I went to see The Cure last night, and joked that I would have to blog about the concert using the title “En-Cure” because they played an insane 3 encores for a total concert time of over 3 hours. Ultimately that blog title was too lame… even for me.
Here are some photos. We had great seats, but my camera is pretty ordinary:
The concert was pretty different to the last time they were here. The most noticeable difference was that they didn’t have to cut the concert short because of a midnight curfew (like that imposed when they played at the Entertainment Centre). Other differences were the instruments used (no keyboard this time, just guitars and drums) and the visuals (better lights and projected video this time).
Overall, it was a good night out.
Update: Some of their new stuff is pretty good; classic Cure but with a bit more of a rock/pop feel. Embedded videos after the jump.
The End of the World:
Taking Off:
Alt.End:
I saw The Cure @ Rod Laver last night. I think there was a good concert in there, but the wall of noise drowned it out a bit, as interesting and well-played the wall-of-guitar sound was. It just didn’t suit the majority of songs from past albums which weren’t recorded or written to be played that way. This is the third time I’ve seen The Cure, all three at Rod Laver, way back in 1992, when I was the tender age of 21, and in 2000. The previous two blew me away, whereas this one provided a difficult and I guess challenging evening’s entertainment, which was nevertheless stimulating, intelligent, enjoyable and substantial. But the night was definitely justified by the inclusion of songs I hadn’t heard live before, namely the Kiss Me, Three Imaginary Boys & Head On The Door album tracks, 2004 album The Cure singles, which the loud, angry guitars sound best suited along with the Three Imaginary Boys encore, sentimental memories of 1992, both the Cure show and the year itself, from the Wish inclusions, right down to the kick-off of Tape and Open, which was a nice touch. Covering the scope of material The Cure did was an ambitious undertaking, and well executed for The Cure in their current incarnation as a muscular rock outfit. Another treat was the inclusion of Three Imaginary Boys and Fire In Cairo, neither of which I’ve ever heard before and both of which appealed immediately. No “Forest” which was a bit of a diversion. The Japanese Whispers and Head On The Door singles as well as Primary also best demonstrated the sublime Cure magic which the wall of guitars was not able to drown out. For the perfect night out with The Cure, I would’ve included a few songs like In Your House, Just One Kiss, Birdmad Girl, Caterpillar, Like Cockatoos, Mint Car, Jupiter Crash and Last Day of Summer just to make it a bit more fun, eccentric, whimsical and sentimental, which is equally as integral to The Cure as the rock element. Likewise, I would have toned the sound down for the songs that needed it and maybe brought a keyboard player with me for that reason rather than throw in a few keyboard tinkles on tape. I must admit, I was tired and bought a last-minute ticket in the upper section half-price from two guys, one of whose wife couldn’t make it, so I think the show would’ve had greater impact if I’d been closer to the stage as I usually am. Lastly, I put on the Show concert from 92 when I got home and despite my sober enjoyment this time I noticed Robert, Simon and Porl are playing the songs far better than they did back then, to their credit. Comparable shows by Fleetwood Mac, The Eagles, Elton John and Pet Shop Boys for eg blew me away, as they say, over the past few years. The fact that supposedly crusty oldies like The Eagles & the Mac outdid The Cure on this occasion, and that, God forbid, Human Nature and Backstreet Boys last year did too, is saying something I think.
I went and saw them at the entertainment center in Brisbane, and to be honest, I felt like half of the band & sound was missing, what the hell happened to the keyboards??, how can they not include the keyboards?
keyboards were part of the songs when they were originally released, but now for some reason they have been eliminated!, is it that they think Australians are a bunch of guitar lovin rednecks?, and that keyboards are only for gay countries like england?
Thanks for the comments Haden and vinnie 😀
I guess the difference between The Cure and many other bands that have been around for a while is that they have changed a lot over the years (in member composition and style).
Since a lot of people are more familiar with their back catalogue, it can be a real surprise to see their style and presentation changed so much.
I felt like this concert was very different to the one I went to a number of years ago, and I preferred that… since otherwise, it would just be the same really.
I think they had planned to have a new album release to coincide with this tour (but decided to delay its release until after the tour). Maybe that would have given a better impression of what The Cure is like now.
I’ve been a huge Cure fan since I was a wee nipper back in England. After the announcement that they would no longer have a keyboard player I was extremely interested in how a lot of their older songs would now work. I really can’t begin to imagine how a song like Plainsong could work without that atmospheric synth background.
I now live in the US and unfortunately I won’t get to find out what the old songs sound like without keyboards as The Cure decided to skip Arizona on their current tour. Bugger.