Reveiw by Sara Scribner for the L.A. Times 10/30/97 :

CURE'S DARK SONGS OF DESIRE STILL RESONATE

It's easy to dismiss the Cure as an 80's leftover band that just won't go away. After all, it's been 20 years since the group was spawned in England's late '70's Goth rock scene. The far eerier, gloomier and more subversive groups that have sprung up since-from gothic Australians Nick Cave and the Bad Seeds, to shock-rockers Marilyn Manson- make the Cure seem almost cute by comparison.

But in a rare small-venue show at the Hollywood American Legion Hall on Tuesday, the Cure underscored the simple fact that it has left a vast alternative-music legacy. The band's new album is a collection of its singles from the past decade, and on Tuesday the group dipped even further into the past, composing the entire two-hour set from its '80's hits and gearing it toward longtime fans.

The most striking aspect of the show was the sheer quantity of Cure hits. Singer-songwriter Robert Smith, peering coyly at the audience from beneath his tademark puff of hair, dove into a slew of familiar-and now nostalgic- songs. Most focused on existential themes (Killing an Arab") and love in the midst of bohemian angst (Friday I'm in Love", Let's Go to Bed," Just Like Heaven").

But one of the problems that the band has battled in its effort to remain relevant in the 90's also became obvious: Smith was originally able to make the leap into rock's mainstream with a childlike manner that added an oddly endearing edge to the band's darker musings. At 40, it's a tough act to pull off with an audience beyond the fervent core cult of older fans.

On Tuesday, Smith could get away with it mainly because the Cure has always been a singles band and he was delivering its strongest material. In the end, the Cure's songs about desire as a life raft in a sea of insecurity still resonate, even if they do feel entirely tied to another era.

Review By Phil Gallo for Reuters/Variety :

Thursday October 30 9:00 AM EST

REVIEW/PERFORMANCE: The Cure Showcases Hits

The Cure (Hollywood Legion Hall;900 capacity; $35)

HOLLYWOOD (Variety) - Stack up the Cure's hits over the past 10 years or so and you get a profound sense of an untampered sound or milieu -- the Halloweenish Robert Smith is still lost in love, and the bright-sounding side of early '80s Brit angst is still finding a punchy groove.

Tuesday night's showcase for the new singles collection, "Galore" (Elektra), was a straight-ahead romp through alternative radio faves; as much as "Love Song" beats the pack of 20 tunes by a half-length, few bands have done so well changing the color of the same horse over and over.

The Cure's hits resonate on two musical levels -- cathartic release or brooding contemplation -- and act like a narcotic for the most hardcore fans and as a balm for the peripheral observers.

It's the music speaking in these confines -- less than 10% the size of the average Cure concert crowd -- and the band rarely seemed to take advantage of the venue's intimacy.

In a "hits" program such as this, numbers are relegated to three- or four-minute record-perfect renderings, a limitation that actually shows how thoroughly Smith has manipulated his blueprint since "Boys Don't Cry" broke out of the Bauhaus-Joy Division pack in 1980.

Each introduction received a chorus of screams, though clearly, the numbers "Love Song," "Why Can't I Be You," "Fascination Street" and "In Between Days" stood tallest.

As a frontman, Smith is casual without being blase, neither absorbing nor repelling.

Even the most winsome and airy numbers -- "Just Like Heaven," "Pictures of You" and "In Between Days" -- find their buoyancy in the melodic bass lines of Simon Gallup and the distinct separation of the bass, guitar and electronic keyboards.

When they add to the density, particularly on 1987's "Hot Hot Hot," the band loses focus and a sense of distinction.

Despite no theatrics, concert boasted a superb light show that embellished each number with specific hues, spotlights of cobalt and teal dueling against white and beige, a fiery orange and yellow to highlight "Hot Hot Hot."

Sound for the instruments was remarkably clear, but Smith's between-song banter was consistently unintelligible.

The band will perform one other concert -- Halloween in New York -- as part of this promo tour that has included television and in-store appearances.

Presented by Avalon-Phillip Blaine. Band: Robert Smith, Simon Gallup, Roger O'Donnell, Jason Cooper, Perry Bamonte. Reviewed Oct. 28, 1997.

Review by the Press-Telegram :

INTIMATE GATHERING GIVEN A STRONG, PASSIONATE CURE

It wa an intimate show Robert Smith of the Cure was determined to enjoy at a very basic level. And judging by the approximate 1,000 lucky fans that managed to get tickets for the low-key concert at the Hollywood American Legion Hall Tuesday, it was a two-hour event they also thoroughly enjoyed. Gone were the fancy, computerized lights and stadium size stage that has been an integral part of the Cure's past shows. Instead, the band opted for an amp-crowded stage and a set of lights that Smith said cost about $500. Regardless of the lack of flash, it didn't keep this English gloom-rock band from giving a strong performance. Smith and company performed a steady flow of singles feature on their latest compilation CD, "Galore." Starting off the set with "Why Can't I Be You," the Cure gave their audience nearly two hours of the band's most successful hits, receiving the loudest appluase with tunes like "Facination Street," Lovesong," "Pictures of You," and "Friday I'm In Love." Smaller venues like the Hollywood American Legion Hall are the right setting for a band like the Cure. Smith's uniquely passionate stage presence has the strong capability of capturing an audience, a part of the Cure's show that can be lost in stadium shows.

Review by Chuck Russom :

Cure Day LA 10-28-97

Instead of starting out by bitching about how incompetant Ticket Bastard is (hmm, tix said 8pm, what the hell happened at 8pm? I dunno, I was standing on the sidewalk til 9pm (when the doors finally opened), then stood around inside til 10:20!). And I'm not even going to touch upon how ridiculous of a scene it was earlier in the day waiting for tix. I would instead like to share the high points of a great Cure show.

The American Legion Hall is a very cool building, and quite small for a concert, so I was able to get close enough to see all the action. The Cure took the stage around 10:20ish with Why Can't I Be You. After several of their hits, I started getting a little bored. I saw them at the Weenie Roast in June, and twice last year, so nothing here was new. But it was cool to see them up close.

Then after Pictures of You someone new appeared on stage. At first glance I thought it was just a guitar tech. Then I realized, that Reeves Gabriels! It's fuckin Reeves! You have to understand, I am a huge fan of Bowie, and as a guitar player myself, I worship Reeves every move. He is like god to me, I almost cried with joy. But what is this song... Oh, it's Close To Me. Sounds different, sounds real cool! Great solo Reeves! Then they played Wrong Number. Once again, great solo Reeves! Damn Reeves kicks ass!

After seeing The Cure jam with Reeves I thought it was all over for me. There was no way in my eyes that they could top this. I was affraid the rest of the show would be nothing. After Love Song they brought up another guest. Now, I speak American, not English, so I can hardly understand a word Robert says, but I think it was Wayne Hussey. Anyway he played Inbetween Days, and a great version of A Forest with them. Forest was so dark sounding, it wasn't that long (as a matter of fact, everything was short, ie: Why Can't I, Hot x3. Even Pictures of you was the radio edit with the intro cut) but it just sounded great, maybe cause there were 3 guitars.

The final encore is where they got back all of my attention (I was still hoping Reeves would come out and play some songs off Bowie's Earthling album, hahaha). I think Robert was really drunk by this point, cause he was really agressive during Primary, 10:15, and Killing an Arab. As a matter of fact the whole band was really agressive (even Roger was pounding on those keys!), they banged away at those last songs, like I have never seen them do before! A+ performance.

Now, just a few interesting tidbits of note. For the first few songs, Roger seemed to be having some problems with his in-ear monitors. Simon is still a leap frog (without much room tho, I thought he was gonna knock Perry over). Perry needs a hair cut. And Robert totally screwed up his Mint Car solo, all he could do is stop and laugh (with Roger enjoying a laugh too). Robert didn't have too much to say, and I couldn't understand much of what he said anyway.

Review by John Peterson :

Today is my first day back to work after my trip down to LA and I am surprised that not that many people have posted to tell about their experiences at the American Legion show. I guess I'll tell you a little bit about what I had to go through to get tickets and what I thought about the show.

My friend and I got to the Ticketmaster where tickets were being sold five minutes after Robert made the announcement. We were number six and seven in line. We spent the night on the sidewalk in front of the Pantages Theater on Hollywood and Vine, and met some nice people. We also had free entertainment provided by a drunk homeless man who thought we were in line to see Carlos Santana! There is nothing like trying to sleep on cold concrete while listening to a totally drunk guy with a bad voice sing "Black Magic Woman". I guess it helped pass the time! Well, at 11:30 the next morning, after waiting for seventeen hours, security arrived and informaed us that they would be handing out wristbands in a random order and it didn't matter where you were in line, you had just as good a chance of getting tickets. I guess this is the most fair way of doing it and it prevents scalpers from doing what they did in New York, but it didn't feel very good that I slept out there for nothing. At 12:00 they passed out 1200 wristbands numbered from 3200 to 4500 approximately. They then told us that 424 tickets were for sale and 212 people would get to buy tickets. My friend had number 3313 and I had 4414. Together we had 424 numbers that could have been called and we would still be able to get tickets for the show. At 1:00 they announced 3227! We were in, but a number of the people we met the night before didn't get tickets and they were pretty upset. I felt really bad for those that didn't get in, but I think the tickets were handled better that the New York show.

I rushed over to the American Legion Hall and my friend waited to get the tickets. Were second in line to get in to the club and after waiting for about eight hours standing there and watching the line get longer and longer behind us, they finally started letting us in. They did something really dumb here though. They let us in only to be stopped inside the club by two more doors leading in to the actual performance hall. So we got to wait ten more minutes while the crowd built up at the doors inside. We were no longer second in line! When they opened the flood gates and we all poured into the hall, we were left standing right at the front about where Simon and Perry stand. It was at this point that all the waiting and effort we put in finally made sense and I realized what we were about to see.

After waiting for a very long hour, it finally happened. The lights went down and the band walked out on to the stage. It was so surreal! The smallest venue I had seen them at before this night was at the soundcheck at Irvine Meadows last year, but this was different. They were so close and the stage was so small it was amazing.

The show itself was also great. I can't remember the set list exactly, but they pretty much stuck to singles. Reeves Gabriel came out for a new version of "Close To Me", which was brilliant of course and "Wrong Number", which was the highlight of the evening for me. It was so incredible live. The song is just starting to sink into me on the radio, but live it was the best. It was just great watching them have such a great time! They worked out all the jitters fairly early and just had fun with it. Robert did the absolute worst job on "Mint Car" that I have ever seen him do, but the band just laughed at him and he pulled it off by changing the lyrics around to be something about making mistakes, that I couldn't quite understand, and at the end of it he shot himself in the head with his finger. He only had one joke tonight and I couldn't understand what he said for the punch line. It was "What does Bob Marley like to have with doughnuts?". Has anyone heard this joke before?

For the last two songs of the regular set Wayne Hussey of The Mission came out and played "In Between Days" and "A Forest" with them. They then played two encores ending the night with "Boy's Don't Cry", "10:15", and "Killing an Arab". Just like old times.

They probably played for two or two and a half hours all together. I then got to drive two hours home and finally sleep in my own bed. The show was, by far, my most special Cure moment so far, and I really feel sorry for the people who didn't get in and for those of you who don't live close enough to LA or New York to even have a chance to see the shows.

They video taped the whole show with three cameras and one of the camera men told me it would be on the internet and on video tape, but I don't know if he really knew what he was talking about.

I hope the New York show is just as much fun for those of you lucky enough to get tickets, and I hope everyone else has an opportunity some time to have a similar experience.

Review by Steven Mirkin for Allstar :

The Cure Deliver The Goods In First Club Show In 10 Years Fire Inspector Closes Doors On Ticket Holders

Pop psychologists talk about your inner child. Cure fans, it would seem, have an inner mopey adolescent. How else can you explain the wide age range at the band's Hollywood American Legion Hall show on Tuesday (Oct. 28)? Middle- aged codgers, thirtysomething couples, frat boys, and even real teenagers -- some decked out in the de rigeur goth pancake make-up and dyed black hair -- all came out in force (too much force, if you believe the Los Angeles Fire Department) for the British band's first small club appearance in 10 years. They were not disappointed. The Cure, as promised, delivered a 75-minute set (plus two generous encores) that concentrated on their hits -- from "Killing an Arab" to "Wrong Number," the newest song on Galore, the band's second singles collection. While the show yielded no musical surprises, it was an impressive reminder of the breadth of Robert Smith's songwriting. Although the Cure has moved from an artily minimal, angular sound to lush minor-key dance grooves, in concert the songs seem very much of a piece. If the band (Smith, guitar and vocals; Simon Galllup, bass; Roger O'Donnel, keyboards; Jason Cooper, drums; and Perry Bamonte, guitars) sounded a little rusty playing the older material (a rushed "Boys Don't Cry" seemed especially perfunctory), their propulsive, extended version of the electronica- tinged rocker "Wrong Number" gave the Cure's sound a contemporary edge. Reeves Gabrels, David Bowie's guitarist who plays on the recorded version of "Wrong Number," joined Smith & Co. onstage for a revved-up version of the song, providing one of the highlights of the evening. He also joined them onstage for "Close to Me." Smith was in especially good humor, joking and teasing the audience. He introduced one song as "Our version of Bob Marley's 'Jamming,'" and even broke out an occasional smile. His every move, as well as each song, was greeted by the crowd with rapturous squeals, especially during "Love Song," "Let's Go to Bed," and "Friday I'm In Love."

But not everyone who had a ticket could see the show. In an echo of the Cure's problems at their Virgin Megastore in-store performance Monday, (allstar, Oct. 28) the band was interrupted by city officials. After they hit the stage around 10:15 p.m., Inspector Kendall McCartney of the Los Angeles Fire Department ordered the doors to the auditorium closed, leaving some 50 to 75 ticket holders in concert limbo inside the Hall, but not allowed to enter the auditorium. Chief Stephen Reba of the LAFD explained that Inspectors have the discretion to lower the capacity posted on a building's certificate of occupancy if they feel a hazard is present. (The Inspector allegedly has a history of finding "danger" in rock events -- he closed down a party for David Bowie and Nine Inch Nails last year too.) A representative at Avalon Attractions, who produced the show, says they're looking into the situation and will try to come up with a way to reimburse ticket holders who could not see the show.

Review by Rayna Khaitan :

every single part of me is sore, but its ecstasy in my head. i feel like i've been beat up, trampled on, and strangled. i think that all of those happened last night, at one point or another, but that was one of the BEST shows of my life. i didn't even try for tickets yesterday cos i had heard that people were camping out since the evening before. i didn't have transportation and i had to finish up a paper, so i figured that i would get to the show early, and hope that i could find my way in...somehow. my friend and i ran into a bunch of scalpers who were asking for $200 a ticket. i asked one of them if he waited in line earlier to get tickets, and he said yes. he had seven tickets. i suddenly was really angry with him, and asked, "don't you feel guilty doing this?" of course, he took a hostile defense: "i pay taxes on all this. the government knows what i do for a living!" i walked away, even though i wanted to punch him. i wouldn't have stood a chance against him and all of his fellow homie g' type gangsta friends. sorry if that lingo isn't correct, but i'll never be down with all dat. (shy smile) i don't want to be.

anyway.....after running around, my friend and i finally found a touristy shop with an ATM. we both took out another massive sum of money and hurried back to the scalper who was giving us a "deal": $300 for the pair. a guy who i USED to be friends with whispered to me, "hey rayna, go find that pimp guy walking around with the black shirt. he looks like he wants to give away some tickets." "how much does he want?" he answered, "i don't think he wants money. but i'll give you a napkin to wipe your mouth afterwards." our friendship is over. agh.

so we got our tickets, and got in line with said ex-friend and his friend. we were in line by eight-ish, and they let us in around nine - fifteen or so, but i could be wrong. i wasn't checking my watch all that much. they opened the gate and we all slipped in quickly. they were frisking everyone at the door, but like it usually happens, not a finger was layed on me. no one ever suspects me of anything. i walked through the front door, gave the guy my ticket, which he mangled in one ferocious rip, leaving me with a pathetic remnant which looks like it could have been from ANY show cos you can't see the date, the band's name, the venue or anything. whatever. my friends were still outside, getting molested by security, so i went shopping.

they were selling three shirts: one black one with a picture of robert, somewhat similar to the treasure shirt of last year, but in my opinion, much better and not so intense, a greyish-blue shirt, that said "THE CURE" in simple blue letters. it has sortof a v-neck, with the logo's colour trimmed around the neck. it was available in long sleeves (that's the one i bought) and short sleeves. as always, they had large and extra large, and the short-sleeved ones were $25. the long sleeved one was $30.

my friends came in, and we lingered in the lobby type area before we could actually go in. we waited a couple minutes, they opened the door: "don't run!" but of course everyone high-tailed it to right up in front, next to the stage. i was fabulously close..or so it began that way. i was directly in front of robert's microphone and about seven feet away from the stage. the place is beautiful. i'd never been there before, but i HIGHLY recommend seeing any band there. it is intensely intimate and majestic. the ceilings were high, the curtains around the stage were a deep shade of red, and the decoration was cream-coloured heaven.

they played music to keep us busy while we waited, and good music at that, mostly brit-pop, so i was all fine and dandy. we were packed in there really tightly, so this really intelligent girl lit up a cigarrette. as it was, we couldn't breathe and were decaying into an evil state of clausterphobia. she didn't care -- she had to look cool. cos after all, what else matters? my friend and i looked at each other and just shook our heads... more music, more talking, more wonder.. around 10:10, either kevin or bean (from kroq's morning show) came on stage, said thank you, and basically on with the show. soon after that, the fantasy began....

"why can't i be you?" opened the set, and the moment the cure appeared on stage, everyone pushed to the front. thankfully (and i seriously owe my life to this boy), my friend, barry grabbed on to me, put his arms on either side of me, and fended off people from all directions. i'm small, and while barry is bigger and taller than me, he is still only about five - nine, and a lot of the people around us began to seem like these monstrous human beings, exaggerated proportions and everything. there was this one guy who was in front of me, who kept looking back and grinning, while pushing back at me. i hate him.

the lights were a spell of grandeur, and though i was being smothered, i loved being there. i can't even begin to describe how perfect they sounded, crystal and sharp, cutting into me with the alluring stinging and energy that is similar to the feeling of hearing "push" for the first time in your life. it's an experience that will never fade, and after all these years listening to the cure, last night's performance will always stand out as spirituality at its deepest. chilling tingles of emotion tickled me everywhere. my mind was focusing on the stage and my body was being crushed and was falling all over the place. i felt really bad for barry cos i felt like if i wasn't there, he could just hold his own, and everything would be okay.

i'm desperately trying to remember the playlist, but it is all such a blur that i really can't. here are the songs, i know i'll miss some, but just from memory: why cant i be you?, just like heaven (with the "you, you, you" from this summer), catch (absolutely amazing), close to me (closer mix with robert dancing around in his unique way and with another guy on guitar, i have no clue who that was, so if someone can tell me, i'd love to know. i couldnt see all that well at that moment), lullaby, fascination street, lovesong, pictures of you (exhilerating), mint car, wrong number (the first time done live? REALLY REALLY brilliant. this song is wonderful live, robert's voice has never sounded so coy and strong...rrrrrrrr..), friday i'm in love, charlotte sometimes (sweet and innocent, and i loved the way he said, "come to me scared princess," but that is my favorite line from that song so maybe im biased), boys don't cry, killing an arab, 10:15 saturday night, a forest (powerful, but i've heard much better and much longer), primary (stunning), never enough (i'm so glad they've started playing this again this year), hot hot hot !!!, inbetween days, the walk (i know they play this one all the time, but i happen to LOVE it live, so i was happy), lets go to bed (hehe, its back!). that's all i can remember right now, if someone has the correct set, please post it.

the first set ended with a forest and there were two encores... a strange thing happened, though, an hour or something about that time into the show, i felt barry sortof shrink up behind me. i turned around, and asked if he was okay. his head was slumped down on my shoulder and he shook his head, "no." we weaved our way through the crowd and i found a place for him to sit while i got him water. this idiot at the door said that i couldn't get out cos i wouldnt' be able to come back so i found a nice security guard at a side exit. he gave me water. and barry and i went outside during friday i'm in love. we sat there together, listening to the music, recuperating. both of us were nauseous and exhausted. we'd never endured such intense crowd chaos. i ached and was numb and cold everywhere. so was he. we ended up sitting out there for the rest of the show. i was in so much pain, but more than anything else, i was happy.

all in all, it was an amazingly powerful show. maybe the best show i've ever been to, but its so difficult to say cos my first cure show was so special, and then so was the second...and the third...and..so... i am just REALLY thankful that i made it inside. my october cure saga is almost over. i'm going to watch the tonight show this evening --on tv, though. but last night was heavenly.. the cure showed everyone that twenty years has only made them better. they are the best band in the world and i know i'm gushing, but ahhhh...... robert was so animated, talking a lot between songs, everything was so inspired, and it just felt so comforting to FEEL that much of everything that i care about in one night.

Review by Anita :

I would just like to throw my two cents in on the show....

Well, my body is aching and bruised from being smashed around, my feet sustain permanent damage from being stepped on, not to mention all that standing in line, my hearing is still not up to par, not due to the concert but to the people screaming, including myself, my academic career at UCLA is going down the tubes as I missed a midterm, and I am now officially out of money, but yet - I HAVE NEVER FELT SO GOOD IN MY ENTIRE LIFE!! :):):)

It was so amazing to be crammed into a tiny little auditorium and have the Cure standing like 7 feet in front of me!!!! My friend and I waited in line from 5 o'clock until like 9 or so when they started letting people in. Then there was a MAD dash to get in the front. We ran like hell and managed to score a position in the smack center with about 2 people in front of us! And the stage was so close to the audience, I might add. It took forever before they finally got on, but it was worth every second. The place went dark and everyone started screaming and pushing and then the lights came on and the Cure was on stage, opening with Why Can't I Be You!!!!

Did anyone catch the middle of Mint Car when Robert messed up on guitar and then just stopped playing it for a bit and was laughing?? I thought that was *so* adorable. I noticed Robert did a lot of his little dances during the show. Roger was just smiling away the whole time, always making eye contact with the fans, what a cutie!! Simon looked amazing!!! I love his hair! I couldn't even really get a glimpse of Jason. I yelled for Perry and I swear he smiled at me, hee hee.....could be my imagination, but I am hoping not!

The song that I enjoyed most, well there is two 10:15 on a Saturday Night and Killing an Arab!!! They were so into it!!! Playing away on those guitars!!! It was *unbelievable*!!!!!! Oh, and A Forest as well! And Charlotte Sometimes, well the whole show was amazing!

This was one of the best weeks of my life. Oh, yes and before I forget, I took some pictures during the show, and I put them in 1 hour photo, but won't get them back til tomorrow. If anyone is interested in getting some copies, let me know. My camera is really good, it is one of those panoramic things.

Anyways, thanks to everyone who read this and I would love to hear from those of you who went and who will be going to New York. All I can say is that we are soooooo lucky!

Review by Alfred :

The Show was awesome!!! It was scheduled for 8PM. But didn't start till around 10:30pm. Robert and company played till a little afer twelve(thats including two encores). I can't remember all the songs that were played. But off the top of my head, in no order- Killing an Arab, Lovesong, Lets go to Bed, Letter to Elise,Wrong Number, a Forest, Charlotte Sometimes, Lullaby, 10:15 Saturday Night, Boys Don't Cry, Fascination Street, Close to Me, Just Like Heaven, Mintcar and Pictures of you. The place was really packed. We were like sardines without the tamato sauce. The Bouncers in front of the stage were constantly pulling poeple that had fainted out of the croud. I had heard on the radio the next morning that the fire marshall was there and was threatening to shut down the show. And, people that had gone out to use the restrooms were no longer let back in to see the rest of the show. I really don't know much about how the ticket sales went 'cause I was at work when they went on sale. I decided to take my chances with the scalpers. And, there were plent at the venue. When I first got there they were asking for $100 to $150 a ticket. I just hung out for a while and was able to get my ticket for $60. And, my friend got his for $55. It was the best investment I made this year.

Review by Tim Plumley :

Ahhhhh...What a night. Wow. here's how my day/night went. I was at school and unfourtanately could not wait for tickets but my friend went with her friends to go wait. At four o clock I found out that I was going to be going to go see the cure, I was so excited. Her and her friends all got wristbands as well as tickets. They got to the box office at 11:45 and there was already a huge line, they said. Her friend's wristband was called within the first 100 people. Here friends were only there to keep her company and to increase her chances of getting tickets they didn't have any intention of getting tickets for themselves. Right after her friend got a wristband we knew that we were going to get tickets. To my friends surprise their numbers were also called. Since we only needed two tickets they bought tickets for people that they met in line that didn't get their numbers called( the people gave them their money of course). I thought that this was really cool because they could have easily bought the tickets themselves and then scalped them. My friend was approached by a scalper right after she bought our tickets and was offered $200 for both. She turned it down. YAY!!! I went out and bought a little fun saver camera right before we left.

We left my house at 6 figuring that we would get there at 7 and then wait for an hour. Boy were we wrong. Traffic wasn't bad until we got to LA. We got off the freeway where we were told to and looked for the place, by this time it was 7:15 and we were pushing for time. We drove up and down the street and to our surprise could not find the place. This scared me because we were on the right street but it wasn't around anywhere. I drove down the street and Highland turned into another street. Next thing I knew I was in Universal City and driving up to the Universal Studios entrance where I asked this guy where ALH and he said he never heard of it. This scared me a little because now we were pressing for time. I got back on the freeway and got off on Highland, went down the street which now looked like a completely different street. To my surprise we were now in the right area. I saw a huge line and asked someone where they parked. I parked at the gas station hoping that my car wouldn't get ticketed or even towed. I wasn't about to pay $20 or even $10 for parking that was being offered. We had to walk but I saved money. It was now 7:45 and the line was growing. Stood in line for about an hour and then the doors were opened. Met a lady in line with a big purse and asked here if we could hide my camera in there. She said yes and was really cool about it. Line started to move around 9. After we got in we went and found a place on the floor. Waited another hour and fifteen minutes before the show started. I was getting very anxious.

Finally the Cure went on at about 10:20. They were announced by Kevin from the Kevin&Bean show on KROQ. They walked out on stage and Robert was wearing a black dress shirt and black pants, as for his shoes I couldn't see what he was wearing. His hair was a little longer than when they played at the Weenie Roast( Although I wasn't there I saw pictures) he wore red lipstick and black eye liner(like that was a surprise). Roger was looking sharp, Simon was just Simon and still has long hair that just goes everywhere , Perry was dressed casual as was Simon, and Jason looks very young. They opened up with Why Can't I be You. The set list is at the end of this post and is in no particular order. They did two encores and the fantastic night ended with Killing an Arab. They played a different version of Mint Car and Robert messed up on the guitar solo, but just laughed it off with the rest of the band. Reeves Gabriels (sp?) joined them on stage for Wrong Number which sounded excellent and also played on Close to me. Robert was very animated and looked like he was enjoying himself immenously. He was dancing around and having a lot of fun. He talked some but all I could understand was " This is a song that we haven't played in a few years, it's called a Letter To Elise" and " This is Lovesong." If anybody knows what he said all the other times plaese tell me. Oh yeah and he also told a joke, it was the same one that was told on MRL. " How does Bob MArley like his doughnuts? With jelly" did he mess up here because on MRL I thought the punchline was jam? I'm not sure how long the version of A Forest I'm guessing 7 minutes or less. Not any longer. Nevertheless it was great. I took pictures but don't know how they turned out, they are getting developed as I write this. I was in the middle of everybody. The crowd was really good. I felt like one of the youngest ones at 17 but saw a few kids younger. The average age I would say was about 25. Marilyn Manson was there but I didn't see him till the end. Although I have no desire to talk to him or shake his hand because I think that he is vile. If anyone cares he was wearing a white fur coat and white cowboy hat. This seemed kind of odd considering that he usually wears black and most people last night were wearing black. We stuck around after the show was over until security told us to leave, New Yorkers I guess that rumour where the Cure rented a DJ to stay till 2 so they could mingle with the fans is just that, a rumour. I bought 2 shirts, 1 longsleeved black one with Rob on the front with his hands in the praying position and a blue shortsleeved one that I bought of the stree- saye the cure Galore Los Angeles 97. so overall the show was incredible by far the best show I have ever been to, this was my first time seeing them and it was wierd that I saw them in a club. I really hope that they come back soon. Also the songs were only hits which didn't bother me. They were only songs taken from both singles collections. They played till about 12:15 maybe longer I didn't have a watch.