Out of This World,  Watching Me Fall, Want, Fascination St., The Last Day of Summer, Maybe Someday, Edge of the Deep Green Sea, If Only Tonight We Could Sleep,  39, Prayers For Rain (which had a new, more "technical" intro which was played by Roger), 100 Years, Bloodflowers

1st Encore: A Strange Day, A Forest (short version)

2nd Encore: Figurehead, Disintegration.

Petting ist schwer

Der lange Abschied: Die britische Band „The Cure“ stellt in Hamburg ihr neues Album vor

Eine Woche Halbpension auf Mallorca oder 100 Minuten The Cure live. Für die beiden jungen Punks vor der Hamburger Markthalle keine Frage. Sie zücken jeder 400 Mark und kaufen dem Schwarzhändler zwei Tickets ab. Dann nichts wie rauf auf die Treppe und rein ins düstere Vergnügen. Doch halt: Wo sind denn die anderen Punks? Warum tragen die Leute hier Lederblousons? Oder Emporio-Armani-T-Shirts? Und warum amüsieren sich alle wie beim Brunch in einem Stehrestaurant? Die beiden Punks fuhren nachmittags in einem Dorf bei Bremen los, um mit Gleichgesinnten die Rebellion gegen das Spießertum zu feiern, und jetzt kommen sie an: Im Jahr 2000, in einer Welt, in der Fronten nicht mehr erkennbar sind. Die beiden Punks fühlen sich nicht wohl. Alles ist so hell.

Robert Smith, ihr Idol, der Sänger und Erfinder der britischen Band The Cure, wird ihnen nicht helfen können. Will er auch gar nicht. Denn er war nie Punk, und warum sich diese Typen in seine Konzerte verirren, ist ihm ein Rätsel. Der Mann ist inzwischen 40, im Zentrum seines Lebens stehen 22 Nichten und Neffen, aber er sieht noch immer aus, als hätte er gerade einen Selbstmordversuch hinter sich. Die schwarz gefärbten Haare stehen in alle Richtungen, und der rote Lippenstift reicht bis ans Kinn. Nur die Haut darunter ist ein bisschen lederner als früher. Pünktlich um 20.15 Uhr stellt er sich auf die Bühne und beginnt ein Intro, das klingt, als wolle er den Stadionrock neu erfinden. Und das in der Hamburger Markthalle. Die englische Fachpresse schreibt, die neue Platte „Bloodflowers“ sei das beste, was diese Band in zehn Jahren zustande gebracht hat – nach den Missgeburten „Wish“ (1992) und „Wild Mood Swings“ (1996) geht es also wieder bergauf. Na ja, mal hören.

Erster Eindruck: Nichts hat sich geändert außer dem Publikum. Okay, die Hälfte der Zuhörer sind geladene Gäste, die nur auf die Gratis-Drinks bei der After-Show-Party warten. Aber die anderen nicken mit den Köpfen, sind also freiwillig gekommen.

Mitte der Achtziger waren Cure-Konzerte Messen der Lebensmüden. Die Fans schminkten sich weiß wie Leichen und empfanden starke Sehnsucht nach dem Tod. Und wenn Robert Smith den Refrain des 82’-er-Hits „Jumping Someone Else’s Train“ schrie, klang das so: „Du bestehst ja bloß aus drei kranken Löchern, die wie Schwären triefen, du bist so was von überflüssig, du bist wie eine schleimige Schnecke am Boden, du bist zu nichts nutze und abscheulich.“ Die Mädchen fielen in Ohnmacht und die Jungs wünschten sich auf der Stelle ins Grab.

Doch wie gesagt: Wir leben jetzt im Jahr 2000, und nicht nur die beiden Punks kommen heute im neuen Millennium an, sondern auch Robert Smith. In seiner Stimme schwingt nach wie vor diese Melancholie, die jedem sensiblen Teenie den Lebensmut rauben kann. Aber auch Smith muss begreifen: Teenies hören im Jahr 2000 „Absolute Beginner“ und Christina Aguilera, wollen lachen und schmusen statt sterben. Und die alten Fans, die ihre Gruftie-Zeit überlebt haben, wollen gute Jobs in der Internet-Branche und wertvolle Aktiendepots. Dafür lohnt es sich morgens aufzustehen.

Nach dem Intro von einigen Minuten Länge gehen die fünf Musiker über in ein mittleres Tempo von Schlagzeug, Gitarre und Bass. Smith singt dazu, doch eine Melodie ist nicht zu erkennen. Schade, denn die schlichte Schönheit der Melodien war seit „Killing An Arab“ oder „Boys Don’t Cry“ die Stärke von „The Cure“. Als hätte er’s gemerkt, schickt der Gitarrist ein geradezu amtliches Solo hinterher. So geht das vier Mal, die Lieder heißen „Watching Me Fall“ oder „Where The Birds Always Sing“, und selbst die Jubelperser in den ersten Reihen beginnen zu gähnen. Angenehm ist die Bühnenshow: grünes und gelbes Licht ohne Flackern auf den stehenden Sänger gerichtet.

Robert Smith hat sich 23 Jahre durch einen Alptraum von Rockerleben gequält, hat elf Platten veröffentlicht und Überdosen von Heroin, Kokain und Crack überlebt; er schuftete hart an seinem Image als Scheintoter und wurde weltberühmt, als er wie ein Bär verkleidet durch ein Video hüpfte. The Cure haben vor acht Leuten in einer Bar in Sussex gespielt und vor 80 000 im Central Park.

Jetzt steht zum ersten Mal seit Ewigkeiten das Erfolgstrio Simon Gallup, Roger O’Donnell, Robert Smith auf der Bühne – zusammen bald 130 Jahre alt –, und wenn man ihnen zuhört, wird man das Gefühl nicht los, dass sie nur noch von der Erinnerung an die aufregenden Spät-Achtziger zusammengehalten werden.

Nach der Hälfte des Konzerts beginnt die Band, ein paar ihrer größten Hits zu spielen. Die Stimmung im Saal wird besser, aber die beiden Punks kriegen das nicht mehr mit. Sie stehen im Männerklo und machen „Heavy Petting“. Dann die letzte Strophe von Robert Smith: „always ill, always ill, always ill“. The Cure treten von der Bühne und weisen noch kurz auf ihre Sporthallentournee im April hin. Ein Stockwerk höher beginnt die After-Show-Party. Auf der Tanzfläche steht Prinz Frederic von Anhalt, Gatte von Zsa Zsa Gabor, mit zwei Bodyguards. Was macht der denn hier? Er findet die Band toll. The Cure haben zum dritten Mal versprochen, dass sie ihr letztes Album aufgenommen haben. Es wird langsam Zeit, dieses Versprechen einzuhalten.

I'm a big fan since end of 97 and 98 I was in Dresden only, so this was my 2nd Cure concert and it was a great experience. I came to Hamburg without exactly knowing what to expect. I guessed it would be mainly presenting the new album and probably some darker older songs as an encore. The venue (Markthalle in Hamburg) is very small and the room was quite crowded, maybe 800 people in total, and they began like probably everyone would have expected with Out of this world and Watching Me Fall. I think Robert sounded a bit thin in these two songs, maybe just a mixing problem (it got much better after these two songs), the atmosphere was very intense from the beginning though. Then came the first surprise, Want. And I began thinking, huh, may be they're also going to play songs like Figurehead today? After Want there was a bit silence and people cried for Figurehead and Faith and that Simon should throw away his cap (he wore a woollen cap the whole evening through, he must have sweated like hell). The band continued with a great Fascination Street and two of the weaker songs from the new album, The Last Day of Summer and Maybe Someday, nothing special about these. From then on it was great throughout, they continued with a very intense From The Edge of the Deep Green Sea, continued with the next surprise (I didn't thought that they would keep this in the set) If only Tonight We Could Sleep. The next few songs fitted perfectly together: 39, Prayers For Rain, 100 Years and Bloodflowers. After 100 Years (which was the best version I ever heard) I was finally sure that on one hand the Dream Tour will also propose the trilogy Pornography, Disintegration, Bloodflowers and that on the other hand they would definately (have to) play Figurehead this evening. Bloodflowers was the last song before the first encore which began with A Strange Day and continued with A Forest. A Forest had a new (I think it was new) kind of rhythm added (which I just fail to describe). The people cried for a second encore and they finally played The Figurehead and when they continued with Disintegration, it was clear that this would be the last song (how the end always is - he also repeated this verse more often than usual I think). That was it, people clapped hands and yelled for more for at least 5 minutes, although lights were already on and the crew began clearing the stage. Altogether they played about 110 minutes, a great, complete in itself concert (there was a certain mood throughout the whole concert). They didn't play three of the new songs (There is no if and The Loudest Sound, which wouldn't have fit in the set anyway - The Last Day of Summer didn't really fit either - and, a bit surprising to me, Where The Birds Always Sing, but maybe they just forgot that song :). None of those stupid pop singles like Friday I'm in Love, Inbetween Days and such, and also no 10:15 and Killing which they probably felt they played to death in the last 20 years. Only thing that I wish for the forthcoming shows would be Faith at the very end. Finally I can say that this was a concert that pushes me forward to travel as far as they go to hear them again and again and again ...

Having never believed, they would return to such a tiny venue like the 'markthalle' (last time they played there was
in 81... a dream came true, seeing them so close (just standing 1 m in front of Roger), before the show, we had the
chance to see them arrive at the backdoor, first Roger, Simon and Jason and later perry and robert..
on with the show, they started very early shortly after 8 o'clock, not much has changed regarding the stage setup,
Simon used a fender bass as well and wore a strange outfit (scarf and fur-cap - just about 35 degrees in there...)
and Perry got a new silver-disco-glitter style guitar, very nice...the more important thing, all songs sounded really
well rehearsed, not many mistakes that my ear could catch. and the set was more of a fan-thing, too, nice choice of
album tracks from 'kiss me' onwards, with classics like 'deep green sea' and 'prayers for rain', just one single in the
main set, and 6 new songs from 'bloodflowers', and even though '39' and 'watching me fall' are not amongst my fave
songs of the brilliant new album, they worked more than well live! splendid playing by all...
and 'watching me fall' is a candidate for a new 'deep green sea' if you ask me. a nice version of 'bloodflowers'
rounded off the evening, but of course they came back out for more old stuff, first with 'a strange day' and a new
version of 'a forest', pretty short, but the 85-96 intro is back (thank you Roger!). the second encore 'the figurehead'
(no german girls this time around) ended a bit strange, though it sounded pretty good, actually, as Jason ended with
different drumming. No 6-string bass fo 'disintegration' and no broken glass samples either, which kept Robert
looking bemused and Roger smiling. After that, it was it, of course not a 150min show, but this isn't possible in such
a heat of course, and it wasn't even the point to do, hopefully they add 'loudest sound' and 'there is no if' to their set
later...but nothing too complain really, everyone I talked to after the show was totally fascinated... including myself
of course, the show even kept you speechless at times, as the versions played all sounded very intense!!!
(And the new intro for Prayers for Rain) it was on backing tape, I stood 1 m from roger and he didn't play in
the beginning of the song, I assume they use an adat, like they do with 39 and 100 years (the e-drums...)
So, enjoy the promo shows and see you multiple times on the 'dream tour' and remember... this dream never ends!

the cure tried hard, and the result was more than impressive:only the bad sound of the markthalle was a bit of a
disappointment.

to my surprise, they didn't play the new albumn completely but instead played a mixture of new, old, and very old
songs, but this worked very good because the choice of the setlist was well thought-through.

out of this world was sung with much more resignation than the album version,but with watching me fall, want
and fascination street they proved that they can still rock! during the concert I became aware that roberts
abilities as a guitarist have been terribly underrated in the past, and I was also very impressed by rogers
keyboards.

apart from the new songs, there was also another song that left me breathless: if only tonight we could
sleep was much better than the dresden 98 version, with roberts guitar sending shivers down my spine.

I think that they wanted to please the fans with playing 100 years and fteotdgs, and they totally succeeded in that:
the atmosphere during 100 years was just fantastic.

at the end of the main set they played bloodflowers, robert singing with much more sensuality and sensitivity than
on the album version, which gave  an interesting ending:starting with a feeling of resignation, but at the end robert
was still able to put so much sensuality in it.

during one of the two encores, whose songs were also picked very cleverly, robert said:
"sorry I still don't speak any german, it is one of my failings, one of my MANY failings!"

listening to his lyrics one could suspect that robert does have the feeling that he has failed in more than
not learning to speak german,but during this concert it became clear that he still has the ability to create out of
these feelings of failing and resignation  songs full of sensitivity and sensuality.on stage, he looked like an old man,
like a burned out man, his hair hanging down,boring shirt,not at all a glamouros or sparkling star,but -or maybe
because- still a most impressive musician and singer.

I had very high expectations concerning this concert, and they cure came more than up to them, with only a
better sound left desireable.

"I just came home from the Hamburg Promo show and wanted to send you the setlist before I go to bed. What can I say? It was fucking brilliant, I mean, just look at this setlist, which quite surprised me. I hadexpected all the new songs and maybe three or four old ones as encores. I never saw The Cure in such a small venue before and the atmosphere was completely different from the normal concerts, it was simply fantastic. The show started at 8:20 pm and ended at 10:10 pm, so they played 110 minutes altogether."