An Evening with The Cure
Aug. 31st, 2004 - Everett, Wa.
(Everett Events Center)
Lost, Plainsong, Labyrinth, Fascination Street, From
the Edge of the Deep Green Sea, The End of the World, Lovesong, Inbetween
Days, Just Like Heaven, Jupiter Crash, Pictures of You, Lullaby,
Before Three, alt.end, Disintegration, One Hundred Years, The Promise
1st encore - The Drowning Man, Charlotte Sometimes, Faith
2nd encore - 3 Imaginary Boys, Grinding Halt, Boys Don't
Cry
3rd encore - M, Play for Today, A Forest
4th encore - 39, Bloodflowers
5th encore - Why Can't I Be You?
(Thanks to Brian for the setlist)
Photos
COF - Christine - Ryan
Reviews
From the Daily Herald:
7,000 crowd Everett arena for rock extravaganza
By Victor Balta
Herald Writer
It was Tuesday, and Everett was in love.
In one of those right-place-at-the-right-time
moments, Goth rock icon Robert Smith and The Cure ended up at the Everett
Events Center on Tuesday night after rescheduling a show that was supposed
to be at the Gorge Amphitheater 10 days earlier.
For those who had tickets to the original
date, and those who plopped down $50 for a ticket to Tuesday's performance,
the band plowed through 29 tunes in a monster set that lasted nearly three
hours.
Smith had to cancel the Gorge show because
of a trip home to London for personal reasons. The original show was part
of the band's Curiosa tour, which also features Cursive, Interpol and Mogwai.
With The Cure going it alone Tuesday, more
than 7,000 fans were treated to a set that lasted about an hour longer than
what fans across the nation have seen on the Curiosa tour. The crowd just
wouldn't let the band go away, demanding five encores.
With 25 years of material at their disposal,
The Cure had no trouble keeping fans entertained throughout the night. Band
members didn't even get to one of their best-known hits, "Friday, I'm in
Love."
The crowd was mostly made up of fans about
27 to 39 years old, or teenagers who being introduced to the band for the
first time. Many scrambled at security lines trying to figure out where to
put away their studded leather belts and bracelets, which weren't allowed
into the events center.
When the house lights went down and colorful
spotlights silhouetted Smith's signature rat's nest of hair, the crowd went
nuts.
Smith spent most of his time tucked behind
a guitar and a microphone stand, bellowing his melancholy lyrics.
His rare slow processions to either end of
the stage - he ambles in measured dramatic movements like a wise old man
- were greeted with roars from his followers.
During the performance, Smith was playful and
somber.
It wasn't entirely clear whether Smith knew
where he was - he never offered so much as a "Hello, Seattle" - but he effortlessly
managed to make fans feel as if he were singing his lyrical pleas and cries
for the very first time.
The set included a healthy dose of songs from
the band's June release, "The Cure," with six tracks, including "Lost," which
opened the show.
The biggest crowd reactions were reserved for
the hits, including "Love Song," "Just Like Heaven" and "Boys Don't Cry."
"Lullaby," a crowd favorite that had fans mimicking
Smith's charade of a spider crawling all over him, was another big pleaser.
Smith and the band truly looked as if they
were enjoying themselves, placing their poppy music behind angst-ridden lyrics
of heartbreak and misery.
The band closed the show - "finally," as Smith
said at the end - with Smith dancing around the stage while singing "Why
Can't I Be You?"
Certainly, many of The Cure faithful sought
to be Smith. But no one else can.
(Thanks Tempest and Brian)
From the Seattle Post-Intelligencer:
The Cure delivers a spirited, if puzzling, show to eager Everett
crowd
By TRAVIS HAY
SPECIAL TO THE POST-INTELLIGENCER
The Cure made up for the Curiosa Festival concert at The Gorge it
canceled last month with a near three-hour performance titled "An Evening
With The Cure" at Everett Events Center Tuesday night.
The 9,000 capacity venue was roughly three-quarters full, making
for a spirited show -- but if the concert had been at The Gorge, which
has a capacity of 22,000 it would have felt noticeably half-empty.
Fronted by Robert Smith, who wears black eyeliner, red lipstick and
frizzes out his jet black hair to look like a gothic Albert Einstein while
performing, The Cure treated fans to an emotionally uneven set of songs
that spanned its 25-year career.
The band came out to a grinding industrial music and then the droning
guitars of "Lost," got the show started. A few surprises came early on
during the performance including "Love Song," "Lullaby" and the classic
"Fascination Street" from 1989's "Disintegration." The set peppered newer
material like "Alt.end" and "End of the World" with more familiar songs
such as "In Between Days" and "Pictures of You."
Throughout the night Smith's voice was spot on, but his selection
of songs for the set list was baffling. Each time the group had an opportunity
to carry the show by playing some of its more cheerful material it switched
gears and opted to play dark and depressing songs, making for a night of
emotionally up and down songs.
However, Smith and his band made sure fans got their money worth
by performing some of the Cure's best-known material and by playing not
one, not two, but five encores.
The first encore was slightly saddening, consisting of "The Drowning
Man" and a few other older gems. For its second encore the band reached
about as far back as it could in its catalog, performing "Three Imaginary
Boys," "Grinding Halt" and "Boys Don't Cry," all of which date back to
1979. The songs are some of the more poppy and upbeat material the group
has recorded.
After the three-song trip down memory lane, the group had the crowd
wanting to hear more high-energy songs. The group could have easily followed
the uptempo ending of its second encore with more lively material such as
"The Lovecats" or "Close To Me," both of which were oddly left out of the
28-song set.
Instead, the Cure played three moody songs, including "M" and "The
Forest." The song selection took the crowd from three peppy pop gems
to a group of doom and gloom doldrums. The fourth encore continued the
pattern of gloominess, ending with a slightly lengthened "Bloodflowers."
For its fifth and final encore the group finally got it right and
performed the dance-friendly "Why Can't I Be You" from 1987's "Kiss Me,
Kiss Me, Kiss Me," ending The Cure's uneven two-hour-and-40-minute performance
on the happy note the crowd wanted to hear.
(Thanks Brian and Debi)
I know there have been a plethora of reviews about the Everett show
(mostly, it seems, from a bunch of people who seem to want to whinge about
EVERYTHING), but I thought it was, hands down, THE best Cure concert I have
ever seen live.
We left Vancouver and arrived in Everett at 4:30, parked across the street,
and got in line. After chatting with some really cool people, the doors
opened at 6:30 and we went down on the floor. As I was one of the lucky
people who showed up EARLY (that's what you have to do people)
to get a wristband, I ended up about 15 feet from the stage, between Simon
and Robert. Out of seven Cure shows (unfortunately, they don't
make it to our neck of the proverbial woods very often), I've never been
that close and it was fun to watch, and actually be able to see, Robert's
facial expressions, especially when the crowd seem to do something that he
wasn't expecting. Why Simon seems to feel the need to scowl throughout
most of the performance I don't know, but it was just cool to be stationed
between my two rock idols. I wish the crowd got into the performance
a bit more as most of them stood there like they were bored out of their
trees, but I just ignored it and sang and danced and air-bassed away as much
as I could.
As stated many times before, the mainset was cohesive and coherent but left
few surprises. Lost was better but less powerful than I expected,
although I realize it would be difficult to get the intensity of the album
version in an arena performance. A personal dream came true when they
went into Plainsong and the only complaint I had was that, as it was early
in the show and it always takes the sound crew four or five songs to find
the balance, it wasn't the wall of sound that it should have been, but it
is one of my all-time favourite songs. It was still amazing and I really
liked Perry's harmonizing on the guitar.
Labyrinth: great projection graphics, and well played, impressive.
Fascination Street was a great crunchy version and the background film was
interesting to watch. Although I generally dislike From the Edge of
the Deep Green Sea as I don't think a concert has gone by (other than the
Trilogy shows) that they haven't played it, it was a good version.
The End of the World, Lovesong, Inbetween Days and, Just Like Heaven were
all well performed but seemed like filler. Jupiter Crash was the only
surprise of the main set and, as ever, it was beautiful. Pictures of
You had a weird beginning as I seemed to be only able to hear Simon's guitar.
Lullaby, another overplayed live song, however was really quite good as Robert
really got into performing it, so that was fun. Before Three KICKED
FUCKING ASS!!!! -Nuff said. alt.end: This is my favourite song
off the new album, and I, for one, am ecstatic that it will be the single.
I find it completely perplexing that there seems to be an almost universal
hatred of this song, but you know what people? The Cure has that pop
element to them and this song blends the styles of old Cure with new Cure,
and it does it very well to boot. It's a great song that just gets
me singing and happy, so lighten up all you gloom and doomers. Disintegration,
while not the most solid version I've heard, had a really great guitar solo
(the best one I heard was in Vancouver in 96 when Robert used the microphone
as a slide). And now we come to probably the best performance of the night:
One Hundred Years. It was a loud wall of sound, it was emotional, it
was heavy yet energetic, the
background images were powerful. A real treat to see them perform it
live again, and they really came together as a band for this one. The
Promise is the new "The Kiss". Robert's guitar was fucking amazing
and I was just wish I could have heard Roger's keyboard part near the end,
as I don't know if it's like that in the studio version; I'll have
to listen to it again. A great, powerful way to end the main set, one
by one leaving the stage punctuating the "AND I WAITED".
1st encore - The Drowning Man, Charlotte Sometimes, Faith:
Fucking WOW!!! The Drowning Man is my least favourite Cure song.
They played a version that made me a believer. An awesome version of
the
song, VASTLY superior to any version I have heard before. Charlotte
Sometimes was nice to hear again, especially because it was the first Cure
song I learne the bass line to. Faith was really good. I don't
know why but they ALWAYS play Faith at the concerts I go to, so if you want
to hear Faith, make sure I'm at the concert.
2nd encore - 3 Imaginary Boys, Grinding Halt, Boys Don't Cry
I swear there were TWO minutes between sets, which meant more time to jam
in songs. I was quite happily surprised by Three Imaginary Boys.
It is my favourite song off the first album, so I was ecstatic when I heard
the initial chord. However, Grinding Halt was a Cure song I NEVER
in my wildest dream would have imagined I would ever experience live.
And the fact that they played it as a threesome was icing on the cake.
And the audience for really into it, to boot (finally!!!!!). A perfunctory
Boys Don't Cry followed, which was just like every other version you've heard,
but the band had hit its stride with the back catalogue.
3rd encore - M, Play for Today, A Forest
A dream encore set. M...what can I say. Tears welled up.
And there were some of us who shouted out "M" as it faded on to the screen.
Delightful, finally Roger's keyboard come to the fore. Play For Today
was nice and punchy, and the Paris singalong really took Robert by surprise
(he even jumped back a little, it was too funny!!!!) I am one
of the one's who prefers the long version of A Forest, but it IS my all-time
hands-down favourite Cure song, and I was in heaven for approximately seven
minutes. Poor Roger was getting a full-on spotlight right in the face
and he kept having to turn away or try to shut his eyes (it's nice to know
they can play these songs with their eyes closed and still put out an amazing
performance).
4th encore - 39, Bloodflowers
"Its like fucking time traveling!!" says Robert as they return to the stage
for the post-apologetic Bloodflowers set. One word, two syllables:
O-ver-whelm-ing. As all of us there know, they never made it to the
Pacific Northwest for the Dream Tour, and, as they never played any other
Bloodflowers songs other than Maybe Someday, this was a reward for being
such a "fucking enjoyable audience" (he said before walking off stage when
it were over). As stated before, they were a bit rusty, but I'll take
a rustily performed Cure song over most things in life. Sure he may
have screwed up the words, but the intensity of the performance made up for
extremely minor abnormalities. I only had the Trilogy DVD to experience
it before, so it was very welcome.
5th encore - Why Can't I Be You?
After "looking" at his "watch" and saying time was up and they had to go,
they came back on for one last blast. I know it is sort of the antithesis
of the previous set and most that had preceded it, but it's a great song,
one of their biggest hits (I think), and it is a side of the band we don't
experience very often. I thought it was a great quick high energy way
to end the concert, a last shout, as it were. I thought it was brilliant,
and it just goes to show that with the Cure you never know what to expect
next.
Until next time, Thanks guys for THE best concert experience I have
EVER had!!!!
- Dave Watson
I just got home from the Everett show and was moved enough i felt
i needed to share it with other fans. The venue had a very intamite
feel because of its size. It almost had a club or bar feel. I
was front left in the seat section. Closer than i had ever been to
them in a show. It was surreal to say the least. The show started
a little late with beach boys playing on the loud speakers, then some
drum and bass. I saw Jason at one point walking behind the set
with drum sticks in hand. The anticipation was killing me. Finally
the lights dimmed and the band walked out through the cloud of smoke that
had been gurgling out for 30 min. Robert walked both ends of the stage.
On our end he walk to the edge and look deeply into the audience.
Gripping hands and seething teeth, he lick his lips and cocked his head
while turning on his heel and going to the front of the stage. I Can't
Find Myself bellowed across the small stage. I was pleased to hear
them play this song. It is certainly one of the stronger cuts from
the new album. Robert's vocals were spot on as was the rest of the
band. Next was Plainsong which is my wife and I's song. We did
our wedding march to the beginning. I love songs like this because
of the grand nature. They come off powerful, with the sounds
melting together into a churning rats nest of organic squall. Labyrinth
is this way. I keep seeing it compared to Jane's Mountain song.
Can't see the connection myself. The band has toyed with Indian influences
and I think this song is a great example of that. The pace changed
a bit with Fascination Street with Robert doing the usual inuendo hand motions.
From the Edge of the Deep Green Sea was good but i saw them play this song
live in Salt Lake '92 and it seemed to have a more powerful impact then.
End of the World started with a huge boom. I enjoy the more grandiouse
songs live but after five straight it was fun to hear something a bit more
upbeat. Lovesong came off good but ever since 311 fucked it up i have
a hard time listening to it. How they thought they could play that
song ragae style still is beyond me. (side note) did any one notice
Lol is the bartender in the 311 video. Honestly i dont
remember anything about Inbetween days. But i believe at this point
some drunk chick was rubbing up against me and kissing my wife. Slight
distraction. Just
Like Heaven was beautiful as usual. The crowd certainly was digging
it. Then they played a great version of Jupiter Crash which i loved.
Pictures of You was next. Made me want to buy an HP pavillion. jk.
Lullaby for me is when I really started to get into the concert. Robert
was very animated. He was doing the wriggling finger, and hunch back
describing the story of the spiderman. The Crowd was really getting
into it and in return so was Robert. Several times he added a little
extra in the vocals. In the end on (Come into my parlour, said the
spider to the fly I have something...) Robert brought both hands to his lips
as if to drink a spot of tea and made a huge sssssssssslurping sound and then
sauntered backwards with a huge grin on his face. It was delightful.
Before Three and Alt.end were good but they haven't marinated in my brain
long enough to truly appretiate them.
Disintergration...one of my favorite cure power ballads came off intense
and punchy. Robert was clearly feeling it also. At one point
it started hitting his guitar, clinched fist, repeatedly. One Hundred
Years... Where you separate the fluff crowd from the die hards. I was
reeling. I've always wanted to hear this song live. I was floored.
It came of with such intense rage i was completly taken back. The Promise
came off just as strong. During Disintergation Robert motioned to the
mix guys to turn his mike and guitar up. And again on Hundred Years and
The Promise. So by the solo on The Promise Roberts playing was
deafing and at one point his arm was strumming so fast you couldn't see
it. At the end he was screaming (i'm waiting ...i'm still waiting)
over and over. So that is the end of the first set. Every one
was screaming. I myself was yelling so hard i lost my voice.
I was also
stomping so hard the bottom of my feet are bruised. But because
it was hollow underneath the seating the stomping was really loud.
The first set was great but the real show started for me with the 5 encores
we got. thats right 5
First with Drowning man Charlotte Sometimes and Faith. I thought
I had died and gone to heaven. It was truly a dream for me to be this
close to the band hearing my favorite songs. The Drowning Man and Charlotte
sounded amazing but I truly got sucked in on Faith. I felt as though
Robert wasn't singing in as much as telling us a story of losing hope and
trying to regain it. ( i went away alone) he said (with nothing
left) (but faith). I was mesmerized.
Second encore was insane. I noticed they have been retooling the
old songs and the Boys Dont Cry set knocked my socks off. It was here
that you saw what a machine the Cure has become (having played together with
this line up for more the ten years). Seeing Three Imaginary Boys,
Grinding Halt, and Boys Don't Cry made me wish i had seen them back in 79.
Though i bet they never sounded this good. Roger didnt have anything
to do during this set except to play tamborine and make paper airplanes
which he the threw into the crowd. it was quite funny. The crowd
was going nuts during this set and the Seventeen Second set. Bouncing
up and down and dancing.
Third the Seventeen Second set...and My favorite album. So it was
a true pleasure to hear M, Play for Today and A Forest. A forest wasn't
as strong or as long as i have heard it live...the best Salt Lake 92
with its long jam section and Robert making up words on the fly. The
winding down section of the song was good though with Simon pounding his
bass hard in front of his amp. then he dropped his bass and left it
echoeing on the floor. Robert then picked it up and handed it to a roadie.
Fourth was the most powerful encore. 39 worked its way into a feverish
pitch with the flames burning behind the band. I dont listen to this
song much on the cd and thinks its the albums weakest song, but it translated
well live. I got more of the sense of urgency and meaning hearing Robert
singing it live. The Crowd went nuts on the first drum hits of Bloodflowers.
During one point my wife turnded to me and said I can't believe Roberts
range and how good these guys sound live. I can close my eyes and
feel like im listening to a cd. It was true. they nailed Bloodflowers.
The final encore after a long screaming and stomping crowd was Why Cant
I Be You. Total 180 degrees from the previous set but i ate it all
up.
Robert turned from the brooding punk to the whimsical prankster.
he walked to our side of the stage and sang (I'll kiss you turn your feet
to were your head begins) while running his fingers down his leg pointing
at his toes and then back again to his neck. He then wandered to the
right side and his mic cord got hung up on something. A roadie went
out to get him UNSTUCK and was met with Roger chasing after him and trying
to kick him.
Sorry for being a bit long winded but needless to say the show was Amazing
and I am so glad I saw them in this venue instead of the Gorge though I had
to wait 10 extra days and was out $150 for cancelling my hotel reservations.
Hope you all enjoyed also.
Thanks for the awesome show.
- James
howdy. i guess i should first say that i'm quite fond of both
brilliant sides of the cure: the bright/the dark. what has been said about
the sound has, for the most part, been right on. tis a big concrete
and metal hockey arena; in no way ideal for a cure concert (oh to have
seen this setlist at the gorge! (take a look! http://www.michael-hodges.com/images/one_step_photos/03_08_washington/day3_11.jpg). what's more, you can do a sound check, but when
you fill the place with people, that's out the window. (part of this could
have been my positioning, i chose a spot in the front row a little more
than half way back thinking i'd get a more
balanced "stereo" feel than if i were really close on the side, but this
meant that i got sound from the speakers as well as a lot of the shite
that had bounced around inside the arena).
as such, the first six or seven songs suffered tremendously. there
was simply no fullness to it, lots of highs and lows, very little in the
middle. however, once they hit the mini-pop fest with inbetween days,
just like heaven, etc. up to lullaby (one of the few songs i'm not fond
of; though this was a great performance (with robert hamming it up as much
as possible)) sounded spot on - well performed, good sound, high energy,
etc.
then they played two from the new album and it seemed a bit flat again.
i couldn't decide why this was exactly, timing seemed off here and there
- they just didn't seem particularly tight. when they started disintegration
i was a wee bit disappointed as i knew things were coming to a close and
even the beginning of disintegration was sounding a bit rough. HOWEVER!
by the middle of disintegration, something clicked. don't know what,
but everything about the show changed. robert was far more into it, the
sound was amazing, and the rest is history. the place literally erupted
(everyone on their feet, people jumping the wall to the floor, security
trying to keep control) with 100 years and i'd say it was by far the best
performed song of the evening. the promise, as mentioned, was also
fantastic.
the drowning man is one of my top three cure songs (and one of the two
i hadn't seen performed live before) and charlotte sometimes and faith
are
in my top ten for sure so this encore alone made the entire event entirely
worth it. everything else was icing. really really really good chocolate-y
icing. the faith, 17 seconds, and boys don't cry themed encores were
all performed brilliantly. they struggled through the bloodflowers
stuff a bit, and even a bit with why can't i be you, but the energy was
so amazing (and exhausted!) at that point that it actually seem perfect.
in short:
great song selection to start the show, but the sound completely destroyed
the experience of hearing songs like lost, plainsong, labyrinth, and fasc.
st.
the pop-fest in the middle was typical but performed extremely well and
the sound had improved considerably
all of the new songs (except the promise) seemed to be a bit hollow,
missing either/or both emotional drive and the sound support they needed
the final three songs of the main set were where everything clicked.
the first three encores were simply amazing.. some of the best cure i've
seen.
the last two were not as amazing, but were still tasty tasty icing.
- Matt
The main set was fairly standard based on Curiosa setlists, but
things really started cooking about halfway through Disintegration.
As others have
mentioned his guitar solo was short but outstanding, really wailing
and screeching performed facing Jason. As he came back to the mike
to sing/scream "How the end always is" he was really belting it out and
pounding on his guitar with his closed fist, flipping the pickup switch,
anything to make more noise and increase the intensity. Intensity is
the word for 100 Years which came up next almost without any delay.
REALLY hard
version, Simon and Perry especially were dancing around extensively,
fully rocking out and getting into it and from here The Cure just stepped
on the
gas. The Promise was as good as everyone has been raving.
I especially love the freakout ending section and they all left the stage
one by one as
the song wound down. Outstanding. Just looking at the setlist
shows that the encores were the best part. The whole band seemed really
into it and
the crowd responded. Very exciting to be part of that. Having
three 3 song encores based around their first 3 albums was a great "trilogy"
idea.
Lots of people seemed to react positively to M which was a nice surprise
and the singing in P4T was way louder than I expected. The BF encore
was a little rusty as some have mentioned, but the band seemed to really
want to make them come off well and the emotions far exceeded any small "errors"
or technical difficulties. YCIBU was a great way to keep everyone
happy as well as end on a positive note. 5 encores was pretty crazy,
but it seemed like they could have kept right on going. Thanks so much
for coming to the Pacific Northwest again. We've missed you up here!
Come back anytime!
- Greg
Here's a review to add to CoF...if you follow this link,
you'll see associated pics:
http://www.musicfanclubs.org/cgi-bin/yabb/YaBB.cgi?board=Cure;action=display;num=1094022821;start=40#51
Here's the actual review sans pics though, with a link to my Pbase of
pics at the bottom...
Wow, what an experience. With The Cure missing the Pacific Northwest
on the Dream Tour, I had been looking forward to this concert for a good
number of years now. When I found out that the Gorge concert was
postponed and perhaps even cancelled, words couldn't describe how
disappointed I was. However, when it was rescheduled for Everett,
my first thought was "What's in Everett?" (no offense to anyone who lives
there). Either way, all the excitement and anticipation was back,
and my cousin, our friend, and I made the trip up from Seattle to Everett
with huge smiles on our faces.
We arrived about half an hour early to our SATATAM meet up at Bobby's
Hawaiian Style Restaurant, just across from the Everett Events Center.
Lisalovecat was already there and we sat down and ordered food.
Christina, Amy, and their entourage arrived about 15 min late, but we met,
greeted each other, and enjoyed some Hawaiian food. After everyone
was stuffed, we headed across the street and stood in line for couple hours.
Once the doors opened, I went and bought my tour shirt, and then headed
down to the floor with my cousin and our friend. The venue didn't
seem
very crowded, so we had a pretty good view of the stage from where we
were standing, as you can see here:
http://www.pbase.com/image/33297078/original.jpg
After a good hour of waiting, the show finally started, with the cold
air seeping from the ice under the floor enhancing the anticipation within
the crowd. Now, a breakdown of the songs:
Lost - Not being a big fan of the new self-titled album, I had mixed
feelings with Lost opening the set. I was hoping that I'd enjoy it
more live, and it surely didn't disappoint. Seeing Robert sing it
gives the song a whole new vibe that the studio version just didn't bring
out for me.
Plainsong - Awesome, simply awesome. I really wanted to see this
live and it came true. The lighting effects fit the mood and was everything
I had hope it to be. I did notice that there seemed to be some
soundboard issues, because Perry's guitar wasn't coming out too well, but
otherwise it was perfect.
A view of Plainsong...
http://www.pbase.com/image/33297093/original.jpg
Labyrinth - Another song from the new album that sounds a million times
better live than it does on the album, especially since it lacked the weird
studio echo effect on Robert's voice. I really got into this at the
show...the sound of guitars was simply mesmerizing.
Fascination Street - This song was the first test of Jason's drumming
intensity that I had felt he'd been lacking since I last saw them in 1997.
The intensity was ALL there which, combined with Simon's usual awesome
bassline, made for a perfect performance for me.
A look at Fascination Street...
http://www.pbase.com/image/33297102/original.jpg
From the Edge of the Deep Green Sea - Another test of drumming
intensity and Jason passed it with flying colors. The song was as
fast as it should be, almost mimicing the version of the song on "Show."
Robert's guitar solo was also simply amazing, and it was amusing to watch
Roger get REALLY into hitting that single note during the intro.
The End of the World - MUCH better than the Leno performance, which
is the last live performance of it that I've seen. It was good to
see more
people singing along at this point, and how well Robert sings live really
shined through here with him hitting all the high notes with no problem.
Lovesong - More singing along here...simply as good as it can be.
You could really see Robert getting into it and enjoying himself at the
same time.
Inbetween Days - WOW. This was probably the best performance of
Inbetween Days that I've ever experienced. Robert played his 12-string
similar to how it sounds on The Head on the Door, which really filled
out the song and made it sound more complete than any other time I've heard
them play it.
Just Like Heaven - Another wow. I tend to not really like live
performances of Just Like Heaven because they don't usually have the same
complete sound as the album version does, but this one definitely was the
best I've heard. I could've done without the "you you you" at the
end but otherwise it was the way I always hoped it would sound live.
Definitely just like heaven...
http://www.pbase.com/image/33297115/original.jpg
Jupiter Crash - I don't care what anyone says...this song always sounds
great live and with the astronomy pics projected behind them, it really
completed the performance.
Pictures of You - Looks like they were having some soundboard
issues again, but otherwise this performance was great. I'm really
happy to
hear it live since this particular song carries so much meaning for
me.
Lullaby - Surprisingly, this never was one of my favorite Cure songs,
but it was AWESOME live. With the crowd singing along and Robert
starting to get playful, it was absolutely great.
The spiderman comes...
http://www.pbase.com/image/33297125/original.jpg
Before Three and alt.end - Again, they sound so much better than on
the album. I don't know what it is, but the studio versions just
didn't do it for me, but the live versions are fabulous.
Disintegration - Another drum intensity test and another win for Jason.
They had some weird issues at the beginning of the song, but Robert
sounded absolutely amazing. He was really getting in on the guitar
during the solo...
One Hundred Years - Good lord...incredible. This song was absolutely
perfect for me.
The Promise - The one song I really disliked on the new album, but even
hearing it live didn't save it for me. Performance was great, but
I simply don't like the song.
At this point, Robert said "OK" and they left the stage. The crowd
errupted in applause and yelling while the roadies did some sound checks.
About 5 minutes later, they came back on stage and uttered some words to
the audidence. The only thing I could make out was "We're going to
keep going down before we come back up." And keep going down they did!
The Drowning Man - I really wasn't expecting this at all, and it brought
a huge smile on my face to hear it. Not to many people around me knew
the song, so I more-or-less enjoyed it by myself.
Breathing like the drowning man...
http://www.pbase.com/image/33297137/original.jpg
Charlotte Sometimes - I've never heard a bad performance of this song...to
me, it's the most consistent song in terms of quality that they perform.
This time was no different. Nothing great, but nothing bad either.
Faith - A longer performance than usual, with some words I couldn't
make out for the life of me. The crowd didn't seem to into it...I
guess they weren't prepared for the "going down" part? Who knows...but
it was great nonetheless.
Nothing left but faith...
http://www.pbase.com/image/33297144/original.jpg
Following Faith, the band left the stage again, with the roar of applause
louder now than the first time. As they took the stage again, I figured
that this was when we're going to "go back up."
Three Imaginary Boys and Grinding Halt - I definitely didn't expect
these. I don't think anyone else did either. I could tell that
most of the audience had no clue what songs these were, as I was one of
the few people who was singing along. They were great to hear live
though...I don't have many older concerts in my collection so hearing these
two songs live was great.
Boys Don't Cry - Hey look, the crowd can sing again! A great performance,
with Robert smiling and enjoying himself.
The band leaves the stage again and the crowd gets even louder.
How was that possible? We then come to the Seventeen Seconds setlist:
M and Play for Today - Great stuff. I wanted to hear some of the
Paris-style "AAAAAAH OHHHHH AAAAAAAAAAAH OHHHHHH" from the crowd during
Play for Today but I seemed to be the only one doing it.
A Forest - Longer than usual, with Robert's solo sounding great.
The performance at Wembley on the Play Out video is still my favorite one
though.
The band leaves the stage again, and continuing with the trend, the
applause is louder. They come back with a Bloodflowers set which
was a good surprise to me since they weren't here for the Dream Tour.
Both 39 and Bloodflowers sounded great and I could tell who in the crowd
had missed them coming here a few years ago. They then left again,
and came back rather quickly with Robert checking his watch and saying they
could do ONE more song. Thus...Why Can't I Be You? The whole
band seemed happy and the crowd was really into it as well.
http://www.pbase.com/image/33297183/original.jpg
Robert then wished us all a great night and said "we'll see you again!"
w00t! I can't wait already. Overall, the show was everything
I wanted a Cure show to be. It DEFINITELY beats the last time they
were here for the Deck the Hall Ball in 1997. Having not seen them since
then, I was very happy with the setlist. It was also great meeting Lisa,
Christina, and Amy finally. I'm glad everyone had a great time!
Here are ALL my pics: http://www.pbase.com/verdugo/cure
- Armin H. Ausejo
just a few notes on last nights show. fucking amazing
string of encores. sure glad i got the video footage : ) the
main set wasn't nearly as good as
san francisco, but was still enjoyable. crowd pleasers were lovesong,
inbetween days, pictures of you, lullaby. where i was at, row 2
in front of
simon, went nuts for 100 years. robert was VERY passionate with
the "yeah, yeah,yeah" in before three. jupiter crash was a treat.
i think i'm one of
maybe 50 people who thought so. oh well. favorite part
of the main set, robert ripping his shecter, his wah-wah, and everett a
new asshole on the
promise. he was having technical difficulties with his effects,
but got it going toward the end and just went insane on the wah. also,
his disintigration solo was cool. loud and lots of feedback.
pounded on his guitar,too.
the encores WERE the show. robert said something about taking
it down before we go back up and having the luxury to play a bit more then
usual.
we got drowning man, charlotte sometimes, and faith (w/ lyrics from
2 late). very nice string of songs for those of us that waited through
the mainset
for some treats and surprises and got none. second encore was
3 imaginary boys, grinding halt, and w/ all of everett singing along boys
don't cry. as
robert was leaving the stage i held up my sign with a big "M" on it.
he looked right at me and nodded up and down and said "yeah". they
came back
out and played it! thanks robert. finally got to hear play
for today, which was the reason i had the "M" sign. much easier
to see a big m.
anyway, lots of us were singing the keyboard part. a forest was
cool, but nothing special. actually, simon did mess up his gear during
has pounding
on it at the end of a forest as his roadie had trouble getting it to
work as they came back for encore #4. the rest of the band was waiting
patiently as
they got the bass going again. 39 and bloodflowers were played.
both were great. as robert said something about not being played
last time they were here. of course they weren't played last time
they were here. we were passed over on the dream tour : ( i
think he was meaning something of that nature. many people didn't
know the songs. the ones that did just listened in awe to two amazing
songs. as they walked off the stage robert said he'd see if they had
time for one more. well, they did. came back with why can't
i be you?. nice treat. MANY fans were waiting for the idiot
pop
encore. so, they did right by finishing with this.
robert was smiling and looked as though he didn't want to leave the stage.
the show wasn't quite 3 hours, but i don't think anyone cared.
very enjoyable night.
on a side note, i think they had different amps. i've never seen
them use "orange" amps before.anyone else notice this? i'll have
to go back and look at some other pics from previous shows to see.
- Brian
Wow is right. I just got back (it's 6:44 am here.) We had to
drive 6 hours there and 6 back (give or take w/ traffic) and it was well,
well worth it. This was the best performance I have ever attended. Five
encores! After the fourth encore Robert came out and said something like,
"This is like fucking time travel." And looked at his watch and waved. After
the final encore he said, "Thanks for a fucking incredible night." It was
an incredible night. A few of the highlights for me were Disintegration
and 100 Years back to back. It was extremely intense although I think I
was the only one (at least in general vacinity) who knew the words to 100
Years. Everyone seemed to only know pop songs. Which is why I was absolutely
shocked that they played both The Drowning Man and Faith, the two songs
I most wanted them to play but expected least. During The Drowning Man
Simon hunched by the front of the stage just like he does in Cold on the
Trilogy DVD. During the Boy's Don't Cry era encore, Roger went behind the
drums and started smacking Jason with a tamborine. After the show he chased
Robert off the stage. Everyone seemed in good spirits. Why Can't I Be You
was really fun too because of the rainbow and white colored disco lights
and Robert taking the mic from the stand to get real close to the crowd and
waltz around like a lounge singer. It was really fun. Wow. I just don't
know what to say. Woo, now I get to try to go to bed.
- Mordekye
I just want to add a different perspective to the reviews that have
been posted. Last nights show was great as it was The Cure, but it
took me a
while to get into the show. When the band came out they played
good, powerful versions of Lost, Plainsong and Labyrinth and ...Deep Green
Sea,
but the sound was marred by the horrible arena acoustics.
After that they actually bored me when they went through single after
single for about a
half hour. The sound did seem to improve a little bit.
I am not sure if this was due to the crew at the mixing desk or if I just
got used to the shitty arena box sound system. The only relief in this
portion was a rare treat in the from of Jupiter Crash. The singles
are okay...I like most of them (especially the Disintegration ones) on
record, but I really don't care to hear these tracks live. I know
that I am in the minority in a venue of this capacity, but songs like Inbetween
Days and Just Like Heaven don't excite me whatsoever live. I would
much rather hear their good singles like
Catch, Letter to Elise or Primary, but they don't play those.
After the mundane singles parade they hit their stride once again with
the last three
songs in the main set. What can I say...Incredible performances.
One Hundred Years was phenomenal and I was thrilled to hear The Promise
live.
Next, I was bracing myself for more bland singles in the encore,
but Christ was I in for a treat. The first encore was the Faith
songs and these were
amazing. The true highlight of the evening for me. After
that I could have gone home and now I was definitely expecting more singles,
but what I
received instead was three more brilliant encores. It was
great to hear Three Imaginary Boys live again. I love that song
and paired with a rare
performance of Grinding Halt was fantastic. Next I got the
Seventeen Seconds encore and those were wonderful too especially M.
Then an absolute
surprise was the Bloodflowers encore, which I thought was stunning.
I have been listening to Bloodflowers lately and I think that the album
is about
ten times better then the new one. I think that some of the
news songs (mentioned above) are great, but mush of the new album is
pretty lame.
Bloodflowers, on the contrary is a solid underrated Cure record
and it was obvious hearing the Bloodflowers tracks played after the new
ones. I know
that a lot of people don't seem to like that album and for some
reason or other they like the new one, but I have to disagree.
39 and Bloodflowers
sounded terrific. Robert was emotional during many of the
encore songs, which made them sound that much better. The huge
disappointment of the
night was closing with Why Can't I Be You. It was so lame.
The keyboards sound so dated and cheesy. I could have dealt with
Close to Me or The
Lovecats, but not that. It was awful. I would have truly
liked to hear Going Nowhere at the end and now that I see that it was
supposed to be
played I am a bit disappointed, but what the hell...I got Faith
and The Drowning Man. This is the third time that I have seen The
Cure live in a
ten year period and I do have to say that they get a little worse
every time. My reasoning for this is that the band was much better
before...I think that most people agree with this statement, but also
I do not understand why they insist on playing those Schecter guitars.
They don't sound near as good as the vintage instruments that used to
be the standard. The bass sound, the guitar sound and the effects
don't sound near as good as they used to. The band are tight.
Don't get me wrong, but I think if they used better guitars and amps, etc.
they would sound so much better. If you disagree, listen to Entreat
and Show and then compare them to the sound you currently hear or listen
to Disintegration or Wish and compare them in sound
only to Bloodflowers or the new record. If there is another
album I just pray the they quit trying to write and perform inane pop
songs. They sound
so contrived anymore. Smith could do it in the 80's when he
created these bizarre singles, but now that all sound like rehashed and
watered down album filler. Well, that is my two cents, which is
worth less than that! It's still The Cure though and they have always
been incredible live when they
play the right material. Peace.
- Andrew
i just got home from everett- i drove straight from the
parking lot to here (here being portland). i must say that tonight
ended up surpassing my
expectations. during the main set i was worried that we were
going to get a short show which is pretty stupid to think anyway because
a two hour cure
show can be plenty satisfying and i was pretty sure it would be
at least that long. the venue was kind of weird. to me it
looked maybe half full. the floor area wasn't even much more than
half full during the course of the show. how or why anyone got bracelets
to be on the floor i don't know, but
i was a bit miffed as i bought my ticket wayyyyyy ahead of time
and had the show been at the gorge i would've been able to get fairly
close i'd imagine.
because of the venue's half-fullness i thought the energy was a
bit weird, which i'm sure was different if you were closer to the front.
the crowd was
still pretty enthusiastic (although i was in the sitting section)
and LOUD during the times between encores. and wow were we rewarded
for it with 5
encores. of the new songs i thought all of them were much better
live except for 'alt.end' which... i don't even know how it was recorded,
let alone put on the album and beyond that earmarked as a single.
i still don't care for the 'ooooooh' part in 'end of the world'- i just
can't help- my heart is in my throat when it hits that part. the
rest is pretty nice. i really liked 'lost,' 'labyrinth', 'before
3,' and 'the promise' was really fantastic.
during 'before 3' and 'the promise' i could *gasp* hear the keyboards!
i couldn't believe it- they were really nice and added something to
the songs.
i could also make out the two distinct guitar parts more in all
of the new songs. shame on you ross robinson! shame on you!
i loved hearing 'jupiter crash' live again. 'pictures of you'
is always wonderful to hear. i'm definitely a bit sick of 'inbetween
days'- it's a good song, but i would die of happiness if i ever saw
the cure and maybe just once they didn't play it. 'just like heaven'
was better than i'd heard it on the dream tour- it had definitely started
to sound obligatory then. i liked the noisy guitar solo that robert
started to play at the end of 'disintegration' and i really wished that
he'd continued. this version i'd call probably second or third
best- best being at the galore show in chicago where he played a long,
long very noisy and powerful solo on it and in st. louis where he used
the microphone as a slide during that song. fantastic.
now the encores- 'drowning man' was a great version! robert
even mimicked the weird reverby vocal noises in the background on the
album version
towards the end- and to great effect. it was nice to hear
'charlotte sometimes' again. 'faith' had extra lyrics taken from
'2 late' which i'd never heard them do. the best version i've ever
heard was still in chicago on the dream tour, but this was one song i
was definitely hoping to hear (and didn't think i'd get). then they
played 'three imaginary boys' and 'grinding halt' which i'd always hoped
to hear ever since i first saw them in 96. the 17 seconds encore
was good too. i'm a bit burnt out on 'a forest' because they don't
do the weird middle section versions. this version definitely seemed
a bit rushed. i loved loved LOVED that they played '39' and 'bloodflowers'
because one of the saddest things about the setlists from the curiosa tour
has been that they hadn't been playing anything from 'blooflowers' but
'maybe someday.' both songs sounded wonderful and massive. i don't
really like the new album much, especially compared to 'bloodflowers' which
is one of my favourite and most listened to cure albums. one of the
reasons i went to see 5 dream tour shows was because i liked the new songs
so much. sadly, this was not the case this time... at least not to
the same extent. then they ended with 'why can't i be you?' he said
something about 'i wonder how much time we have left?' before they left
after 'bloodflowers.' i got excited because i thought they were going to
play 'going nowhere' since it's so short, but oh well. i'd hoped to
hear 'anniversary,' 'high,' and 'going nowhere' most of all and i was a bit
bummed i didn't get to hear them, but whenever i see the cure i always know
that it's better that they don't play everything i wanted them to play because
then there wouldn't be any unexpected surprises. i'm also a bit sad
that the festival was cancelled at the gorge as i was looking forward to
seeing mogwai, the rapture (who i've seen before and know they are both
fantastic live), interpol (who i'd never seen, but have just warmed to 'turn
on the bright lights') and the cure all in one day. also my girlfriend
could've gone with me on saturday, as she couldn't have possibly gone tonight.
but, all of that said, with 5 fucking encores there's no reason at all to
complain!
- Tyler
"An Evening with The Cure" is a nice title,
however, for those following the band for years, collectors, and new
comers who apprecitate the full
Cure library, I nominate "Happily Ever After" as the unofficial
Everett title. See the setlist for the first three encores and you
will underrstand. It was a full-on double album length concert.
Beyond everthing we know of how tonight came about, I have to ask "how did
tonight come about?" "Why Everett?". Usually it is me reading
about someone else seeing this show. This indeed felt like a special
evening.
I imagine this may be a warm up for what is to come in Mexico .
. .(?) I will try to cover a broad stroke overview of my experience
and let others get at each specific song.
My personal highlights start with hearing Three Imaginary Boys
in quarter time, followed by Grinding Halt in the second encore.
Simply put, and maybe unfairly stated, this was a long time Cure treat.
The first three encores were almost like a request dreamlist. To have
One Hundred Years, Promise, The Drowning Man, Faith, A Forest, and Bloodflowers
in one show is equally amazing! The first encore surpassed all expectations
for any encore set I dreamed of. The lowlight, I say this with a huge
Cheshire grin, was Jupiter Crash. I loved how intimate, soft, and
sensual the song was, but it did not feed well into Pictures of You.
I would say similarly of Plainsong. In all fairness, my replacement
suggestions for these two songs may not have come off any differently.
(There is no if, and Kyoto Song respectively)
My general feel of the main set was of the strong quitar powered
sound, most noticeable, and most impressive in new "The Cure" album songs.
I
realize each night brings its own highs and lows, but I am surprised
by the criticism this album has received. Seeing the newest songs
live is so great because you hear pieces of every Cure album. Labyrinth
was clearly the first song that engaged the crowd tonight. It sounded
like "pop" Cure meets "pornagraphy" Cure. It worked and they nailed
it.
One Hundred Years!!! I could not add anything new. It really
is one of the greatest live rock songs.
One of the most interesting song pairings was The End of the World
and Lovesong. I would not have chosen these songs back to back,
which is why I am here and Robert is who he is. A gorgeous musical
pairing. Lovesong, was heavier in guitar than the Wish tour, Salt
Lake show in "92. It was also more powerfully engined in emotion.
The sound transformed for me similar to what happened with A Night Like
This on the Wish tour.
His best performance in a song was Lullaby. Much more animated
than usual, and almost video worthy in form. Same could be said
of his childlike version of Why Can't I Be You. Contrast the Robert
Smith who performs those songs with the Robert Smith who performed Faith,
and Bloodflowers. . . Amazing to me it is the same person, same musician.
I think that is where the artistic essence of Robert is. His ability
to contrast light and dark moods and emotions in short transitions within
individual songs and song sets.
Show started relatively on time. Maybe 10 minutes late, due
more to slow seating crowd than band. More older than younger where
I was seated, which was house right, second level, 3rd row, at about soundboard
distance from stage. Great view. Lights were fantastic.
More simple than past shows but the simplicity is nice as it keeps focous
on band. Faith and Bloodflowers both took me somewhere out of
my seat and into a curiously ameobic space odysey like other world.
Miscellaneous. Difficult to understand what he said tonight,
except "Thank you", "See you again", and "This is it" emphatical but
smiling after Why Can't I Be You. Rough paraphrases: before
the first encore he said something like "we will go down from here before
we come back up". An obvious play on Drowning Man and the older
encore sets leading up to Bloodflowers. The other rough mumble was
at the start of the 4th encore where he said something like, "this is
for not stopping on the last tour" My favorite, and I don't think
there is much paraphrasing here was before Why Can't I Be You, he said,
" . . .crack, crack, crick, crash, scratch, scritch", or a damn close approximate.
If anyone has an interpretation let me know. :-).
This ticket goes into the journal. I will always love you
too . . .
- Ryan S
the show ended about 5 hours ago, and i still haven't come
down yet. i've been waiting what seems like forever to finally see these
guys live, and they more than lived up to the lofty expectations i had.
i'm actually glad in a lot of ways that the curiosa thing didn't go down
as planned. there were a couple other bands on the bill i would've liked
to see, but three hours of cure was so much better!
in response to something C Conant said, i think it must've had
something to do with where you were sitting (perry's guitar being louder
than robert's),
because from where i was sitting, it was exactly the opposite at
times. i could tell by watching him that he was playing a lead, but i
couldn't hear it very well. i totally agree about the beginning of "disintegration"
though.....i wasn't sure what it was until the keyboard part came in and
at that point i recognised the bass part too. i love how that song builds
and builds, and they did it wonderfully.
i was so thrilled to hear them play a lot of older songs, especially
"faith" and "m". i really love those songs and it was great to hear
them played.
other people have posted setlists and more song-by-song reviews,
so i'll just say that i had a fabulous time, and i can only hope i get
to see them
again. i can finally say that i've seen my favourite band live.
- J
As it has been said about unique shows...sometimes these
things deserve a special mention.
The Cure confound me in regards to Seattle because they have no
fanbase up there, but manage to put on their best shows ever. In my experience,
the San Diego make-up date from the Swing Tour, Seattle 1997 XMAS
and this are the best of the 40+++ Cure shows I've ever seen.
As someone who loves the new record, I was quite happy to see it
so well-represented in Seattle. Sacramento was the ultimate for that,
but so many other necessary songs were missing from the initial setlist.
Tonight was not the case for that, however. They got the best live songs
from the new record and the other obligatory music as well.
Some things just translate better to being done live, and it's
especially true when the audience is amenable to what is going on. Once
we were warmed up for Fascination Street, it was a complete go. We got
a nice and long rendition of it that was on par with any I've seen, and
the real fans were totally into it, and it really amped the band up to
make it a great performance.
Jupiter Crash made it's last appearance for me in Seattle, and
I was quite pleased as it is my most favourite Cure song of all-time.
I truly feel bad for Robert. He continues to play this song, and the
fans continue to be completely confounded by it. Perhaps it's too slow,
I don't know, but no one really seemed to care as much as I did. During
a quiet moment at the end, I yelled "thank you" to Robert, and he looked
at me with sort of an exasperated smile. He's at the point where he plays
what he likes, and it must be depressing that other than me and about 6 other
people are the only ones who appreciated it. It was a great rendition.
While Sacramento was probably treated to *THE* defining rendition
of Lullaby, Seattle's version of it came very close. In Sacto, Robert
was creepy. In Seattle, he was playful. By the time he reached this song,
the mood and overall energy was very positive, and it really showed in the
band's performances, most notably Lullaby. I always enjoy when he physically
embellishes his performances, and his affinity for performing this song
is quite evident. It really makes the song stand out as one of the better
live songs. It's too bad they didn't do it more, I feel bad for the people
who didn't get to see it in their area.
Disintegration was disturbing as usual. It appeared that Robert
had a difficult transition into the song...during the intro he took his
time with his beverage placed at the drum kit. The frustrating energy
of alt.end was not enough to get him in the mood to pour his soul out about
a terribly tragic relationship, so it was a very neurotic performance.
It started out somewhat ambiguous, but he was able to really psyche himself
into what I call his "soul solo" at the end of the song by repeatedly banging
his fist on the top of the guitar's body in frustration. In San Francisco,
he absolutely tore up the solo which was very amazing...the best one since
before the Dreamtour. Tonight, it was very unique and difficult to explain,
but there's a sort of conciliatory tone to it, and it was quite interesting
to say the least. One of the more unique renditions of this song, and one
I will remember for quite
some time.
When I first heard The Promise, I thought to myself that this would
be the next Cure live epic in the lines of A Forest, Faith, Forever, Edge
of the Deep Green Sea and some of those other songs that aren't static,
but seem to constantly evolve. This is a song I did not want to hear
on the record because I wanted my memory of it to be clearly linked to
a live performance that blew me away. In the few shows I've seen for
this tour, Robert has not been able to do that. He hasn't been able to
evolve the song into the epic it should be.
Tonight, he broke that trend. And I have to say that because of
the energy of the audience, it was able to push it over. While Robert
was serious and disconnected in Sacramento, he was very into this show
and our feedback, and it just grew and grew as each song was performed.
By the time he got to The Promise, he completely opened it up and let it
loose. This was *THE* definitive version of The Promise. All other renditions
will be based upon the energy he was able to capture. That energy created
some of the best live guitarwork he's ever done, and added improvisation
to the song that wasn't there before...the same sort of improvisation that
took A Forest from a sterile 3 minute single to a vibrant 11 minute live
epic. This rendition of The Promise will be the one etched into my persona
forever.
Robert was so obviously pleased after this song was over. He had
such a look of pride, relief and satisfaction, and the fans were SMART
enough
to know they got *THE* performance of a lifetime. Robert knew he
had finally pulled it off. Before, it was a "rush off stage" sort of
attitude. Tonight, he took time to bask in his success, and most deservedly
so. It has seemed to me that he's ACHED to create an epic since EOTDGS,
and WMS and Bloodflowers never had a song with traction. If The Promise
was his last stab at doing this, he was unfulfilled until now. Based on
tonight, I can love this song forever...the same way I love songs like
Faith.
What else do you say about FIVE encores? The Cure have done such
a great job with their limited time in this tour. Giving us rare gifts
like The
Lovecats one night and Faith the next is so awesome. But since
they had extra time, they were able to work in songs like The Drowning
Man, which
was awesome because Robert was still feeding off of our energy.
After that, the show managed to find a new gear that I didn't think
it had. Every single song they did was accompanied by the fans at the
top of their lungs. Amazingly they graced us with Three Imaginary Boys
and Grinding Halt...the latter with Perry and Roger offstage. Simply awesome.
Shrewdly, the boys realised they were onto something between encore 2
and 3, and came back with sing-along favourites like M, Play For Today
and A Forest. M simply rocked the house. It was a testament to the seriousness
of the few but hardcore Seattle fans. We ate this song alive and it was
awesome. Play For Today rivalled what I consider the defining rendition:
the Paris EP. When the fans are into this song, it takes on a whole new
level, and Roger's harmony was barely audible over the fans accompaniment.
While A Forest was trimmed down version of the usual 11+ minute epic, this
was a lean machine, and it was top-notch as far as renditions of this song
goes. The show just got better and better.
Other than a few Maybe Somedays here and there, Bloodflowers has
been ignored on this tour. Not tonight. 39 and Bloodflowers were done,
and
were enigmatic in a good way. The songs were rusty, the lyrics
forgotten, but the sheer emotion lent a sensitivity to the songs that
was never there during the Dreamtour or Trilogy. These songs have evolved.
As I said with The Promise, it is obvious to any real Cure fan that 39
and Bloodflowers were supposed to be live epics, staples of any show.
But they were sterile, as was the Bloodflowers album. Not tonight. Again,
what I credit to the fan energy that made The Promise click somehow made
39 and Bloodflowers click, and even though the songs were a tad choppy,
Robert was able to capture his feelings in a new perspective I have not
seen before. I think he's figured these songs out as well, and while I
was ambivalent about ever hearing anything from Bloodflowers live again,
I'm looking forward to 39 and Bloodflowers on the next tour. I think he's
got it.
Why Can't I Be You was really a fun thank you. I've enjoyed past
performances where he has audience participation and brief covers of
Jimi Hendrix or Queen interspersed in the middle, but tonight the song
was obviously dedicated to us, and everyone was thankful. It was a perfect
ending, everyone knew the show was over and felt satisfied by his message
to us. Even though it's not most Cure fans' favourite song, it was completely
appropriate as a final song tonight. The vibe warranted this song, and
it was a perfect ending to the last chapter of Seattle 2004.
All in all, we were treated to breakthrough performances, incredible
audience energy, rarely played songs and very tight technical playing
by the entire group. There was nothing missing from this show. I've been
going to Cure shows for 20 years, and while they are always good, it's
a special sort of convergence where everything comes together at an incredible
level as it did tonight. That's why this show was so unique, and that's
why I'll remember it in fondness and amazement.
- Devin
omg!!!!
i just got home from the show. it was absolutely amazing. 5 encores!!!
wow. a great night. i bounced and danced and sang and had a great time.
i managed to see a setlist of the encores and they were also supposed
to play going nowhere, the lovecats, and close to me.
robert was very intense during disintegration. he was pounding
on his guitar with his fist.
the crowd seemed kind of lost during jupiter crash, but oh well.
roberts guitar playing was fantastic. i was really hoping that
they would have gone into forever after a forest, but i guess i cant have
everything.
i noticed all of them smiling and they seemed to be having a good
time, especially as the concert wore on.
i managed to get a vip pass (thanks lisa) and went to the meet
& greet thing, which turned out to be a bust for the most part. i
managed to say
hello to perry really quick and get his autograph. roger was there
for about a minute and simon as well. jason and robert did not show up.
i had a great time and could not have asked for a better evening.
Thanks to Craig, Amy, J, Lisa, Angela (and crew), and Armin (and crew)
for hanging out and making the day so wonderful.
- Christine (chants)
Of all things I never expected, it was to be able to drive
to Everett and see the Cure. Not London, not San Francisco . .
. Everett. On a Tuesday night. I'm still having a hard time
getting used to the idea.
The Everett Events Center unfortunately . . . sucks. It's
a hockey rink, OK? A concrete floor pit surrounded by collapsible
bleachers with open metalwork overhead, not exactly the best acoustics.
They only allowed a couple thousand people with wrist bands onto the floor,
which didn't fill even half the rink and gave the place a weird empty feel.
My seat was in the first row, but all the closest seats were ninety degrees
to the stage, which sits at one end of the rink. I was looking
out over open concrete (and a gaggle of stone faced security folk), then
over the knot of people crowded into one end of the hockey rink and then
the band. It was close, that was nice, but the whole situation
was pretty low rent.
The band made up for the rotten acoustics by just playing loud!
They really punished songs like "Disintegration", delivering a screeching
pounding version with discordant guitar figures, seemingly designed just
to be abrasive and noisy. Some of the new album was well received,
"Lost" led off and worked pretty good, I don't need to tell you the reaction
to "Plainsong" and other Disintegration songs, like "Lullaby" and "Lovesong".
"Inbetween Days" and "Just Like Heaven" worked great, "Jupiter Crash"
was a surprise, not so well received by the crowd, and some took the
opportunity to use the restroom during "End of the World", I'm afraid
the votes were in and counted on that one. "Before Three" should
have been a crowd pleaser, but they played it a beat too slow, and it
didn't really catch on, not a lot of people yelling the "yeah's".
"alt.end" and "The Promise" worked better than I thought they would in
concert (very loud aggressive treatments again).
The crowd really wanted to dance, and I don't think the first
encore really suited the mood, everyone was just kind of waiting.
The second encore picked things up, but it was oldies time, and that just
didn't get the crowd cooking, they really wanted a favorite or a trance-out
number. They finally got "A Forest", but the fourth encore were
two Bloodflowers dirges played at full volume, and I just don't think
that's what the crowd wanted to hear right then, they weren't danceable
enough. "Why Can't I Be Like You" finished off the evening, as a
fun, light finale.
Finally, I suppose it needs to be said . . . Seattle (Everett
is a satellite town) isn't San Francisco. About 5-6000 showed up,
maybe, and I would venture to say less than half were wearing black!
The average outfit was blue jeans with a black top, but there plenty
of people wearing bright colors and sparkling white Nike's, not what
you would expect at a Cure concert. Oh sure, there were plenty of
faithful, some great looking people, but to be honest, there were a lot
of well-fed Puget Sounders in attendance as well. The faithful knew
the songs, but there weren't enough for "M!" even to register at the appropriate
times in the song. When I saw the band play that song at Shoreline,
about ten thousand people shouted the letter with perfect timing.
Sorry to run down my folk. They were at least affectionate and appreciative,
but I wasn't proud of the turnout.
Well, 30 songs, 3 ½ hours with the Cure . . . in Everett.
Hey, like what else was I going to do with a Tuesday night in Seattle?
It was amazing just to see the band that close to home. My thanks
to the band for just showing up!
- Jim Felts
Hi I just got back from the show in Everett
WA. All I have to say is the show was absolutely brilliant!
I and 11 other people went in on a luxury suite and we were approximately
100 yards away from the right side of the stage. This was only
my second time seeing the "best band in the world". The last time
they came was 12/10/1997, and all I have to say is this line up has deffinently
grown.
They started with "lost" which was everything
I hoped it would be, the only thing I noticed about this song live is
that it is not as heavy vocally as on the album. "Plain song" was
next, I had a feeling they would play this song just because I have read
all the other reviews on chainofflowers.com and they have played this
on the majority of their other shows. "Labyrinth" was next, I was
really interested to hear this live due to the fact this is one of my
favorite new songs and they pulled it off VERY VERY VERY WELL. "Fascination
Street" is always good, and also "From the Edge of the Deep Green Sea"
(Another one of my favorite Cure song). "The End of the World" sounded
perfect, just like the album. "Love Song", "Inbetween Days", and
"Just Like Heaven" were exactly that, JUST LIKE HEAVEN!!! The rest
of the songs were fabulous. My only critism is that Perry's guitar seemed
really loud from where I was sitting, seemed to drown out Robert's guitar
(could have been my location), also at the beginning of "Disintegration"
Perry's guitar was feeding back so bad (intentionally) that it was hard
for me to recognize the song.
Overall I would absolutely give this show 100 stars out of 10.
I have to say I love this band more and more with each breath I take.
I hope to see them again soon.
- C Conant
While there is usually
really good review coverage of the sets, I send one in when a unique
show comes around...Hollywood Legion, Rescheduled
San Diego to Irvine, San Jose X-mas show, and now :A brief
note from Seattle...I'm sure you'll get a complete setlist from someone...2
hours
43 minutes total running time...the main set was nothing special
in terms of the tour... for variable songs it included fascination
Street and Lullaby, Jupiter Crash and disintegration.. My seat
was great, -close and on the side. The band seemed tired and sober
during the main set..I was a little disappointed as the band's energy
was a lot less than LA....Definitely wanting and planning a break with
all of the families running around side stage.....but the show got better.
After "The Promise" conclusion, the fun began...There were 5 encores...most
I've seen from them in 15 years..
Drowning Man, faith , Three imaginary boys, Forest, Boys don't
cry, M, Charlotte Sometimes, Grinding Halt, Play for today,
39, Bloodflowers, why can't I be you.
Drowning Man was right on! Faith was good (though I forgot
what Robert was saying now). 3ib was very good. (I was glad to see
this as Robert strummed the first bars in LA). Grinding Halt was pretty
good -had the grinding gear movie behind it from Dream Tour.
The Bloodflower encore set was dedicated to Seattle for missing
the Dream Tour. They REALLY stumbled through it... but that
actually made
it good, visuals were the same from the Dream Tour
One last time they came out for Why can't I be You.... Robert
walked all from side to side on the stage and finally said that
that was it....
"Thank you"... "see you again"
- Rob C
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