Out of This World, Watching Me Fall, Want, Fascination St., The Last Day of Summer, Maybe Someday, Edge of the Deep Green Sea, Inbetween Days, If Only Tonight We Could Sleep, 39, Prayers For Rain, 100 Years, Bloodflowers

1st Encore: A Strange Day, A Forest

2nd Encore: Just Like Heaven, Boys Don't Cry

2nd Encore: Figurehead, Disintegration.
 
 

Nothing I could have done could have prepared me for such a hectic, wonderful, exhausting, beautiful experience.
The whole process of getting to this show was hellacious and high stress, starting with the frantic attempt to get
tickets, which did not even go onsale until Wednesday the 23rd.  The show had been announced about a month or so
before, and I had been calling the Vic, Ticketmaster, and Q101 radio station on a daily basis hoping to glean
whatever information could be found, and had come up empty handed until the 23rd, when ticket sales were finally
slated to begin at 7:00 that evening, in a few select locations in the Chicago area.  I live about an hour north of
Chicago, so I had to make a lot of phone calls and find someone willing to drive me down to Tower Records to wait
in line.... Out of the 8 people who attempted to get tickets in the "lottery style" sale, only 2 of us succeeded,
unfortunately.  But by some stroke of fate I happened to be one of the lucky ones.
 
The day of the show, my 3 friends and I arrived at the Vic at about 5:00pm, (3 hours before the show was to begin)
figuring we'd be in plenty of time to get a good spot in line.  Ha!  The line was already wrapping around the block,
with people who had been waiting from 7:00 in the morning.  Luckily, we are in the middle of a rare February heat
wave, and it was about 60 degrees in Chicago all day, so the wait, while unpleasant, was not entirely unbearable.
When we finally got in, we immediately made our way to the front, which was filling up fast.  We managed to secure
a place next to the stage, directly behind the guy who was video taping for the wxrt web cast. We still had a little
time before the show started, so I made my way over to the "beer bucket"  for some refreshments, and
who should I see but Roger O'Donnell, lurking around in the shadows behind the bar.  I saw him and smiled and
waved, and he waved back but made a motion with his hand for me *not* to come over to him, but I couldn't resist,
and went up to him and said something like "I just wanted to come over and say hi to you real quick"  (In my
excitement I was on the verge of incoherence, I'm sure.)  He was quite pleasant though and said hello and smiled,
but he obviously did not want to be discovered, and hence mobbed by the crowd.  Well low and behold, a few
minutes after I spoke to him a group of about 5 girls spotted Roger and screamed "OMIGOD" and ran over to him
and tried to grab at him.  He promptly disappeared to the recesses back stage.  Freakin' groupies.Heh heh.
 
Anyway, the lights went down shortly after that, and the band came out and immediately launched into "Out of This
World."  Robert, Simon, Perry (who was directly in front of me, and who I swear made eye contact with me through
out the duration of the show, lol) Roger and even Jason, who was sadly obscured behind his huge drum set, were in
top shape.  Each song was completely perfect, note for note.  The sound in the Vic was surprisingly good too.  I had
seen them before, in 1997 at the United Center, which has terrible acoustics, and Robert's voice had been almost
drowned out.  I was pleasantly surprised that every thing was so clear... each piece more melodic and intense than
the last.  I was so enrapt that I hardly noticed my discomfort from being wedged with so many people in that
sweltering environment.  People were packed so close you could barely move your hands, much less the rest of your
body.  Tears were streaming down my face for the majority of the show.  It was absolutely amazing to be this close
to the people I have admired for so long... to be able to see the sweat on their faces, and watch each movement of
their hands on their instruments.  With fear of sounding ultimately corny, I must say it was almost a spiritual
experience. :)  I had not completely enjoyed much of Bloodflowers until I heard those songs live.  Then I realized
what passion had gone into the lyrics, and how each note was exactly as it should be.

I enjoyed everything they played, and they seemed to be enjoying the crowd quite a bit too.  Robert was dancing
around and making faces and seeming genuinely pleased with the reactions of the crowd, which was amazingly
energetic for the duration of the show.  I particularly enjoyed hearing "Prayers for Rain" "A Strange Day"  "The
Figurehead" and "If Only Tonight We Could Sleep,"  songs I *never* envisioned them playing live.
 
I must admit I was a little disheartened when I read the set lists of the other shows they've played so far on the
tour, because they were all exactly the same, but I felt kind of honored when I read that they had only played "Just
Like Heaven" and "Boys Don't Cry" (which they played as their second encore) at the Chicago show.  After that
encore Robert came to the mic and said something like "You were fucking awesome! I'll see you again in a few
months!"  Which made me feel that he had been enjoying himself as much as we all had.
 
By the time they finished the last encore, "Disintegration,"  I was an absolute mess.  This song reduced me to
hysterical tears again...  my heart felt like it would burst out of my chest, I had rivulets of sweat pouring down my
face, an ache in my knees to rival all aches, tracks of eye make up melting into my eyes,  and I had never felt so
great in my whole life.
 

So it goes like this.  Thursday 2:00- leave work in St Louis for Chicago. Get to Tower in Bloomingdale at 6:25
(minutes before the supposed line ticket drawing, which didn't end up happening 'til around 7:30 or so).  And
may I say that Ticketmaster sucks no matter what city you're in.  Though it  was humorous to see all 400 people
crowd around the cop car the Tower  employee was in as he repeated his directions "number 979 go to the front of
the line..."  My friend and I were 886 and 888.  So utterly defeated, we returned to STL that night  (did I mention
the ugly speeding ticket on the way there?  Ra Ra, go Springfield PD...) So it's Thursday, and at about noon my
friend calls "We got two tickets!" "How much?"  "You really don't wanna know..."  Thursday night and we're back
on the road, (eerie sense of Deja Vu, anyone?)
Friday, awake, get the tix and get to the line. 12:30 The next 7 hours filled shared stories of past Cure concerts,
Morrissey this, the Smiths that, "You mean you still don't have a ticket?" "what time is it?" "you're car broke
down and you took cab's and the train from where?" "are they ever gonna let us in?"  and your usual pre concert
conversation between campers.  I would like to give a personal shout out to my man Cuba (a Vic Security guy), who
was cool enough and had enough balls to kick those people out of line who just decided to get there about 6:30 and
say "hey,  this looks like a good place to stand."  Don't no line jumpers f*ck wit da Cuba.
And inside, up to the front.  The lights hit low about nine-ish, and out  walks the man (not as hefty as I was
expecting, either).  Of course, the lighting set of deep reds, greens, and blue/black gives the wonderful feel of being
inside the Disintegration cover (well, they've had how many years of practice...what else would one expect).  Right
on again to my man Cuba for clearing those pesky camera people out from in front of us too (who cares if they're
media, they weren't camping out all day...) All the new tracks sounded great.  The opening of "Out of This World"
and "Watching Me Fall" was no less than perfect, and hearing the latter of the two live loud reverberating
deafening screaming throughout the theater just reaffirms the idea that it was meant to be listened to that way.
Try giving your receiver it's needed decibel push one day to "Watching..."  You'll see.  And not only the newer
songs, but "Fascination Street," "Prayers for Rain," "Edge of the Deep Green Sea," "Disintegration" and "100
years" too.  Live really brings out the full effect of being overwhelmed by the songs. It was great to be able to hear
"A forest" also, especially with the extra little end part of the song where Smith scratched up and down his guitar
over the bass line and drum beats. I was surprised (pleasantly) with their extra two song encore, though I  always
hate to see a band play a show full of off tracks, album tracks, and not have the crowd get into those tracks as much
as the so called radio singles ("Just like heaven," namely.)  But, it's still a damn good song and is always nice to
hear.  (Though the fear struck me for a few minutes when I  got the feeling that they were gonna play "Just like
Heaven" and not do 2 of  my three fav's: "Figurehead" and "Disintegration."  Alas, my fears were quelled as they
returned for one more encore.)
The band worked together really well, not butchering really any of the songs (...too bad, though "If Only Tonite We
Could Sleep" was cut a bit short, and Smith seemed a bit confused as to which verse he was on during
"Disintegration").  The synth's were inauduble in a few songs  (Disintegration, mostly), but that's more due to the
extra loud bass echo.  A big RIGHT ON to Cooper for his excellent drumming during the show, especially during
the Pornography tracks.  100 years has got to be a difficult one.  I'll probably never get to hear "The Figurehead"
again live  in my life, but this one was as good as it could've been.   And overall, this show was, is, and will be the
best damn concert I'll ever witness.  They didn't call it the Dream Tour for nothing...

Just returned from the show in chicago.  Considering the ticket scramble, the show went off well.  I understand that
WXRT had some problems (by the way, they broadcast the entire show on the radio...so, you should be hearing it
soon.)   It was the best cure show that i have ever seen or heard.  Robert was playing his depressing, mellow
tunes...but, seemed to be happy about it.
 
In fact so happy that he added two singles to the middle ot the encore (the only two different tunes from any of the
other shows). JUST LIKE HEAVEN AND BOY'S DON'T CRY!
 
Robert's attitude made the entire show.  The band was on, the sound was fantastic.  I stood on the floor about 15
feet center from Robert.  The Vic holds about 1,400.  What an experience!  I did wait in line with a couple of very
nice people for about 3 hours before the doors opened. (leigh, if you want my e-mail is hurley1969@prodigy.net)
They searched everyone, but were very nice.  A great experience all around in the windy city.  By the way, $300 a
ticket was the going rate. show was general  admission.  I will remember tonight forever...

I just got home...the show fucking rocked. we got three encores because we were especially good.  of course i think
it's because they liked me personally...i swear i didn't  stop moving for a second.  but that's just me in psycho cure
mode...but i was about 25 feet from the band and i swear i was entertaining them at least a little bit with all my
boppin' around. Anyway, I did pay $351 for my ticket from a broker and a bunch of people were able to find people
in line with tickets to sell...i think going rate was around $100. It was worth every cent, though.  Missing this would
have hurt a whole lot more than paying for it did. And of course after the final encore, it ended with the standard
"you've been  fucking excellent, see you later in the year" or something to that effect. i don't even remember the
setlist...i just know they played for over 2 hours  and A Strange Day was included in the lineup...but I think that was
about  when my head exploded so i don't remember much more. I am completely exhausted, i swear i lost a gallon
of water tonight.  by the time i left, i was literally soaking wet from head to toe.  yuck.  i almost don't want to take a
shower, though...it's CURE grime.  ew.  okay, i'll stop  rambling now.  It was just quite a show.  "Fucking excellent".

 The Chicago show was sensational as you probably heard from many other folks already. I figure you've already
received the setlist, but I think it was very similar to the other shows. They did do a third encore consisting of Just
Like Heaven and Boys Don't Cry. He prefaced it by saying something like "we said we wouldn't do this, but here's
a quick little inbetween."

I was also at the soundcheck. Here's the setlist from that:

Maybe Someday and Last Day of Summer (without vocals/Robert)
Robert then joined them for the following: Pictures of you, Boys Don't Cry (Slow version), M, If Only Tonight We
Could Sleep, Shiver & Shake, Like Cockatoos, Inbetween Days (slow version), Just Like Heaven (He played an
incomplete version, only singing half the words and half the versus), and Out Of This World.

As I said, I thought the show was great. They played lots of songs for the true fans, and the place went nuts during
the 2nd encore of hits. I didn't notice any big mistakes during the show. They seemed pretty in-sync.

Well I didn't get to see the concert but I did win sound check passes and my wife and I braved the crazy traffic to
get down to the vic by 5pm.  After finally finding parking we were in the vip line and waiting to get in.  The fans who
had regular tickets were lined up and stretching well around the corner.  As we entered we could hear them playing
and we found a nice seat and began to watch.  Perry, Simon, Roger, and Jason were playing maybe someday, then
they played out of this world.  Soon Robert appeared, and after fiddling with the sound they played pictures of you.
When they were finished  it was dead silent and robert said "hello" into the mic and some people clapped, i thought
it was  funny.  Next they played Boys don't cry and when they finished everyone was excited and clapping.  Next
came M, then If only tonight we could sleep.  then after messing around for a while they played shiver and shake
and Like cockatoos.  (I love that song so I was very  excited)  Then after working on a feed back problem with his
mic they played a Really slow version of In between days and then a really slow version of Just like heaven .
Robert then worked with the mic again singing some jibberish into it which everyone found amusing.  Then they
played Out of this world. Then they started to work on the annoying feedback problem again and roger came down
and said hello to people.  Then Robert hopped down from the stage and everyone moved tword him. but the mean
security guards pushed most of us out before we could get any closer.  So even though I didn't get an autograph or
concert tickets I was still very very pleased with the nine songs they did play for us, and my wife was too!!!

I just got home from seeing one of the best shows I have ever seen in my life, The Cure's show at the Vic, here in
Chicago, on February 25th, 2000.  Wow, words can't even describe this show.  The Vic Theatre was a wonderfully
intimate place for the band to connect with their true fans, and Robert Smith replied to this atmosphere by singing 2
songs which he did not perform at any of the other promo shows,  Just Like Heaven, and Boys Don't Cry.  They
played these songs in the second encore of three.  It was a beautiful show, the band sounded great, and I will
remember this  night for the rest of my life.  Oh yeah, I'm definately going to see them when they come back this
fall for the Dream Tour!