It is not very easy to write a review about the show at the Bizarre Festival. Many could watch the gig via internet or on german TV channel ARD. So, this is my special impression I got on last nights show.

It was a very cold and rainy day, so I decided not to be there too early. I arrived at about 6 p.m. . This festival started with a personal highlight, as I met Crystal and her husband Dan. She e-mailed me some days ago where she named a meeting point. They are very nice people and it was great pleasure to meet them and to talk about The Cure. (Watch out for Crystals pictures from the show !)

Well, we tried to get close to the stage very early. Dan wanted to take some pictures from the show. During the concert from Goldie more and more Cure fans arrived in front of the stage. And nearly everyone got the same opinion about the gig from Goldie: it was shit !! So, we all were very happy as Goldie left the stage without playing any encores. I think, his set was even 10 minutes shorter as planned.

At 10.23 p.m. The Cure came on stage. There was no keyboard for Teddy, so it was obvious that they would not play "Trust" or "Cold". Concerning the set-list, there were no surprises. But of course, there were still some highlights. "If only tonight..." was very nice. Great guitar and good singing from Robert. "Pictures of you" is still one of their best songs ever.

But the real highlight was "Untitled", once again. It was the first encore of this show. Roger started playing the keyboards and suddenly Robert fell to the floor. He lied there for more than a minute, then got up again to pick up his guitar. Robert began singing with something totally different and I’m still wondering if he just forgot the lyrics or if he wanted to sing something different. Anyway, it wasn’t so easy to understand him but during the broadcast on ARD, his voice was much clearer. So, I try to give you some lines:

" I’ve been watching me fall for it seems like years, watching me get small for it seems like years, watch me get tall...(?). Walking out, I see your name. It’s never ever to be the same. And you watch and you wait. And you watch and you wait."

I hope that I’ve understood it properly. Maybe someone else can help to clear up the question-mark ?! It was a great version, especially these few lines. He sang them with a very gloomy voice. Maybe some lines from a new song ?? It would be great !

But there are also some negative aspects of the show. During many songs Robert messed up the lyrics. And unfortunately, his voice wasn’t at its best. He had problems to reach the higher notes during the powerful songs like "Cut", "From the edge..." or "Disintegration". Sometimes his voice even failed. So, he decided to sing with a lower voice or even not to sing at all. I don’t know what was going on with him. A week ago, at the Zillo Festival his voice was great. It seems to me as if he has a cold. Remember, it was very cold and rainy over the last couple of days. So that may be an explanation.

Anyway, just for "Untitled" it was still worth attending this show. This was my last concert of this summer tour. Actually, there is only one left. Tonight, they play the Sun Festival in Brno (Czech Republic). And after all, I think, there were many, many highlights. I keep a lot of memories deep inside, that no one can ever take away. "Disintegration" at the Zillo Festival, "Kyoto Song" at Zeebrugge or "Untitled" at the Bizarre Festival. Just to name some, but definitely not all highlights.

The Cure are alive. And the next year is going to be great. We all can be very anxious about how the new album is going to be. "Gloomy", Robert and Roger hinted during yesterdays live chat. That would be great. No doubt ! The set-list on this summer tour through Europe was gloomy. And I’m still wondering if this can be taken as a hint concerning the atmosphere of the next album. Remember, The Cure omly played one song from the "Wild Mood Swings" album, but 6 songs from "Disintegration" !!

Anyway, I would really like to believe Robert and Roger. But we know that Robert likes to lie...

See you next year !

(Just wanted to thank Lars publicly for the great reviews he's sent in, so Thank You Lars! It's fans like you that make this fun and exciting.)

i arrived at the bizarre festival when goldie was on stage. i saw a lot of cure fans walking around, it was obvious that they were not interested in goldie.

i saw a couple of friends from belgium and we had a chat about what the cure played everywhere. when goldie finished all cure fans came down to the main-stage.

at 22.25 the cure started with shake dog shake. the sound wasn't good, you could hear the techno coming from the other side of the field. a lot of people screamed to put the volume harder. fascination street was also quiet so i went more to the front off the stage. during a strange day the sound became better and better but not perfect. if only tonight we could sleep was nice but different than normally, i couldn't hear rogers' keyboard well.

robert forgot some lines during pictures of you and he had to improvise a bit. just like heaven woke up some guys around me as they started to jump up and down. sinking was also good with perry doing some nice guitar parts. the end of the show was the normal "harder end" with perry doing a lot of guitar parts. he is perhaps not the same player as porl was but tonight i really found him good, a little hard and rough, especially during disintegration were robert didn't play the guitar so perry had to do it on his own and he did it well.

after disintegration the cure left and came back to play untitled were again robert forgot some words. they just once came back to play a forest, 10.15 and killing an arab leaving with "see you again next year".

this was maybe not the best show i saw but the mistakes made it a bizarre concert for me. it was my 16th concert and i never saw robert like this, sometimes it was just like he was dreaming on stage. that was what it made a special concert.

when i came back at home in belgium after a drive from 3 hours i saw the video from the german television and i realised that the cure is for me the best band since years and that i certainly will see them back next year.