Vilar DeMouros, Portugal (July 17th, 2004)

Just like a dream...

    I am a Cure fan since 86 when my older brother brought home "Stand on a Beach"... In 28th June 1989 he took me with him to see my first
live show... The Cure - The Prayer Tour (the only Curetour they ever played in Portugal)... Still for many reasons (my first Cure show, Prayer Tour, Disintegration Album,...) The Best Cure show I attended...
    Since then, I saw them in 92, 95, 98, 2000, 2002 and now 2004... It was my 10th Cure gig (I was in Xacobeo Festival the day before too... GREAT show by the way... opening with Plainsong and ending with Faith... same as fifteen years before... on my first Cure show) and I must say that my feelings before every Cure show are almost the same... but this time was diferent... I had a special feeling... because few moments before The Cure came onstage... I met Robert and as hard as i try to describe me feelings (and believe me, many people keeps asking me that) I can't really describe it in words... I just feel it! It is just like a dream...
    Thanks to Antena3 (Portuguese radio station that was covering Vilar de Mouros Festival) I was one of the six Portuguese Cure fans (nice meeting u all) who had this Great Oportunity... and after a looong wait... The dream came true... We went backstage and I first met Jason (very nice indeed)... and then... Robert himself!!! We shake hands... talked about setlist (Robert said that Simon prefered opening with Plainsong rather than Lost because the interaction with audience was better) and festival shows (different from Cure shows). I asked for older songs... Robert said he would like to play them... and he promised they would come back (Hope they really DO COME BACK for a Cure only show)... then I told him that I was the day before in Spain... that was a Great show... He asked me if there were many people that went to both shows... He told me that Portuguese show would be even better... and finally I told him about my first cure show in 89 (He seemed surprised) and he told me that was a good start for me...Soo the show was... almost perfect (I know, I know, after meeting Robert I can't do a rational review)... Although the setlist was, in my personal opinon, not as good as Spain... but... still...
    Labirinth (one of my new album favourites), From the Edge of the Deep Green Sea (Great sound) , One Hundred Years (THE SONG), The Promise (great song too), The Lovecats (simply the coolest song of the night), Why Can't I Be You (nice surprise)... and Just Like Heaven (still is my favourite Cure pop song)...
    And one last thing that everybody could see and feel... They really are a band... They really are enjoying playing live... And as my friend Puto said in an interview... F*#$ the weight and age, Robert showed every single person (including the most critical ones) that they STILL ARE ONE OF THE BEST (A)LIVE BANDS!!!

- Francisco Cruz

My name is Paulo and I was Saturday on The Cure's concert in Vilar Mouros and it makes me remind a great time that I had in 1989 when I
first saw them in concert in Lisbon. Cure is one of my favorite groups of ever and have the opportunity to go back 15 years was a really great,
great experience. Robert Smith and all the band were fantastic and performed an excellent concert in a nice place like Vilar Mouros (in the
middle of "nowhere" - a great natural ambient). The years go by but the magic of Cure's music is still very strong. In the end all people were
enthusiastic about the almost 2h15min of concert and even the most critics (music journalists and so on... ) about the age of the Cure
and Robert Smith were convinced that Cure is definitely one of the best groups in last most of 25 years...

The setlist was brilliant choice (better for me if Disintegration and Charlotte Sometimes were played, but listen to Night Like This, From the
Edge of..., Play for Today, A Forest and even Lovecats - great surprise! - was really fantastic) and even recent songs in the middle of the great
classics causes a very good impact and people enjoyed very much.

- Paulo

It was the second time i've seen the cure live, the first one having been at the Sudoeste Festival two years ago and i may say there's absolutely no comparison between the concerts!
Yesterday they were fantastic, the only glitches of the show were in the setlist, where they should have played Lost (instead of Plainsong) and Us and Them (instead of Never), but those "mistakes" were more than made up by the encores. The encores were as long as the main show and they really went for the stars! The first one consisted of M, Play For Today and A Forest and all the songs were greatly performed (even if there was a slightly cumbersome finale in A Forest) and VERY intense (as were the final 5 songs, Before Three, A Strange Day, One Hundred Years, Never, The Promise). The second encore was a "feel-good" one, both the fans and the general public appreciated it specially The Lovecats, during which there were these massive DANCE routines all around me (myself included :P). Finally the third encore... they played Friday I'm in Love (not one of my favourites but alas, everyone went WILD - Robert said before playing it that they were "breaking a tradition", because they "had fun playing it last night" :PPP), 10:15 and finally Boys Don't Cry and there, my friends, it was HELL unleashed!!!! I mean, i was like, 15meters from the stage, at the centre at there was space to move but when they started BDC we were invaded by "pogoing people" and wherever i looked at there were people smiling an dsinging and dancing... it was a great ending (but those lousy spanish got Going Nowhere and Faith, the scumbags ;) ).

As for the main show, there were two surprises for me: A Night Like This (easily one of my favourites) and A Strange Day; both of them were nice surprises and i particulary enjoyed listening to A Strange Day followed by 100 Years :).
They only played 6 new songs (and not 4, as both the online reviews mention - stupid journos :((( ) and, as i've mentioned, i think they should have played one or two more, instead of the tried and tested hits, but as it was a festival i understand the option (but Never is really my less favourite song of the new record, and hearing it live didn't change my opinion). Before Three and The promise were the best of the pack, Labyrinth and alt.end (i enjoy the twist in the chorus of this one, can't see why so many people dislike it, and besides i'm strongly convinced this will be the next single) came second, while TEOTW and Never were, for me, the worst... as for the rest of the songs, Pictures of You and FTEOTDGS were very-very good, lovesong was very good and the rest were entertaining :)

All in all, it was way better than 2 years ago: yesterday they were in a great mood (i think Robert was a bit tipsy :P) and played tightly while at Sudoeste they kind of dissapointed me (being the first show i was expecting more, i suppose...) because it was like they were bored by being there playing...
Well, sorry for the long letter, it was just my 2 (thousand) cents on yesterdays concert.

PS: Portuguese fans, Robert said "see you later this year", maybe they'll return here to play their own show, like in 89

- Raul Caçador