Nov. 9th, 2002 - Hamburg, Germany (Color Line Arena)

Want, Shake Dog Shake, Open, High, A Night Like This, The Baby Screams, From the Edge of the Deep Green
Sea, If Only Tonight We Could Sleep, The Kiss, Torture, The Drowning Man, Charlotte Sometimes, Push,
Inbetween Days, Primary, Just Like Heaven, Play For Today, Shiver & Shake, End

1st encore: Three Imaginary Boys, M, Grinding Halt, Boys Don't Cry
2nd encore: Close To Me, Let's Go To Bed, Friday I'm In Love, Why Can't I Be You? (not extended)
3rd encore: A Forest/Forever
4th encore: 100 years, Fascination Street, Bloodflowers

"...one day later (remark: after the Phil Collins gig) the audience celebrated the gig of British band The Cure.
About 7000 fans didn't want to miss the almost 3 hour concert. Adored as a goth band in the early days, The Cure
found a much bigger fanbase these days with their melodic pop. Still, it were the old dark anthems 'Boys don't cry'
and 'A forest' that got the biggest reaction of the audience."

"Hamburg was a landmark 10th Cure show for me so even before the show started it felt special...
We got to our hotel in Hamburg after a slight detour (if you call walking around in one giant cirlce a slight detour!)
at about 11am, then spent a large part of the afternoon walking around Hamburg, (we had no choice as check in
wasn't until 3pm) it was bloody freezing! However, it was nice to meet up with some old and new freinds in the
Hotel Ibis. I'm not too sure what the hotel receptionists must have thought about us all but who cares hehe. About
4pm a few of us got to meet Robert before the concert as they were staying at the hotel opposite us. Alot of photos
were taken and autographs signed. Robert appeared really cool, the first thing that struck me was how good he
looked, he was talkative and friendly to everyone. Having met him twice now the only thing that pisses me off is the
burly bodyguard who always pushes people away (perhaps taking his role as bodyguard too seriously - especially
as we were not a rowdy crowd by any stretch of the imagination!) after the gig however, Robert appeared to be in
a rather subdued mood, I was later to find out this was probably due to all the press that were backstage at Color
Line Arena, afterall it was the first Popular music concert there. Despite this Robert was still quick witted when
this one stupid guy said he looked old and tired  'but I am old and I am tired'! Robert spent about 10-15 mins with
us after the show, I wanted to tell him how memorable the whole day was, but he seemed abit drunk.

Anyway onto the show......

After seeing 3 excellent Cure shows during the Summer in Zillo, Woodstage and Hyde Park I wondered how the
band could possibly top that. I did not have to worry, this was one of, if not the BEST Cure show I have ever seen,
it had the same kind of feel as the Woodstage festival in the summer, a real joy of a setlist, for me this was perfect
as I would be seeing the trilogy shows 2 days later therfore for this concert I wanted something different and got it.
There were many highlights of the show, Open is always one of my favourites, A Night Like This, Push and Baby
Screams have been played so well all this year and really get the crowd going. Primary was a big surprise and
included a new kind of sound midway through the song, The Kiss and Torture were played with real aggression,
Robert looking directly at myself and my friend during Torture as we were the only two jumping! Charlotte
Sometimes was played at the correct speed, faster than at Zillo and another surprise was Shiver and Shake which I
had been shouting for earlier, perhaps Robert heard! End was a fantastic way to finish the main set, and it was the
best version I have ever heard live. We had no idea what they would come out and play for the encores...Grinding
Halt! Who would have beleived it, suddenly there was a mosh pit like Cure In orange... Friday I'm In Love had the
goths tearing their hair out but we were still jumping and dancing , Close To Me had Robert dancing all around the
stage and it was so cool to see even the seating crowd all dancing to the beat and Robert waving to them. A real
party atmosphere filled the whole venue. The version of Forever which followed A Forest was just incredible, its
the heaviest song I have heard The Cure play live, it just went on and on getting faster and faster until it wasn't
physically possible for them to play any faster! After Forever we thought that was that. We all needed to get our
breath back after this...unbeleivably The Cure come back onstage for a now legendary 4th encore! At this point I
knew I was seeing a little piece of Cure history,as this had only been done once or twice before?  Robert came out
and announced 'we promised we wouldn't do this ...' then they launch into a magnificent One Hundred Years, a
punishing schedule for all who were jumping and dancing down the front for the past 2 and a half hours!  It was to
get even more frenzied during Fascination Street, complete with the great images on the screens behind!
Bloodflowers finished the concert perfectly, it was lovely...I don't think I could have endured a Killing An Arab
workout after what had gone on before!

This concert proved you can still have fun at Cure concerts. The pop side of The Cure is just as valid as the dark
side. Personally I enjoy both, this is what makes The Cure the greatest band on the planet I think, variation. A
big shout out to my friend Nigel and the other few Curefans who joined in down the front to make this one so
memorable. Cure concerts are what you make them and a good crowd helps. Robert and the band - you made our
legs and feet ache for the entire duration of our Germany trip, how we lasted the 2 Trilogy shows after this night
i'll never know - but we had the best time, THANK YOU!!!

(Hello to Nigel and Kerry(the DT crew)/ DoomWolf/ Vicky/ Laura/ Hugh/ Sue/ Sylvia/ Darren/ Andy/ Lauren/
Matt / Nixnie and last but not least, Mary and the Russian crew 'Close To Cure' .And hello to anyone else I
missed. Steph, sorry you couldn't make it, always next year!)"

"A very good concert with many songs they haven`t played for a long time. The Kiss was great. Fantastic solo
guitar from Robert. My favorit was Grinding Halt and Charlotte Sometimes. Forever was very heavy.I want to
say Thank you to THE CURE for the great time in Hamburg.
One word to the Cure Fans. Are you not tolerant at all???????? At Zillo Festival two People get upset about my
Dancing in front of the stage and in Hamburg a Girl was not amused about my singing. I`m screaming to loud she
said. In the 15 Cure concert before no one said anything. Is the time for pleasure and having fun with The Cure
over????????????? I hope not. Gruß an Martin und Hanjörg. Grüße sind bestellt."

"I've been going to see the Cure live in concert for over twenty years. I've just returned from Brussels and
Hamburg and the last few days reminded me why I still go with out sleep, regular meals and money for my
entertainment rather than beaches and the like!

My first show was on the Explicit Moments Tour in April 1982 in Edinburgh. It is still the best show I have seen
so I was one of the very few people in the audience at the Forest National who had heard the band play A Short
Term Effect before. I found the whole Brussels show to be an odd experience. One of the great things about
seeing the Cure live is not knowing exactly what the set list will be. Apart from the encore, I had a pretty good
idea of what to expect next!

I felt that the band were playing the albums in the wrong order, a feeling vindicated by the way in which the band
played. I felt that they held back during the Pornography section, this is an album which is still the most
claustrophobic and uncomfortable album they have released - I can still feel the anger every time I hear it - and
as a result the emotion was not as acute as it could have been. It was great to hear the songs again and it was good
to see that they were played in the same original style, sparse keyboards and guitar, powerful and commanding
rhythms. With the band's ability to fill out songs, these eight tracks have always worked best as played by a three
piece and it still causes shivers when I hear just voice bass and drums.

As I expected most of the audience where there to hear Disintegration. The standing auditorium was a lot busier
for these songs and the fervour which greeted each track was incredible. I chose to watch this set seated at the
side of the arena as opposed to the very front for Pornography so that I could watch more the whole scene than
just the stage. I have never been that big a fan of this album and on Thursday I suddenly realised why.
Disintegration is a very comfortable album, it has never challenged me in the way that albums pre 83 have done or
made me want to dance like the poppier singles and I find the lush orchestration of Disintegration compared to the
bleak sound of Pornography somewhat underwhelming. Disintegration just exists. Saying that, the title track was
excellent, Perry and Simon combining brilliantly for the song's closing crescendo. Still most people enjoyed it and
I'm sure they felt exhilarated by the performance.

Bloodflowers is a very underated album. Watching Me Fall is a great Cure track and the album contains a lot of
what I would call old and new Cure styles. There is not a lot more to say about this performance part from that it is
evident that the band really enjoy playing it together. Which brings me back to my earlier point about album order.
I think they should have started with Bloodflowers. I felt it took the band a while to warm up. If they had played
Pornography with the same confidence and self belief in which they played Bloodflowers, I would have had to have
had my backbone replaced! I'm sure though that this was because it was the first show, by Berlin the band will be
more used to the older Pornography tracks. Pornography needs to be played with that fire and drive, the album is
still the best complete Cure album and deserves the band playing at their peak.

To mine and most of the crowd's disbelief the band returned for an encore! After a tremendous ….Sleep, I
witnessed one of the best ever versions of The Kiss. Robert was beaming from ear to ear and it was a great end to
the show. I couldn't believe that after almost four hours, it having beaten my previous show longevity by five
minutes, the crowd booed when the lights came up! What did they want? Blood? Roger told me on Sunday that the
gig was unsurprisingly very hard work, "it was like recording an album". My last comment on the "trilogy". To
me the trilogy is Seventeen Seconds, Faith and Pornography, three albums written on top of each other. Now that
would have been phenomenal.  I await the DVD with interest.

So back to London for a change of clothes and then the trip to Hamburg.

There were a lot more people travelling to this so a group of about twenty of us descended on the Hotel Ibis in
Hamburg courtesy of various cheap flights. I have missed the camaraderie of the cure "family" on tour, the triple
explaining of who was in which hotel room, finding someone amongst 20 of us to actually make a decision of where
we were and when we were going to eat and what must be quite a comedic sight to bemused onlookers of watching
a group of bedraggled sleep-deprived black baggy clothed wearing people trying to follow a badly photo copied
map in a country where 95% of them don't speak the language….

After finding and reorganising the furniture to accommodate us in an Italian Restaurant, we finally were able to
get to bed. However we found out that the band were staying across the road so thoughts of sleep soon
evaporated!

Photos taken and make up applied later we set off for the trek to find the arena. It turned out to be located
directly adjacent to Hamburg SV's revamped football stadium filled to the gills with disgruntled fans who started
streaming out just as we arrived. What timing! While I was awaiting a friend at the Box Office I got talking to a
psychology professor over from Bath with a couple of students. We talked about the devotion that the Cure
generate and that he felt that this was a trend that was dying. Perhaps in England save for a few hardcore fans
maybe! But then TV programmes that create "stars" will be replaced by other TV shows….

But anyway onto the gig…

As I said before I love going to a gig where you have no idea of the setlist. Knowing that there would be no
(planned) "trilogy" tracks, I was agog as to how the band would fill three hours. What followed was one of the
most refreshing and enjoyable cure shows I have ever witnessed. They played tracks I'd not seen them play for
years and for me the return to playing Forever after A Forest was the musical highlight of the two shows. This is
what this band do best. They can sonically grab you about the neck and throw you against the wall, so much more
effective if it is totally unexpected hence a better show than Brussels. The pop encore was great, lots of shameless
singing and dancing. This show did more to confirm what an excellent and diverse songwriter Mr Smith is. To hold
us with three hours of songs, all 38 of them with only 3 lifted from apparently the Cure's defining moments show
how important the Cure are.

We returned to the hotel and collapsed in a very drained but exhilarated heap in the bar. Saturday was a fantastic
day. I met old friends and met new ones, put faces to email addresses and forgot about the crap that life can throw
at you, even if was just for a few hours. My favourite moment on Saturday summed up the whole day perfectly. A
new and extremely popular member of the UK hardcore is just 15 and during that afternoon, across the road from
the hotel she had her photo taken with Robert. Her tears of joy and elation touched me deeply. It is good to know
that The Cure are still instilling the vigour that struck me more than 22 years ago. To finish the Hamburg show
with Bloodflowers was so appropriate. It is a very positive song predicting a future and personally I can't wait for
the next album and tour. Does that mean I will have to sell my body to finance it?

Can anyone tell me the going rate for a kidney?"

Neue Halle, alte Songs - alles Klasse

Von Heinrich Oehmsen

Hamburg - Ein typischer Novembertag in Hamburg: neblig-trüb, mit Nässe, die von unten heraufkriecht und bei
der man eigentlich keinen Hund vor die Tür treibt. Ein Tag, wie gemacht für ein Konzert von The Cure. Denn
Robert Smith, Sänger, Gitarrist, Songschreiber und Kopf der Band, singt von Dunkelheit und Geistern, von
unerfüllter Liebe und Sehnsucht. Die Bühne der Color-Line-Arena ist in blaues Licht getaucht, die adäquate
Farbe für diese fast dreistündige Herbst- und Winterreise, auf die Smith die etwa 10 000 Zuhörer mitnimmt.

The Cure hat ein treues und ein mobiles Publikum. Aus ganz Deutschland sind die Fans angereist, aus
Großbritannien, aus Portugal, selbst aus Moskau wurden Karten für diesen ersten von nur zwei
Deutschlandauftritten bestellt, viele in dem typischen Smith-Look: dunkle Kleidung, hochtoupierte schwarze
Haare, schlampig gezogener Lippenstift.

The Cure hat kein aktuelles Album auf dem Markt, insofern konnten sich Smith und seine vier Begleiter dem
Repertoire aus mehr als 20 Jahren Bandgeschichte widmen. Ein Best-Of-Programm also ohne Durchhänger,
wobei die bekanntesten Cure-Songs wie "Friday I'm In Love" und "Boys Don't Cry" erst in den insgesamt vier
Zugabeblöcken gespielt wurden. Aber Smith konnte sicher sein, dass sein treues Publikum nicht aufhören würde
zu applaudieren, um die Musiker ein ums andere Mal wieder auf die Bühne zurückzuholen.

Mehr noch als die Eröffnungsgala am Vortag war dieses Konzert die erste Nagelprobe der Color-Line-Arena,
und Hamburgs neues Schmuckstück bestand diese mit Bravour.Vor allem der Sound in der Multifunktionshalle
ist erstklassig, ein Umstand, der an anderen Spielorten eher zu wünschen übrig lässt. Wenn The Cure mit drei
Gitarren einen lauten Klangwall schafft, kommt dieser nicht als Brei an, jedes der Instrumente ist genau
auszumachen, der Sound hatte eine klangliche Brillanz, wie sie bei Hallen dieser Größe nicht
selbstverständlich ist. The Cure war ein gelungener Auftakt einer Ära, die Hamburg noch mehr an erstklassigen
Pop- und Rockgrößen bringen wird, an einem Ort, der sowohl den Künstlern als auch dem Publikum gerecht wird.

erschienen am 11. Nov 2002 in Kultur / Medien

Robert und das erste Mal
Von Simone Pauls

Umjubelte Konzert-Premiere in der Color Line Arena mit The Cure

Die Haare noch immer zum betonharten Wuschelkopf gesprüht, die Augen schwarz, der Mund ist rot, das stramm
gewordene Bäuchlein hinter der Gitarre versteckt – Robert Smith hat sich mit all den Jahren kaum verändert.
Und das ist gut. Mit seinen Mannen von The Cure schenkte er den 7000 Zuschauern am Sonnabend ein knapp
dreistündiges Konzert mit vier Zugaben. Das erste Konzert in der nagelneuen Color Line Arena war ein düsterer
Leckerbissen mit Liedern, weit ab von den eingetrampelten Pfaden des Standard-Repertoires.

Die Tour der englischen Dark-Popper steht unter dem Motto „Dark Trilogy“, im Gepäck haben sie eigentlich
ein Best-of der Alben „Pornography“, „Disintegration“ und „Bloodflowers.“ Die Hamburger aber bekamen
mehr, viel mehr. „Shiver And Shake“, „Grinding Hold“, „Shake Dog Shake“, „M“, „Three Imaginary Boys“,
„Primary“, „One Hundred Years“ – ein ungewöhnlicher Querschnitt durch die über 20-jährige Bandgeschichte,
gitarrenlastig serviert.

Die Show: bis auf gelegentliche Videoprojektionen minimalistisch wie gewohnt. Erst bei der zweiten Zugabe löste
sich Frontmann Robert vom Mikroständer, lief bei „Close To Me“ zaghaft tanzend über die Bühne. Bei der
dritten Zugabe nuschelte er: „Ich widme ,A Forest’ Karsten Jahnke, weil er über 40 Jahre auf diese Halle warten
 musste.“ Nach zwei Stunden und 50 Minuten war mit „Bloodflowers“ endgültig Schluss.

Das erste Konzert in Hamburgs größter Halle:Die oberen Ränge waren leer. Von allen Plätzen gibt es eine gute
Sicht, der Sound war nach anfänglichen Schwierigkeiten glasklar. Einige der überwiegend schwarz gekleideten
Zuschauer ärgerten sich über das Rauchverbot (wurde sowieso nicht eingehalten) und über die Ordner.
Cure-Fans,  die bei den Rängen auf den Treppenstufen tanzen wollten, wurden vom strengen Sicherheitspersonal
barsch auf ihre Sitzplätze zurückgeschickt. Egal. Für ein außergewöhnliches Konzert müssen Opfer gebracht
werden. Und es hat sich gelohnt.

"It has been my first Cure concert and I have not words to describe how great was it. Coming from southamerica
I really could not lose the chance to see The Cure on stage here in Hamburg. Security and the Color Arena was
quite hard, but happiness I have got enter  with a little camera and took lot of photos!
The concert was unbelievable and the guys are all so much professionals. They know what they do on stage. And
the combination of hits was amazing. I  just dont understand how people can complain??? The Cure gave
yesterday music for all the styles, proof of this is "the drowning man" in one side and "why cant I be you" in the
other. Personally I felt it was a combination of IN ORANGE and SHOW... it means, that it was unbelievable. The
surprise of the night was perhaps Forever and in the other side Push!! I can not believe they played such nice
song yesterday! I hope The Cure can come to southamerica next year, really!"

"I’m a big fan of The Cure and a big fan of the website and have just spent a fantastic weekend traveling from
England to Germany and back to take in a classic Cure performance. As soon as I got home I checked out the
reviews and was oh so disappointed with some of the trainspotter comments. Get a grip the band don’t have to go
through the effort of putting on three hour shows, they certainly don’t do it for the money. The Cure made no
promises about the seriousness of the show and I personally loved it. The second encore was poppy I agree but
isn’t that how most of us got into the band. As a teenager I loved ‘why can’t I be you?’ and if I hadn’t enjoyed
that I would probably never got into their ‘real’ music. How nostalgic to dance to all their up-beat hits and even
better to see Sir Bob dancing on the stage.  All in all The Cure are, as even, the best live band in the world and
for people to ‘focus on the negative sides of yesterday’s show’ please get a life and be grateful that after all these
years the band can be bothered to entertain the likes of me and you.

To the show, so many songs I haven’t heard for years. My first ‘non UK’ gig was well worth the effort and
expense. My personal highlights were Shiver & Shake, Charlotte Sometimes, A Night like This and Bloodflowers
(which oozed passion and sincerity.) Thank you for a wonderful night.

If I was Robert and read some of the conceited reviews I would release the DVD and go out on a high. However
I hope the band understand that most ‘mortal’ Cure fans hope and pray they continue to be the best band in the
world and appreciate ALL the work they have released. I for one do hope to hear ‘Friday I’m in love again’. I
have a 5 year old daughter who genuinely believes that Robert played it just for her as she listened to it down the
phone line (I am dreading my mobile bill).

"Having returned from yesterday's gig, it again offered an obvious insight into important elements to enjoy gigs.
Huge compliment to the staff and the planning at the arena, rarely have I seen a better organisation for an indoor
show, as they splitted downstairs standing into 2 areas, giving the chance for early arriving fans to enjoy a place
in front of the stage without much pushing and still room around oneself. At 8.25pm The Cure entered the stage
with a strong version of  'Want' (again the problems of too low keyboards in the mix at the beginning of the
concert). The kept secret setlist wasn't secret any longer as almost everyone had the chance to have a sneak
look at it on the mixing desk while entering the arena, by the way... Nice to see 'High' return into the set for once,
although the term 'it needs a bit of rehearsing' would be quite fitting... The show really kicked of again with a very
strong 'The kiss' and a personal highlight for me 'Charlotte Sometimes' (one of the best versions of the last 12
years...) + the unexpected 'Primary'. Although I will never understand what is so special about 'End' (sorry, but
the song simply doesn't sound right in this line-up to myself and the psychedelic animation made it even worse...),
it was an enjoyable main set, with the splendid concept of not playing one song from the trilogy set. The first
encore maybe featured the best song of  the whole eveing, the welcome return of 'Grinding halt' - yes, much
appreciated + it was full of energy.

The second set of encores was the real surprise of the evening probably, as I don't think anyone expected the
almost classic pop encore, with Robert wandering around the stage like in the old days. Also a good idea to lighten
up the set a bit, as those songs got a huge reaction from the crowd. The third encore again was a classic, featuring
a splendid 'Forever' version (slight hint to the technicians, next time please stop that 'A forest' animation when
that song is playing - arghhh),  by the way, it was probably one of the strangest 'A forest' versions, as almost
nothing at the beginning sounded right - probably they have played the song even too much? To my surprise, the
band returned for even more, completing a 165min show with kind of an excerpt of the trilogy show and finishing
off an enjoyable gig. Off to Berlin.."

"What to say? After the concert last night I was speechless. I think it´s still strange and it kind of scares me how
different people listen to THE CURE. The special point on last night was that there was something for everyone...
FUN, DARKNESS, DEEP SADNESS, ROMANTIC, POP, LOVE, DREAMS, HOPE, what a great choice !!! But
if you stay on the dark side of life, of course, last night was not your best night. IF you take THE CURE as a
whole experience then you got 100 % last night. THE CURE showed their complete rainbow and this made this
concert one of the best I have ever seen ... and I must say ... it doesn´t matter how many shows you´ve seen before
or in general, if it´s not possible for you to see the whole picture !!! I want to say THANKS to THE CURE for last
night and my friends !!!"

"I arrived just 15 minutes before the beginning of the gig and tried to go straight to the front of the Arena.
Unfortunately, I quickly realised that a barrier had been installed in the middle of the standing area and was told
that I needed a yellow wristband to get the other side of it (apparently, the first 800 fans to arrive got the
wristbands).  I then went to the side of the Arena hoping that the security guards would see some sense and let
more people in.  After two or three songs I was starting to think that it was not going to be my day but all of a
sudden, during "A night like this", they let some more people in, including me... and that is when it all
started getting much better...

First of all, I felt that the sound was really great and that the band played exceptionally well.  Although they
hadn´t played most of these songs for at least a couple of months, they were very tight.  It was as if they
had been practising the songs specially for this gig because some of them seemed to have been played differently.

Secondly, the setlist.  Excellent.  The almost exact opposite of the Trilogy shows.  It could have been all too easy
for them to do the same setlist but they made the effort to do something surprisingly different and quite varied.
You could hardly say that "Forever" is a pop song for example.

Thirdly, the atmosphere.  I think its very difficult to create any kind of atmosphere in Arenas of this kind but the
band did very well.  Although the moshpit wasn´t that crouded because of the barrier in the middle of the
standing area, there was a real buzz and loads of people were singing and dancing, especially during the pure pop
encore when Robert went from one side of the stage to the other.

Overall, a great show, full of fun.  Now we can get down to some serious business in Berlin..."

"That show was excellent! After Bruxelles I really don´t know what to expect from Hamburg, because it was
announced as a greatest hits show. Hamburg is the the home base of their german record label, so I feared that
they were supposed to play a pure hits-only set, but they proved me wrong. The new arena, seems to be one of
those nameless, charecteristicless multi-functional arenas as they appear everywhere and I can´t believe that it
means anything  to the band to be the first to play there. The Forest National in bruxelles instead is a fantastic
hall with a very unique character. and although the sound wasn´t too good I would always prefer a nice hall like
this to a new arena, but that´s a different thing. in any case, thais was the possibility too play a one off and very
unique show. After bruxelles it was good to have that hm-what-could-they-play-next feeling again. I don´t want to
write too much, so I sum it up. Everyone has it´s favourites, so if I must choose 5, mine were definately: shake
dog shake/play for today/shiver and shake/end/Forever. shake dog shake because of the fantastic relaxed way
of giving this song it´s strength back. play for today for it´s old style sound (the previous times it always sounded
like a pop hit and yesterday it was kind of a song from the old times), shiver and shake for it´s power and kind
of a new interpretation. very hard and strong. end for beinig end and forever for being a song i never heard
before in my cure-concert-life. that was awesome. the kiss became also so powerful these days just like if only
tonight became so wonderful. congratulations. i had my problems with the drowning man as well although i
wouldn´t blame jason, because he isn´t responsible for the sound. Back in 1996 I also had my fears towards him,
but since the dream tour and especially after Bruxelles this year, where I sat at the side of the stage and could
see what he is doing, I am so happy that he is in the band nowadays. He is a fantastic drummer. He plays all those
songs from 1989 and 1992, which I think are the most complex ones, with such elegance and easyness - very
cool. Some songs didn´t work for me. for example grinding halt was nice to hear, but i would choose others
from the first album.primary was a little too slow and not hard enough. from the edge... needs extremly a third
guitar and songs like push or the baby screams or torture were never my favourite cure songs. But it was so
good to hear all those songs again and forever for the first time. that set was well chosen by the band and gave
an overlook of their whole career. I even liked those pop songs such as let´s go to bed and songs like just like
heaven or friday i´m in love are perfect pop tunes. I had my problems with why can´t i be you, but thousands of
people went mad during it, so.... naturally I would like to hear plenty of other songs, but for a greatest hits show,
this one was very cool and it gave me a good feeling, why i still love this band and why i spend so much time and
money to see them. unfortunately I won´t make it to the berlin shows and I hope everyone who bought my tickets
will have a great time. one last thing: Did anyone else see this very unpopular indian sign in the background in
bruxelles as well? that was kind of strange to me and does anybody feel that good ol´ bob hit during homesick or
untitles ( i´m not sure) several times the wrong guitar tone? anyway something for you technical freaks:
in their trilogy shows they kind of try to create the sound of each album by using the old instruments from the old
days. Robert plays the whole pornography set on a jazzmaster and the disintegration set on this strange shaped
one which he used back in 1989 and also simon changed his basses for each set. This did work. The pornography
set was much harder and rougher than the others. It is definately worth the trip."

"Where do I begin? First of all - forget comments that say it was bad or disapointing because they didn't play
'Trilogy' songs except for the 4th encore. It was simply a VERY GREAT SHOW and maybe the BEST
performance I've seen by The Cure.The whole band played every song of the night very well, especially Robert
did a great job. I never heard him singing that good and concentrated.
I thought that they would play some pop stuff for the first full concert at the Color Line Arena for such a huge
audience. But they started with Want which was kind of a suprise, than playing a wonderful Shake Dog Shake
and a strong version of Open. The highlights in the main set were If Only Tonight We Could Sleep,The Kiss,
Torture, The Drowning Man, Charlotte Sometimes and Primary. Especially The Kiss was very good and
different from the versions they played during the summer festivals. The encores were also very surprising. A
nice mixture of rare and 'darker' songs with some greatest hits songs. Even the pop songs sounded good and it
was fun to hear some of them again. The biggest surprises during the encores were Grinding Halt (Robert
started singing with "eins, zwei, drei, vier" in german = one, two, three, four) and one of the best and strongest
and fastest version of Forever. Did they ever came back on stage after playing Forever? Always thought of it as
being a final track. But they came back with a 'mini-trilogy' playing one song of each trilogy album. Robert left
the stage saying "see you next year".
This concert was very special and had a very unusual setlist. I'm still too impressed to tell more. I'm also happy
about the fact, that they didn't play the 'Trilogy'-stuff because I will go to the Berlin shows on monday and tuesday
which will be also - that's for sure! - great! The Hamburg show should have been filmed for the DVD, too."

"I didn't want to write anything about the concert yesterday, because I think no words can express how great this
gig was ! I just can't understand how anyone can describe it as too poppy or something like that. These people just
can't understand why The Cure are such a great band - in my opinion still the best band ever. It was my 15th
Cure-Gig and in my eyes it was the best I've ever seen. Not because I am a big fan of only their singles, but this
concert just had everything a great Cure Concert needs. The first part of the show was a good mixture of the
festival setlists, and on as you already noticed till the last encore it was a Anti-Trilogy Concert!
What a great idea and how nice to hear these other albums in such a brilliant way played live. Knowing that the
hardcore- Cure fans in Europe are also going to the Berlin shows they decided to please the great Hamburg crowd
with lots of greatest hits. And if you are honest, a dancing and singing crowd, celebrating every single song of the
band is much much better than a static depressive hardcore-cure-fan always saying :"oh, they didn't play all cats
are grey or faith..." These are really excellent songs too, but why shouldn't they play some of their great singles as
well ??? I guess 90% of us love to hear some good old classics like Why Can't I be you or Friday I'm in Love
again. Over the last couple of years these kind of songs never were played anymore. Didn't we always think
Robert never really liked to play these singles live ? But even in 2002 you can see him performing songs like
Close to me or Let's go to bed with a smile on his face, playing around with his microphone cable, as in the In
Orange Video. They really got the Hamburg crowd on their side.

We had so many of these very good "dark" concerts over the last couple of years. The Gig in Hamburg brought
back the happier mood of the Swing Tour 1996 for one evening. I guess they will never play such a weird setlist
again in the future, but you never know. And Jason did a very excellent job yesterday espacially during Forever,
where he just blew everything away! Thank you to The Cure for such a perfect evening..."

"I've been to Hamburg yesterday, seeing the opening concert of the Colorline Arena. What can i tell you: It was a
really great show where they were playing the songs, i think they wanted to be on a "Greatest Hits" album. What i
missed were some more song from Disintegration and Bloodflowers, but i think they left them out because they
are playing them as part of their "Dark Trilogy" shows. I can't remember the complete setlist now, but they played
at least one song of each of their albums and especially some of my personal favorites ("Drowning man", "If only
tonight", "Shiver and shake", "Charlotte sometimes", "A night like this" and even "Grinding halt").
The atmosphere was great, the crowd has been in a very good mood, an it seemed that even Robert was impressed.

But the best news is that after the last song of the show "Bloodflowers" he ended with saying "Good night, see
you next year"!!! Sounds like they will be touring again next year _and_ come back to Hamburg."

"As there will be many enthusiastic reviews, I bet, I´d rather focus on the negative sides of yesterday´s show.

All in all, it wasn´t exactly a bad concert, I mean 4 encores ist great, but the second encore was just terrible, I
hoped I would never have to hear "Friday I´m in love" again -- in my opinion one of the worst cure songs ever
and then followed by Why can´t I be you. All this pop stuff was just plain boring. The only fun I had then was
watching a group of italians next to me who were as disappointed as I was and who were discussing songs they´d
like to hear. Also I know, they will play the triology shows (and I will be there), why didn´t they play any songs
from these 3 albums (except the mini-triology in the last encore, which was very good). The concert was announced
as a greatest hits performance and yes they played all the hits, but they have so many others that would have
showed their variety over 25 years all the better. It was just pop, pop, pop. One big exception: The Kiss was
absoulutely brilliant, also Shake Dog Shake and the Forest/Forever encore (and bits of Three Imaginary Boys).

Another big takedown for me is the drum-sound. I just don´t like the way Jason plays, especially on the older
songs. First the drums are just too loud, then he has this clean stadium rock sound, that especially on The
Drowning Man ruined it all, because it´s lacking all the calm depressiveness the drums have on records like faith
or pornography. I want Boris back!!!

Reading all the reviews from Belgium, I am really looking forward to 4 haunting hours in Berlin, so I will forget
Hamburg quite quick, but compared to the dream tour it didn´t reach a very high standard.

Oh, one more thing. I don´t think the cure themselves are responsible for that, but don´t buy a t-shirt for €30,-
when you can get the same quality by taking your pornography album cover to a store where they print stuff on
shirts and get it done for €10,- They should be ashamed to sell stuff like that!!"