here's what i have to say about hanau

weird

in hanau the cure entered the stage at 7 pm - for the soundcheck!!
the crowd was still waiting outside when i suddenly recognised that
someone was playing "same deep water as you" inside. well, the front
of the building was made of glass and you could see the stage from
outside, so now you could WATCH THEM SOUNDCHECKING and the sound was
good, because some windows were open. after "water" they did "you
really got me" and once again i thought i must be dreaming...
try to tell anybody you saw the cure playing "you really got me"
in hanau.......well, nothing ever gets me out.
then they tried the beginning of "plainsong" and went backstage, a few
moments later the doors opened.

they played a really good and quite long set, we came closer to 3 hours
than all the other sets i had in germany. and robert was in an especially
good mood. first it was nice to hear "pictures" again. then robert had some
extra lines for "disintegration" and "close to me", he didn't forget text,
just extra lines, but i don't remember them at all, something like "one of
the few things, that i really like" in "disintegration" i think.
he didn't do RAAAAIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIN - one of the two bad moments.
you know what? i hate "boys don't cry" because they play it EVERY night...
this time robert kept singing "boys sometimes cry" and some other extra
lyrics instead of the "boys don't cry"-refrain.
and "why can't i be you" was really special. it must have been about 15
 minutes
long and once again he walked in front of the first row. he sang "young at
heart", then he turned around to the stage, he said "let's try something
new" and started to sing "moon river" followed by a really good "love cats"
,he turned around again and called "give me jungle give me jungle" to roger
and "go, simon ,go" when simon did his "mission impossible". then slowly he
walked down the rest of the first row, he came closer and closer to me - it
was the first time
i was there when he was there - it's really incredible when he is standing
 right
in front of you, he kept smiling all the time, i took a deep look in his
eyes and held his left hand for a second - CRAZY MOMENT.......
they ended with a 15 minute version of "a forest" - almost 17 minutes
long - with extra lyrics. here are the very few lines i think i remember:
"when you start the same way every time:
 'good morning, dear'
 'good morning, dear'
 i looked after you for years
 good morning, dear..."

"here <robert points to right side> used to be a door
 but it isn't there anymore,
 now the door is there <points to left side>
 but it's a different room"
second bad moment and unfortunately the last moment:
simon stopped his bass at the end of a forest, before robert was ready with
his part.
that's it from germany.

Hi folks

yesterday i was at my 10th and last and BEST concert on this tour!

First, the crowd was... ermm... i guess 1500 or less in a very small 
venue (which wasn't even sold out!), it seemed to me like there were only 
50 or 100 people who knew The Cure and enjoyed the concert and the rest seemed
to be just bored. 
By the way, Hanau, and especially the venue there, are located in 
the "arse of the world" or "in the middle of nowhere" (if you prefer this 
phrase;) 
Imagine this: 
the band leaves the stage after the main-set and then there is 
silence, interrupted only by a few fans who screams for them to come 
back... scary, ey? It was the first time i was afraid that the band might 
stop the concert at that point because almost noone wanted to hear 
them... :( ...well, maybe i'm exaggerating.

So, and now to why it was the BEST concert i've seen! :)
Since i was still ill i couldn't go to the front, so i stood in the back, 
enjoying the lights and I writing down the setlist ;) 
Here it is:
the show started on 8:39

PLAINSONG
Simon had some trouble with his bass. Funny, his bass was played despite 
even when he didn't have one at hand... hehe, --> conclusion? ;)

WANT
CLUB AMERICA
A NIGHT LIKE THIS
LULLABY

FUNERAL PARTY
this was so damn beautiful... with deep blue lights and Roger playing the 
keyboards wonderfully, 
and, i was surprised to hear this song so early in the set, made me 
looking forward to the rest of the show.  

STRANGE ATTRACTION
sometimes the order of the songs are awful, aren't they? Or is it 
just "wild mood swings"? ;)

JUST LIKE HEAVEN
a part of the crowd woke up a bit... some people danced 

HANGING GARDEN
Roger played on drums which are usually used for This Is A Lie. A great 
performance 

CATCH
LIKE COCKATOOS
only one word ------> AWESOME!

COLD
Robert said something like "next one's an old one... you see.. it's a 
kind of wierd set tonight... blabla"

TRAP
PRAYERS FOR RAIN (0 seconds)
No joke, he didn't scream "... raiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiinnnnnnn"
this time, but he blurbed some extra lyrics instead, i couldn't 
understand them

TREASURE
INBETWEEN DAYS
FROM THE EDGE OF THE DEEP GREEN SEA
BARE
DISINTEGRATION
the most emotional version i've ever heard! Robert grabbed the mic, 
walked around, and when he played guitar he hang the mic on his back.
 
Robert was, surprisingly to me, very very emotional! He really enjoyed the 
"nice" songs (like strange att., catch, jlh...)  and seemed to suffer a lot 
from the "sad" ones (funeral party, h.garden, disintegration...)! 
He often changed the lyrics, played different tunes...

The weeks before (until the Munich show) he was very bored, didn't say 
anything between the songs, no changes in the songs...played only for 2 hours

By the way, if anyone's wondering why i'm talking only about Robert:
after all concerts i've seen i think i can say that Robert sets the mood, 99 
percent of the show is concentrated on him, the rest of the band seemed 
to be just some necessary musicians to support him... anyone disagree? 
i'm sure that someone does ;)


1st encore
SUBWAY SONG 
GRINDING HALT 
both songs were great! Ginding Halt is IMHO live MUCH better than on the 
album

PLAY FOR TODAY 
BOYS DON'T CRY
10.15 
KILLING AN ARAB
the standard encore. Sorry to say that. I've heard these four songs in 
that particular order ten times now... it's always the same. 
But, it is great despite. Now the crowd really woke up!

2nd encore     
LOVE SONG
CLOSE TO ME
WHY CAN'T I BE YOU? (extended)
This was the best extended version of WCIBY i've ever heard:
Robert left the stage, walked by the front row. they played 
Young At Heart, Moon River, Love Cats, "Jungle Time" and Mission Impossible 
Robert started getting wild, yelling "Junge Time!... This is a jungle... 
yeah... hear it... the sound of the jungle!" Roger 'abused' his keyboards 
to create some wierd sounds, Jason played some jazz... it sounded like a 
big jam session anyway! Robert sang and jumped around like a monkey 
"Wa Wa   Wa Wa Why Wa   Why can't i i i   i i i i   i i i  i i  be you ..." 
climbed up the drums, hanging on Jasons shoulders... it was really funny!

3rd encore   
A FOREST 
  14 min.! Robert added a lot of words and played ('shrubbed', i don't know 
if this word really exists, but it would fit;) his guitar as 
if he was insane... Simon and Perry stood around, stared at Robert as if they 
thought "Wow, what's going on with him?"

the show ended on 11:27
---> total time 2:48, 30 songs

I can't really explain exactly why, but i liked this concert best, it was 
even better than the first european show i saw in Rotterdam (3:00 hours, 35 
songs with forest/forever).
To me this concert was a worthy farewell, after having seen the band 10 
times within the past 5 weeks. It was also a kind of "substitute" for the 
fabulous show in Kiel on 24.11., which i couldn't go to because i was too sick.

Although it took me a lot of time and money and it was hard to travel that 
much, I had a great time, saw some great concerts and met some really nice 
people! Thanks and greetings especially to 
Ton   (Have you enjoyed Essen?)
Alfio (Damn, it would've been great to share the Kiel-show with you)
Erik  (Na, sind die Aufnahmen was geworden? Die Cure-Party war super!)
Nicky (Wir haben noch ein paar monsterlange mails fortzusetzen, gelle?)
Petr  (Lost in a foggy, sorry "smokey" Prague... i'll never forget;)
Sven  (haste noch das R'dam tape?)
Denis (Sorry dass ich dich nicht in Prag sehen konnte!)
Henning (Thanks for the "interesting" postcard, hehe)
Ryan Davis (What a pity that we missed each other in Berlin! 
            Have you been there? Tell me how Berlin and Gent was:)
Karsten (Du solltest dir einen Geldscheisser zulegen, haha, wie witzig!;)
Ester (Ich schreibe dir bald ueber das Prager Konzert, ok?)

I wish everone who is going to see The Cure on the rest of the tour a lot 
of fun and a nice time!