August 10th, 2005 - Lokeren, Belgium (Lokerse Festival)
Open, Fascination Street,
From the Edge of the Deep Green Sea, High, The Blood, A Night Like This, The End of the World,
Shake Dog Shake, Signal To Noise, Push, Just Like Heaven, A Letter To
Elise, Never Enough, Us or Them, A Strange Day, alt.end, The Baby Screams,
One Hundred Years, Shiver and Shake, End
1st encore: At Night, M, Play For Today, A Forest
2nd encore: Let's Go To Bed ("Just imagine the tape!"), Why Can't
I Be You?
3rd encore: Boys Don't Cry.
The Cure plays a lot of early work at the Lokerse Feesten.
From our contributor
Sasha Van der Speeten
LOKEREN – The Lokerse Feesten offer a stage to a lot of rock legends this
year. This way we already saw Iggy Pop & The Stooges and the Sisters
Of Mercy passing by, and Wednesday it was British rockband The Cure’s turn.
One could read “Follow your bliss” and “Don’t dream it, be it” on the video
screens during supporting act Mercury Revs concert. Those who know the American
band well, know that irony is not devoted to frontman Jonathan Donahue. With
a euphoric smile you only see on hallucinogenic users faces, he washed over
fans of The Cure with with fairy-tale-like strings stirred up happiness.
Can you expose Cure-fans to so many positive vibes?
Apparently yes. Nothing could spoil their evening anymore, you could notice
that immediately at the cheerful ( note: she must ‘ve ment “let’s all look
very though and be cool and serious” ) atmosphere on the terrain. Those
who hadn’t seen The Cure for 15 years anymore, must have been surprised by
it’s new fanbase: bald 30’ers who spent too much time in the fitnesscentre,
young mom’s and dad’s, fluent 20’ers for whom The Cure are hip again, and
only a few “bats” ( gothic-fans with white made-up faces and thick black
spiky hair ) whom, while loudy singing out thought, they were in the majority.
Like U2 and R.E.M., The Cure attrackts a lot of people to whom it is the
nostalgy of the ‘80’s that matter, and whom in their youth didn’t necessarily
like the band.
So some people probably didn’t care about The Cure attending Lokeren with
an altered line-up. Guitarist Perry Bamonte and loyal keyboard player Roger
O’Donnell both were fired during may this year – the lack of keyboards during
this tour started some discussions on internet Cure-forums concerning the
high guitar-rock level of the new shows.
At Lokeren, frontman Robert Smith and bassist Simon Gallup ( the only 2 original
members ) solved that problem by drenching their guitars in sound effects.
This way, the guitar-riffs nicely circeled around on “Fascination Street”,
till they scrubbed forcfully against the groove.
We’ve heard a lot of material from the first 5 albums, probably because of
the luxuous re-editions of the legendary early albums Seventeen Seconds,
Faith and Pornography.
But Smith and his disciples notably gave away a lot of (cult)hits. “A Night
Like This” was played tightly and the crowd sang loudly to it. “Just Like
Heaven” was a highlight too early on in the set, and the encores “A Forest”,
“ Let’s Go To Bed”, “ Why Can’t I Be You” and a violent “Boys Don’t Cry”
made the party complete for the biggest Cure-freaks.
This concert wasn’t perfect. Smith looked a bit tired, and sometimes sang
in an uninterested way, like on the very poorly brought “The End Of The World”.
Also, the strange acoustics of the festival terrain – a huge parking lot
with a hard, flat acoustic behaviour – spoiled the party a bit ( we spontaneously
thought of a niddle-noddling sound engineer who lowers the fader for the
bass with his ellbow ). This made The Cure sound less powerful, let alone
as emotionaly unleashed as last year on Rock Werchter.
Our personal most cherrished moment: the completely apocalyptic version of
“One Hundred Years”, that was stirring around over an ill-omened red
spots filled stage, with Smith as the ultimate melancholic mischief-profet.
Goose-flesh!
A quarter-century old, this The Cure, and still a capricious enfant-terrible.
Chapeau.
The Cure, Lokerse Feesten, Lokeren, 10th of August.
(Thanks Laurent)
How many different opinions I've read on this
show. That's the reason why I want to give mine.
I'm 35, fan since 1985 and saw them over a dozen times performing.
This was a fucking great concert!!!
I see this gig threw the eyes of a musician.
It's normal that musicians play mistakes or sing false sometimes (TEOTW).
Robert & Porl looked nervous in the beginning of the concert. Overall
there was in the beginning that special atmosphere of a general rehearsal
somebody told before. I think it's because they played very concentrated.
I have the feeling that Robert is (always) a bit nervous, especially when
he comes to Belgium. He wants to play a perfect show for special(?) fans.
I
like to see it that way, even when its only my personal impression...
:)
You could see that he felt a bit embarrassed when he made a mistake in
the lyrics (so what!?) but that he was really concentrated and tried to do
the
best. Porl also by the way: it was only his 2nd concert... and there were
a lot of songs to rehearse the last weeks...
The first songs were played very well and then came TEOTW. OK, it was
'different/false', so what?! You could see that Robert felt uncomfortable
with it. It's human, no?
Afterwards he felt better and the rest of the concert went well and more
relaxed.
The second part of the show I moved to the first rows because I like to
see the little things that happen during a show. The regards between the
guys on stage and such things... The reaction when something goes wrong and
stuff... it's funny.
Oh yes, when Robert & Simon are standing in front of each other its
to start playing together and in the same rhythm. We know Robert has difficulties
with rhythm...
F.e. For the clip of WCIBY the band had to learn some choreography and
the girl which had to teach them the moves had a lot of 'problems' with
Robert... woahaha... lol ... I would have been there during the shooting...
and also during 'Friday I'm in love' but then for partying...
F.e. 'The Blood' is a difficult song for Robert. Remember 'Unplugged'?
"This is a song we don't do very much and I hope you won't see why..." :)
,
and now they play it again because Porl is the only one who could play
the solo. :)
And then came A Forest: unattended because no synths, but Porl did the
keyboard-intro on guitar and Robert couldn't see him playing because
Porl
was pointed to his amplifiers (his back to the audience) and Robert had
to go and look 'over his shoulder' during this intro and it started a bit
wrong
but they had fun with the situation ( we should too!) and everything ended
well.
At that time everybody on stage was relaxed and they had a great time.
It was the 'normal' version of A Forest, not a short-one, with long outro's
and
everything, as we all like it.
And then: What a mistake to make! I left the front area where I tried
to make some pictures (which is hard BTW without flash (not to disturb the
band)). I thought, it's a festival so the have to stop in time,
in Spain they did also 1 encore-set... But they came back for LGTB &
WCIBY... I left
my good place too early, damn!
I like those songs because these are the 'party' songs for Robert, where
he doesn't have to play the guitar and where he can have fun and dance and
fool around. He came towards the crowd on a bridge perpendicular to the stage
and at the end of it he made the movements with his hands as he would do
a stage dive... fun!
At the end of WCIBY he grabbed his head and said that he needed an urgent
talk to the 'composer' of this song because he messed up the lyrics. But
he didn't bother, I didn't and why should we, we should have fun when they
have, no? At the end of WCIBY he was singing twice: 'Everything you do...'
and then nothing more because he used/mixed these words already in the beginning
and didn't knew what to sing at the end of the song... fun!
And then to end:
I like those songs with synths, especially 'plainsong' is so great. I'll
miss those moments where Robert greets the audience after we haven't seen
them for a long time..
We have now a Cure without synths and I'm sure they will make a great
album at the end of the year, probably without keyboards but this is a 'new'
cure era and we should accept it and stop asking for keyboards. And perhaps
one day the synths will be back, who knows, but first one or more albums
and concerts without them, we'll see.
And BTW, Porl played keyboards before remember, as you can see on 'the
Cure in Orange'. Robert also plays them but never on stage and I think I
know why... ;)
Perhaps Porl will stay in the group after this summer tour as his kids
have grown up now.
For those who'll see them performing the next weeks: Have fun and enjoy
it!
- Roel
Well, well, well. What to say about
last night. Great show with a few let downs but overall it was great.
Great start with Open and teotdgs. High was a nice surprise and The
Blood was great followed by a very nice Night like This. But then came the
first let down. TEOTW. I just don't like this song live. It's the problem
with most of the new songs. Us or Them sounds great on album but live this
was the worst song last night. And although I know most of you don't like
Alt.End, it actually sounded pretty good last night. The rest of the show
were all highlights for me Shake dog Shake and Shiver and Shake were excellent,
very powerfull. I believe this was the first time I heard Baby screams
live and WOW. It blew me off my feet. Because of their setlist last week
I was only expecting 1 encore and when they started A Forest at the end
of the first encore I knew we weren't going home yet. Great M and Play
for today and the second and third encore played for the people who wanted
to hear HITS. That was my problem for most of the night. We came in a little
bit late so we stood all the way in the back because it was extremely crowded.
Around me there were many people who after an hour started shouting for
a forest and boy's dont cry. Extremely annoying. After bugging me for a
half an hour i turned around and told them they weren't playing a Forest
because they didn't play it last friday and that they wouldn't be playing
any
old hits. This worked because after ten minutes they left. Thank God.
Overall it was a great show and especially with the encores Robert
seemed to be in a great mood. I think they played a little longer then
planned because he was actually having a great time. Also some compliments
for the organisation. Everything was extremely well organised. It's also
unique that a concert can last till 2.00 am so close to the centre of the
city.
So thanks Robert and gang and Lokeren
I forgot to mention something. A cameraman in Lokeren stated
that they were filming for a new dvd. Has anyone heard anything similar????
- Danny from Rotterdam(Holland)
It was a very rocky set. The band played extremly
fresh. Really amazing how "young" they performed, enjoying every second
of the gig. My personal highlight was the pop set without key boards: Let´s
go to bed and Why can´t I be you....just great interpretations very
well received by the crowd.
- Sven
LOKERSE FEESTEN 10th AUGUST
Cranes-Mercury Rev-The Cure
The festival grounds were nicely set up with a big and professional
stage. Unfortunately a huge number of people trying to get a decent spot
to see
their favourite band had to make do with a spot at the back of the
field, behind 10.000 other people. This festival is really way too small
to squeeze
15.000 people in. It was ridiculous. Lots of people passed out, toilets
were unapproachable, and worthless when there are only 7 toilets for so
many
people.
This was one of the best Cranes festival performances that I've ever
seen. The band were in good shape, even though Alison made some attempts
to mumble into the mike inbetween songs, Bob Smith style and forgot to
get her guitar for a song. The sound was brilliant and their sound engineer
did a perfect job. Lilies was a bit disappointing but the rest of their
set (mostly from their new excellent album Particles & Waves) was great.
Mercury Rev are not my favourite band (anymore) but their set was
technically perfect and slick. Great backdrops and some saw-playing by
the
singer added to their performance. The band were interacting with
the audience, overplayed their time slot a bit and thanked the audience
afterwards, telling everyone to 'enjoy The Cure'.
After a lot of messing about with roadies back and forth on the stage
The Cure started their set. Without much ado songs were played in a speedy
fashion, 'Elise' was a drama to listen to, and having seen them play
with Porl again for the firt time I can honestly say that it was disappointing.
Porl's a great musician and I used to enjoy his performances with
the band years ago. It seems however that the fire has gone out. Simon
was doing an
excellent job, Robert hardly took note of the fact that there was
an audience that he was singing to. Tracks like Fascination Street sounded
bland and were tedious to listen to. A lack of interaction and a visibly
uninspired band were the unexpected surprise of the day. This was a gig
were Roger and even Perry (even though Porl is a great guitar player) were
missed, there was definately something lacking. The band were aiming for
a guitar based sound, but some tracks are really hard to swallow when keyboard
parts are being filled with halfharted guitar solos or backing tapes. I have
never seen so many Cure fans disappear halfway through a set.
- Nini.
my girlfriend
and me were one of the few people without the ticket on wednesday evening,
but there was no problem getting it since there were a lot of people with
an extra ticket infront of the entrance of the festival area. so
i`m glad we didn`t buy it from the greedy people on the internet forums,
who wanted to sell them for 50 euro each (they were just 20 in pre-sale)!
damn people trying to earn money on cure fans!! anyway, since we got the
tickets everything was set for a fantastic evening.
the concert area was quite small, but infront it was shaped with the
fence (even divided in the middle), so that you had to go all the way
around to
get infront of the stage, which ment that people didn`t push from behind
and it was really comfortable to stand even 20 meters from the stage.
but it was also impossible to go out and come back and since they served
beer there (even security guys!) i did a classical mistake of drinking
one or two beers too much and i had to go to the toilette, but as soon
as he concert began i forgot all about it and just enjoyed the music.
beginning (open) was great with porl back on the guitar with his famous
solos. too bad that no keybords means no plainsong, the greatest song to
start a concert. fascination street and from the edge of the
deep green see were powerful (go porl). simple concert classics.
high was a suprise for me, beautifuly played. the blood was played
good with accustic guitars only. a night like this was great too. beautiful
singing
from robert. who said he is loosing his voice?!
TEOTW had different melody, sounded kind of odd. shake dog shake was
angry as always and signal to noise was interesting to hear live (not
many people in the croud knew that song). push was jumpy as always, people
finally started to move a little bit and crowd singing began with just
like heaven. then romantic mood continued with a letter to elise and then
back to heavy guitar noise on never enough and us or them.
finally followed the peak of the first part of the concert: a strange
day, one of my favourit songs. it was perfect and i was screaming like crazy.
alt.end was not bad, like a baby screams was better.
then jason started something on drums, stopped and started again (robert
was looking at him all the time, probably angry) then sudenly the drums
for the one hunderd years started with jason playing something else!?!
WTF?! i guess just the heavy main beat was recorded, but i don`t know why
jason can`t play it himself with a double footer? well, they played along
but it was clear that it wasn`t as it should be. too bad, it`s a great song.
shiver and shake and end was loud, noisy and of course ful of anger.
as the first part was over i was afraid that they`ll do the same as
in spain, but from the first sound of at night i knew there is a lot to
come yet. it was an glorious encore with great songs from the earlier times.
the crowd came to life again with play for today and a forest.
2nd encore started with robert without the guitar saying that it`s
something they haven`t done for a long time. let`s go to bed started and
robert came
on the small bridge leading closer to the crowd and since nobody expected
that from him, the crowd was sudenly ecstatic reaching hands in his direction
while he even danced in the middle. i haven`t seen him that happy. it
was incredible. as he wanted to come even further his microphone
unplugged and suddenly there was no vocal and 15 000 people including
robert were looking at a nervous roadie looking for a right plug. after
10 seconds the party was back on track again. the crowd continued to dance
on why can`t i be you? still just with porl on the guitar (good job).
for the 3rd enocre robert said they will squeez in just one last song,
so we all knew what is going to be and the crowd was singing again. at
the end he
said see you next year for a cure tour.
all together it was a one of my best concerts(my fifth). ofcource nothing
beats trilogy show in berlin and conegliano in 2002. the keybords were
missing only here and there but they were replaced with great and powerful
guitars. simon was great as always. thank you robert. i missed some songs
like siamese twins, the figurehead, prayers for rain, want, disintegration
and the promise would be great to hear too. but you can`t get it all. i
can`t say if this set up is better or not than previuos one, but it`s certainly
different and fantastic too. looking forward to future gigs.
thank you guys and see you in avenches.
- Urban
I must say the concert was really good, very intensed and focussed.
I was pleased because when you hear the benicassim mp3s, i felt the performance
was really awkward, especially in song like EOTW and Lullaby. Anyway,
the subject is Lokeren. I was located at the front row, just in front
of Porl. Porl seemed to be enjoying the concert, and was, as was all the
band, very focussed. He changed guitar virtually between each song, guitar
brought from backstage by a roadie. The main set was very electric and
intense, and we didnt miss the keyboards thanks to a well selected setlist,
including almost only guitar driven songs. A night like this with guitar
(Robert) intro was a highlight, And for your info, the "tape/keys" you thought
hearing on The Blood are actually played on guitar by Porl, with a special
effect pedal he used several time tonight to play "keyboard" parts (At night,
A Forest). Simon was perfect as usual, and Robert seemed to be wanting to
deliver something "professional". EOTW far better played than in Spain.
It was great to hear Signal to Noise, A letter to Elise and Shiver and Shake,
5 Wish songs + Never Enough, back to Porl's era...
On the side of the stage was a big screen set up by a telephony sponsor
where you could send text messages with your mobile and the messages
were displayed on the screen. Lots of stupid messages of course, but
you could also read "we lost our backstage pass, can you let us in ? Roger&Perry"
or things like "Please play Pillbox Tales" ;-) I dont know if Robert
read some of these while playing, but I have the impression he was reading
some during the last part of 100years because a funny one appeared and
he smiled (I may be wrong) The 17 seconds encore was great, though Robert
messed up the lyrics of Play for Today, the audience playing the keys.
Then came the surprise : LGTB and WCIBY, introduced by Robert as "songs
we dont play very often". Robert really having fun and wanting to walk
to the audience, down the podium so fast that the roadie didnt have time
to follow him with the mic cable which disconnected for 30 second, making
all the band laugh ! 3 encores, and the same statement as in Benicassim
: "See you next year for a cure tour", great news, cant wait for my 11th
concert.
- Eric le Curiste
The Cure... It was a strange gig. Really strange.
The band was really good... Sounded way more "fresh" then last year on
Werchter. But the crowd... Man... the crowd. People, if you have arms and
legs, please use them to MOVE! There were quite some Cure fans around on
the festival, so that really surprised me ( the audience being so static,
that is ). Even on T.E.O.T.D.G.S., when Robert sings "... put your hands
in the sky...", usually everyone does it, but not this time, only a few
people. And there were plenty of those little things that made the crowd
look completely tame. Only on W.C.I.B.Y. and Boys Don't Cry they started
to move a bit. That's right, the last goddamn songs. But still, Robert seemed
to have the time of his life, he was smiling all time long, murmurming some
incomprehensible lines inbetween some songs ( blablabla thanks blablabla
fun blablabla belgium... something like that ), and the band came back for
3 (!!) encores, which DOES mean something, and they played half an hour
longer then was planned, on a festival! And despite the crowd being so static,
there was this kind of strange atmosphere hanging over the festival... It
felt like a private general rehearsal or something, something intimate, something
you'd only share with close ones. So I definitely enjoyed this gig very much,
but it's like there
something i just can't get..
Again, the band's performance was truly excellent, even if I really
missed Roger on some tracks ( F.T.E.O.T.D.G.S. sounds a bit strange without
the usual *ping**ping**ping* running througout the whole song, but of course
also on other song where he has to play more complicated stuff ). But the
Pornography songs sounded exactly the way they should sound, they were perfect.
As well as was M, I'd already lost all hope to see that track live one day.
Signal To Noise was a bit misplaced I think... And T.E.O.T.W. was a strange
version. When they started playing that song, it felt like everyone got
it all wrong, and it sounded like a mess, but then in the end it got quite
right. But they lowered the original pitch, and Robert sang in a completely
different way then before. In my humble opinion, this wasn't all a succes.
Shiver And Shake was a very nice surprise, and sounded more like a Sepultura
song then a Cure song. I remember having heard Robert messing up the lyrics
on some songs, but i can't remember which ones anymore. I believe he sang
the same verse twice right after each other on High, and there were some
other moments, but I already forgot them. Overall, he sang a lot of songs
in a different way. Often, he wasn't really singing, but more saying the
words, and then he was having great fun with timing. I liked it. He really
seemed to have loads of fun, he just seems really happy now. Open was very
good, Fascination Street was excellent ( but here for example, it would've
been perfect with some synths ), F.T.E.O.T.D.G.S. and High were both good,
The Blood was excellent, A Night Like This was the usual stuff, T.E.O.T.W.
was BIZARRE, Shake Dog Shake was fun hearing, Signal To Noise probably
ended up on the setlist by mistake, Push was a very nice surprise ( even
if they played it in Spain too ), Just Like Heaven was also the usual thing,
A Letter To Elise was a dream come true, Never Enough was very good ( 'cause
yes, I do care about that song ), Us Or Them was terrific, A Strange Day
was an orgasm, alt.end was really good ( they altered the song a bit to
be played with 2 lead guitars and without synths, and this one was a winner
in my opinion, as opposed to T.E.O.T.W. ), The Baby Screams was excellent,
One Hundred Years was another orgasm, Shiver And Shake got your ears blown
off and End was very very good. The encores were all very good as well,
they felt like there was less tension hanging around on stage, like the
big thing was over, time to have some fun, you know what I mean? After
A Forest, I truly thought it was over, and bang, they came back another
2 times. That was soooo good. Robert & Co, I still love you, even if
you have your really really really strange moments. But hey, we are all
humans, aren't we?
But it remains a strange gig. Last year on Werchter, I was really giving
it all i had together with this guy next to me whom I'd never seen in
my life before, and who actually even gave me a free mazout ( thats half
beer half coca-cola b.t.w... ) during the gig ( so if you read this, hi
and thanks again :) ), before the gig when everyone was waiting for The
Cure to come up, someone took a picture of me ( behind my back, but I just
turned around when he pressed the button, that was fun :) so if you too
read this, and you still have that picture, feel free to send it over to
me :) ), and after the gig an older Cure fan came up to me asking me if
I REALLY knew ALL those lyrics by heart, even from the old songs ( i thought
that was fun ). And overall the atmosphere was way more relaxed on Werchter.
So those little things really made that gig an unforgettable experience for
me, even if the band's performance was a bit less; and those were the little
things I missed this time. Everyone looked so goddamn serious and cool. But
again, the band really ROCKED last night, and they really got me convinced
that this new Cure album with the new Cure line-up could just become quite
interesting ( as long as Ross Robinson stays far away from it... that guy
has done some completely amazing work with other bands, and I really admire
him for
that, especially for his work with At The Drive In, but why oh why
did he have to do The Cure for God's sake??? ).
So I'm once more facing a terrible day of trying to get those damn
knots out of my hair and make-up of my face... ... Maybe i'll just leave
it on
one more day in loving memory of past night.
Oh yeah, the last thing Robert said was ( everyone guesses 3 times
before reading any further ) "... see you next year for a Cure tour ...".
Be sure you'll see me there! Mmm... Depeche Mode, The Cure... it's gonna
be a good 2006, I can tell you already...
- Laurent
This had to be my 10th jubilee cure concert
and when I looked at the playlist from Spain, I was very excited.
The concert at Lokeren was musically very good. But the crowd sucked!!
Realy, the atmosphere was more like 'aren't there seats here?'...
Anyway, Porl is the most brilliant guitar player but the PA didn't
notice I think because sometimes you couldn't hear him at all! Most of
the songs were played fast, edgy and powerfull. The setlist was so well
chosen and did remind me of the early 90's. Surprises were: 'high', 'a
night like this' and the magnificant 'shiver and shake'. I didn't miss
keyboard in any of the songs! : )
And then the wonderfull moment came that Robert was realy enjoy the
playing: the encores! The atmosphere remind me of my early cure concerts
where every song was a great party! Robert was dancing and going towards
the crowd during 'Let's go to bed' & 'WCIBY?'. He pulled his mic to
reach the crowd and the sound broke down (just like the old days). He was
scared of itself seeing him performing those two songs again and shaking
his head as he left stage. They finished with 'Boys don't cry'.
A wonderfull evening and so great to hear Porl! What a difference!
Good to see Robert enjoying again playing (concidering that it was a festival
and not a solo cure gig).
- Bram
Just woke up... Took me some time to remember
the set but here is what I remember about it... Note that these
are my PERSONAL thoughts...
- GREAT performance of "The Blood"
- GREAT GREAT guitar versin of "A Night Like This" I thought they needed
a keyboard for that one!?
- AWFUL version of "The End of the World" - Was Robert singing out
of tune on purpose???? :-b
- Loved to hear "Signal To Noise" live!
- UNBELIEVABLE! "Never Enough" was - for me - the TOP OF THE BILL!!!!
Wow, Porl, you are some guitar player!
- "Us or Them" sounded like "never enough" in the beginning... (I didn't
drink too much though ).
- GREAT GREAT "Shiver and Shake" - Never heard that one live!
- "End": Robert was clear: please stop loving me. I'm sure we won't
;-)
- YOEHOE!! GREAT performances of "At Night, M, Play For Today" and
- WOW - "A Forest"
The rest I don't remember very well... Oh, I do remember waiting 2
hours to get back to the parking...
AWFUL ORGANISATION of bus service!
But you should know: the manager of the bus service didn't want more
than 2 busses, even not at peak moments - "peak moments never take a long
time" was the comments. HE SHOULD HAVE BEEN THERE WAITING!!! :-b :-b :-b
Tx The Cure for the fantastic night!
- curefest
I was yesterday at the Lokeren show. It was my 16th concert of the
cure and my global impression: impressed!!
I knew that they will play almost the same setlist as in Spain last
week so no big surprise but Until the Blood, I was a little bit disappointed:
not a lot of energy, the band doesn't seem to be happy and the crowd was
not really excited.
But as soon they start the blood and for the rest of the show, it was
really excellent. I don't like so much festival and the cure playing in
festival is not the best but yesterday, I really enjoyed it.
Robert looks very happy as the rest of the band. It's not often you
can see him walking very close to the crowd and at the same dancing and
laughing!!
He forgot a little bit the lyrics on Let's go to bed but it was really
funny.
It's true that on some songs, we missed the keyboard but not so much.
And we have to admit that even if Perry was very kind, Porl is a lot better
on the guitar. No comparison in fact.
The worst song was High...the song has not its place on the setlist,
simply. Signal to Noise and a letter for Elise was very good but doesn't
fit in the setlist.
Best songs are all the rest!! Even songs like let's go to bed or why
can't I be you (which I'm not a big fan), it was really good to hear them
after a long long time.
So see you next year for a cure tour!!!
- Dimitri
A Cure Concert is always something strange and special. You meet
people you know for years because of following the Cure. Here and there happy faces... You meet David Fargier walking around with flyers making the promotion
of his FANTASTIC book, you have a drink with people from France, Spain,
... We arrived at 6, listening to the soundcheck of Cranes... then you enter the site : beautiful place with a huge scene....
the sound is perfect, than you hope the best for the cure... Open, as forecasted, opens the show... what a wonderful feeling
seeing porl on stage again... jumping back in time - wish tour.
No time to breathe, Fascination street squashes reluctant people....
Now can I go to the Bar ? NO, because what everybody was excpecting occurs
: FROM THE EDGE OF A DEEP GREEN SEA, and even if Porl is a bit bigger than
10 years ago, he still plays guitar very well... Waouw.... for the moment, no pop song... can we believe it ? three major albums were played : The head (4 songs) seventeen (4 songs) Wish (5 songs) I won't detail every song they play : some surprises : signal to noise - unpopular song played for the
very first time (+ in Benicassim) Shiver and Shake let's go to bed (without KBoard- but I suspect they played some
songs with tapes...) I'm a bit disapointed by the missing songs from pornography Album. but... Robert told us, at the end of the concert, see you
next year with a new cure album.... so, now let me go back to my dreams... - Sébastien Beel
Lokeren was great! The perfect mix of hit
singles and more serious stuff. I was positively surprised of Porl. He's
back more than ever, and let's hope he'll stay a bit longer than just
for the festival gigs.
Highlights of the evening were: The Blood, A Night like this, Push,
One hundred years and a very rough Us or them (Of course the encores were
a real joy as well, especially Let's go to bed and Why can't I be you).
Robert seemed to be in a good mode, and it showed...At one moment he
was even caught dancing on stage and doing funny faces during Why can't
I be you.
And last but not least, a perfect audience!
Conclusion: The best performance of the Cure I've seen in years! No
doubt Robert 'll keep his promess and come back for a concert in Belgium
next year. I'll be there!
- Stephan
I was a bit worried worried how The Cure would sound without keyboards,
but I was completely suprised by the 'guitar sound'. RS selected a lot
of guitar songs. But some of them still have keyboard parts. Instead RS
and Porl got really good replacement sounds out of their guitars. The Bass-line
of Simon was good as ever. And a spcial compliment for Jason; I know a
lot think he's the weakest link. But I disagree. OK, he's hidden behnd
his very large drums. But he play very accurate and very hard.Also liked
the echo's on the songs from the Seventeen Seconds album. Quite some Cure
fans on the festival. But in general the 'festival adience' was quite enthausiastic.
They don't know all the songs, but really appreciated the show.
The set-list was a great suprise: the only weak number was The end
of the World; I like this song, but last year at Werchter is sounded beter.
But all other songs were of very high quality. My favorites:The Blood,
A night like this, Alt.End, 100 Years, and all Seventeen Seconds songs.
- GJ
Well, let me be very clear.... I have seen over two dozens of Cure
shows, and this is one of the greatest, if not the best, I've attended.
They played
sharp, very very energetic, concentrated, had fun, and the sound was
like the Cure as its best: vocals-guitar-bass-drums. Whatever they played,
it was brilliant! I am sorry for those who can't attend any of these shows,
but I am sure (or hope) that they will keep this line-up so that will give
you a
chance next year as Robert said.
Sorry for the Roger & Perry fans out there ... but this Cure is
THE Cure, well at least in my humble opinion. Really amazing how Porl is
able to
replace keyboard with his guitar ...wow!
We were extremely lukcy with the set-list .... and even had the opportunity
to see Robert dance (that was a long time ago)!
- Olivier DH
Lokeren small Belgian city, lost
nowhere... merguez and fun fair... Fans, this time compared to Benicassim,
are numerous.
Arrived rather early in same time that the cure... Since 4 30 p.m.
the fans could enter as they wanted backstage..with a little audacity !!
It’s drunken that we look at the show of the cranes..The same show
that in 2004 in Koln... not badly without more....
Funny thing: a giant screen is installed where people can send SMS
... All the message talk about The Cure..
Mercury rev, a little bombastic , make a good concert.
Open impecable starts... played perfectly.
Fascination street, convincing.
Deep green sea, scouring
High surprising and finally well played like in 1992, a wonder.
The blood, striking, Porl brilliant... the title of the tour if that
continue?
With night like this, seizing, porl is once more incredible. Played
very well.
End of the world... the only one scratched out...
Shake dog shake which starts pogo only in front of the stage. Perfect.
Signal to noise, sympatic ..Fans doesn’t know this song obvious!!
Just like heaven , people start to sing.. played well with drums.
Letter to elise, brilliant pearl of wish..., disturbing Robert.
Never enough: better than benicassim...
Us or them : faillure with voice and "brouhaha" musical
Strange day magnificiently played.
Alt end; the only one title from the last LP successful...
Baby screams: enthusiasm people, .. nervous.
100 years/ shiver and shake/end... the most extremely moment in the
show...MAD
At night/play for today.. played well. A true pleasure
to listen them.
Forest: intro laughing of porl, in more of being a gentleman, he is
funny...
Let' s go to bed/ whycan' T I Be you: moment of delivrance for Robert...relax...
a little like the encores of the swing tour... he has fun on the stage
with his microphone (as on close to me in 86 orange)..He disconnectes
microphone. Funny... He starts the madness of fans.... Perfect
Bdc. Very good.
The concert was very good... "the real" cure are back. energetic,
.like the years between 1985 and 1992... Jason is very applied, it played
very well. (it seems to me, that the sound of the drum was more extremely
than in benicassim, special mention on END).
Simon plays very well and seems rather aggressive on some titles.
He smiles with porl.
Simon seems to help Robert on Us or them by accompanying it in front
of him at the beginning of the song.
Robert seems happy to play, to find feelings which it had lost for
the last 10 years... Robert is glad to see playing porl.. The cure
are become again a fucking group... Robert seems like a young man, it was
never also corrosive....
Lastly, Porl is the right man for the job, it can do everything with
guitars... to play low or high. It is simply a genius... It is a spectacle
with him all alone... This festivals seem to give an idea of the next tour
: mad...
People : fan in front of stage which likes to dance, to sing,
pogo on the cure... Behind the inert mass...... I council with to the
“non fan” not to come in front of the stage... and to return with the
mass very calm...
