preparing the show. It started with shake dog shake and was about 2 hours long.There were some sound problems with guitars and keyboards(they sounded low sometimes) during the concert but it was great,wonderfull (is just my second cure concert!) and though robert sang very well(in my opinion) he seemed a bit lost,odd and tired sometimes (is he ill?).

They played strange day, figurehead, sinking (what say about these songs that hasn´t been said,wow), from the edge of the deep green sea, cut (what a surprise to me), JLH (you you you), never enough, wrong number (sounds great live though what people said about this one), 100 years (last two with samples of drums(100 years) and bass(WrongN) from the albums, and simon didn´t play a lot during wrong number), disintegration (short and odd but very intense version, robert came to the front of stage close to the people (this did it a lot during all the concert) and sat down kneeling and finally tears came out from his eyes,magic moments), trust, pictures of you (as i read from other festivals versions the intro was long, as they did in other songs during the concert), inbetween days, friday i´m in love, boys don´t cry, 10:15 and killing an arab and... a forest and faith (were great! but they did very short versions of both songs, it would have been amazing if they had done longer as usual ) .

With respect to perry and jason i think they get better and better. Simon had an unexpected hairlook (don´t know how to describe it, but think never seen it before and hoping to never see it again) but is awesome on the stage (always jumping and swinging).

Another big one was watching robert trying to kiss roger but couldn´t see very well if he 'consummated' it that kiss ( i don´t remember the song they were playing at that moment).

There were two big kind of tv screens at both sides of the stage and there were cameras filming the show so all people at the beach and all around could see (Hoping some spanish channel get it so we can tape it).

Finally, though there were sound problems and more it was really really great and Robert ended saying "see you next year" ( How wonderfull sound these four words!!).

It's just a little point of view for la coruna gig. The beginning of the show was very classic, but what a surprise to hear title like Figurhead and faith on a beach where 50.000 characters waited for close to me and why can't i be you. It was a successful concert and it's so emotional to hear the very scarce FAITH.

At the departure from la coruna to madrid, my girlfriend and me are on the same plane as the band.The bodyguard was close to us, so we can ask him some information. He told us that the band speak about a tour for april.

We arrived at 6 pm to A Coruña on that sunny afternoon, the beach was still full of people and there was a stage on the left side of the beach. I couldn't believe it was The Cure who played there until I saw their cases on the stage, it really was a free concert at the beach!

There were about fifty people sitting in the front of the stage while techs were doing their work. The show started about 11 pm after Pablo Bicho (who I knew nothing about him) did his short opening (about half an hour). We all saw Robert carrying his own guitar just a few minutes before they started with Shake Dog Shake. First thing I noticed was Robert wasn't wearing his black jeans and Reeboks. Unbelievable.

The sound wasn't as good as we should want it to be, the keys were absent and I disagree with some reviews I've read regarding Jason on drums. I think he plays too much like a clock and it makes lose some feeling during some songs, despite the fact that he tries not to imitate Boris in some patterns in every way as possible, the songs lose some personality.

Yes Robert did try to kiss Roger and he kissed him during the first part of Trust and old Bob did a big mistake during the instrumental part of Faith. A Forest lost the introduction, Sinking won some dance feeling (great Jason there) and during The Figurehead Robert changed the words to "I can lose myself in Spanish art and Japanese girls". Robert broke a string during Boys Don't Cry and played the whole song missing the string while Roger was trying to find a tech while playing some tambourine. Finally the guitar solo during From The Edge Of The Deep Green Sea wasn't as good as Porl's solos and Killing An Arab sounded very heavy and was a great ending. Robert said "See you next year" and waved goodbye as he always does.