European Summer Festival Tour 2004
July 16th, 2004 - Santiago de
Compostela,
Spain (Xacobeo Festival)
Plainsong, Fascination Street, Before Three, A Night Like This, The
End of the World, Lovesong, InBetween Days, Just Like Heaven, Pictures
of
you, Lullaby, alt.end, Push, From the Edge of the Deep Green Sea,
One Hundred Years, Us or Them, Disintegration
1st encore: Close To Me, The Lovecats, Friday I'm In Love, Boys Don't
Cry
2nd encore: M, Play For Today, A Forest
3rd encore: Going Nowhere, Faith.
Show was 130 minutes
(Thanks to Javi for the setlist)
Photos
(Thanks Angel)
Translation of the article published in El País
(Spain) on July, 17th/18th, 2004:
The Cure nurtures its legend and fascinates old and new fans
The British band defeats an irregular Lou Reed in Santiago
Nobody would say that 25 years have passed by, but so it is: The Cure, the
band of the gloomy Robert Smith, has been in the thick of things
since 1979. Since then they have issued 13 albums and they have become one
of the musical icons of the end of the 20th century. Last Friday
they closed the second day of the Conciertos del Nuevo Milenio in Santiago
(Concerts of the New Millenium) and they proved that we still
have to count on them for the future.
The songs of the album that has just been released – The Cure – and the
old hits that are already part of the history of modern music completely
seduced the 30,000 people who packed the auditorium of the Monte do Gozo
in Santiago. The main day of the macro-festival organized by the Xacobeo included
as well Lou Reed - who preceded onstage the British band and did not achieve,
not even by far, the same level of communion with the audience. Reed was
hired in the last minute to substitute David Bowie, who was absent due to
illness. The rest of guests for the night were the
British bands Starsailor and Muse. The latter did a convincing performance
with their mixture of guitar pop and progressive rock, combined with the piano
performances of their leader Matthew Bellamy.
However, the great event came with the coming onstage of The Cure. Robert
Smith’s matchless voice sounded as deep as always in the first
song, Plainsong, which set a high level of emotion from which the band would
not get off for the rest of the concert. As it has been typical throughout
his career, Smith took special care of the tempo of the concert and knew how
to keep the audience in tension during the more than two hours that their
performance lasted. He did not need any dramatic gesture, just combining old
and new songs and creating that special atmosphere that turns the stage into
a gothic dungeon was enough. Smith’s walks between songs staring enigmatically
at the audience and taking pictures were the only concession to show (or spectacle)
from a band who still characterises itself by a total sobriety. Their songs
are far too good for needing distracting the audience with fireworks.
Songs like In between days, Close to me, Boys don’t cry, Just like
heaven or Lullaby sounded for enjoyment of the many Cure followers of all
ages, who packed the first rows of backcombed hair and black clothes, a style
for which Robert Smith was the main banner in the 80s. But the band does not
live from memories and the songs of their new album were as celebrated as
the old songs.
The only thing lacking for a perfect day was that the other star of the
night, Lou Reed, offered a better version... (it continues on Lou Reed to
the end of the article).
(Thanks to Deborah for translating and
typing this up)
Wow!!! This show was a beautiful one. The band played very well a mix of
old songs (especially on second encore, with a great “A forest”) and new
songs. Nice to see Robert happy and playing with energy and heart on every
song. The crowd responded to the band with a lot of passion, cause
the
‘singles stuff’ was a brilliant idea. Think that Lou Reed, who played
before The Cure, didn’t make a show for 30,000 people. His show was bad,
and the crowd needs an equal set list for all class of fans. Reed didn’t
do it and The Cure’s show had a biggest impact on the crowd for this reason.
The funny moment was in the middle of the show. Robert took a camera off
a fan and he makes a photo of the fan! Yeah! Was cool, and this is an
example of Robert’s attitude. His mom and dad were in the festival, and
Mary too.
About the encores, I’m very happy when I remember people near to me crying
with “Faith”, the last song. They also played in these encore
“Going Nowhere”. The new song was a perfect open and “Faith” did the rest
of the work.
Robert said the typical phrase in the end of the show. “See you
late in this year”. I hope Bob and the guys come back to Spain, really.
: )
- Scarface (Carlos)
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