Last week I was lucky enough to see two shows by The Cure on their current summer tour. Here are my thoughts on both shows:

Show #1: Merriweather Post Pavilion; Columbia, MD 06.22.16

“I’ve waited hours for this…”

My friend Sean, his high school friend Shannon and I had lawn tickets for this show, which meant arriving before the gates opened. We showed up about an hour before the gates were scheduled to open and stood in a very long line. My first thought on walking the grounds was that I did not recall MWPP being so hilly with so many steep inclines. As soon as the gates opened and we made our way inside, Sean and Shannon shot past me to go claim a spot on the lawn, and they did a fantastic job staking out our space; in the very front, parallel to the sidewalk, in view of the huge screen on the back of the pavilion, and, where I would stand was primarily flat. I don’t do lawn seats often, but I didn’t mind this setup at all.

The second thought I had as I walked the concourse and waited in line to buy a t-shirt was that there were so many kids in attendance of all ages. Did I miss something? I haven’t seen The Cure live in concert since 2008, but since then, have Robert Smith and Company become a ‘Family Entertainment Ticket’?

The Cure have been around since 1979, and they have gone through many lineup changes and styles; some fans prefer the pop of ‘Close To Me’ and ‘Friday I’m In Love’ while others, including your dear author prefer the minimalist sounds of ‘One Hundred Years’ and ‘Faith,’ so it is impossible to please everyone at a Cure show; they are going to play a song you wish they had skipped, and they won’t play all the ones you wanna hear, but I can promise even the most casual of fans that they will play something you like and at least one song you know.

After a 30 minute set by openers The Twilight Sad, and a break to get the stage ready for the headliners, the show began with the pre-recorded intro ‘Tape’ which was first used on the 1992 Wish Tour. The band members ambled onstage and Robert played guitar harmonics along with the recording and then led into ‘Open’, which opened the Wish album (and for good measure is always played in tandem with ‘Tape.’). The album that got the most songs played on this night was ‘Head on the Door’, which is appropriate. There are a lot of albums released by The Cure that remind listeners of cold unforgiving winters, but ‘Head on the Door’ is one of those great records that evokes summertime and happiness (or at least, a Goth’s version of happiness).

There were plenty of surprises, but the biggest surprise of this show came about forty-five minutes in, just as the sun had finished setting, when the band began the long atmospheric intro to ‘If Only Tonight We Could Sleep’ from the ‘Kiss Me, Kiss Me, Kiss Me’ album. That was a concert moment I did not expect and one that did not disappoint.

The band now has been together in this lineup since 2012, and they are a well-oiled touring machine. Robert still is Master of Ceremonies, standing in front of the mic, and not really moving around all that much. Keyboardist Roger O’Donnell and lead guitarist Reeves Gabrels are anchored stage right and left respectively, and drummer Jason Cooper is behind the kit. That leaves the ageless wonder that is bassist Simon Gallup as the only member who moves around on stage, and he’s a non-stop display of kinetic energy ping ponging close to Robert during solos, then moving toward Roger’s area and even a few times standing behind Reeves. I remember watching the concert film ‘Show’ which is from 1992, and loved how energetic Simon seemed onstage. I was thrilled to see 24 years later, he’s still the one who can’t stand still.

Seeing the show from the lawn meant that we could not really see the stage, but I didn’t mind. The screen above us had a good stage-wide shot, and, it’s not like the band is all that visually striking. The audio mix was fantastic for an outdoor venue, so I didn’t lose any lyrics being out on the lawn. Being on the lawn also meant a lot of people watching as fans crossed in front of me en route to the concession stands, the bathrooms or their patch of lawn. Lots of people dressed in all black for an outdoor show where the high was 93 degrees. Yes I myself considering wearing a classic Cure Tour shirt from 2008, but it was black and I knew I would sweat through it before the show even started. Something seems wrong seeing this band in particular at an outdoor venue, but despite the heat, they played non-stop for about two hours and forty-five minutes. They played the hits, a fair amount of deep cuts and B-sides that played well to an outdoor crowd that really wanted to dance. One of my favorite moments was when the band began ‘Just Like Heaven’, the single that made them MTV darlings in 1987. As the guitar intro segued into the opening line, I looked back behind me to the lawn, swarming with people, and reveled in hearing thousands of jubilant voices sing “Show me, show me, show me/How you do that trick!” It was one of those moments that could only be fully appreciated from the lawn, because it proved that, even though we couldn’t really see what was going on onstage, we were still part of the show.
The set list (from setlist.fm):
Tape
Open
High
Pictures of You
Closedown
Kyoto Song
A Night Like This
The Walk
The End of the World
Lovesong
If Only Tonight We Could Sleep
All I Want
Push
In Between Days
Just Like Heaven
Bananafishbones
Never Enough
From the Edge of the Deep Green Sea
End
Encore:
Sinking
It Can Never Be the Same
Encore 2:
Shake Dog Shake
Burn
A Forest
Encore 3:
Dressing Up
Lullaby
Fascination Street
Wrong Number
Encore 4:
Hot Hot Hot!!!
Let’s Go to Bed
Close to Me
Why Can’t I Be You?
Boys Don’t Cry

Some thoughts on specific songs:
I’ve never been a fan of ‘The Walk’ but it must be one of Robert’s faves, because it’s being played at almost every stop. Even though it’s not one of my favorites, seeing Jason do the drum fills was fun, and, as usual Simon was all over the stage for this one.

While the encores change nightly, the last three songs are pretty much set in stone. The trifecta of ‘Close To Me’, ‘Why Can’t I Be You’ and ‘Boys Don’t Cry’ ensures that fans leave the show happy and singing as they head to the parking lot.

Thanks again to Sean for driving and for getting tickets, and it was a pleasure to meet Shannon and see this show with her.

And then on Friday, there was…
Show #2: Lakewood Amphitheatre; Atlanta, GA 06.24.16

“Hot! Hot! Hot!’ [Indeed!]
Whoever thought it was a good idea to book The Cure on a tour of outdoor venues that landed in the Southern US in late June should be fired! Don’t get me wrong, no matter the venue (and, as venues go, Lakewood is my least favorite) the circumstances, The Cure deliver. This show though might have pushed the band to their limit, as the temperatures were in the high 90s at showtime and only went down slightly (it was 85 degrees as I made my way to the parking lot at the end of the show, according to my phone’s weather app). How hot was it? As Robert prepared to play ‘A Night Like This’ he stated ‘It’s [explicative] hot!!” I am almost certain the word he said was ‘f***ing’ but my friend Mimi heard ‘bloody’. Either way, it was a truly unscripted moment.

When I saw The Cure for the first time in 1992, they opened with ‘Tape’/’Open’/’High’ so the show in Maryland was a nice flashback. When I saw the band a second time in 2008, they opened with ‘Plainsong’, which was what began the festivsties on this night in Georgia. I was really hoping that opening with that song meant that the show would feature a few songs from 1989’s ‘Disintegration’ album, and I was not disappointed. Without further ado, here is the set list for the Atlanta show. Nothing from ‘Pornography’ but an epic NINE songs from ‘Disintegration’!

Plainsong
Pictures of You
Closedown
High
A Night Like This
Push
In Between Days
Last Dance
The End of the World
Lovesong
Just Like Heaven
Jupiter Crash
From the Edge of the Deep Green Sea
Want
The Hungry Ghost
Prayers for Rain
Disintegration
Encore:
Shake Dog Shake
Burn
A Forest
Encore 2:
Lullaby
Fascination Street
Wrong Number
Encore 3:
The Walk
Doing the Unstuck
Friday I’m in Love
Encore 4:
The Perfect Girl
Hot Hot Hot!!!
Close to Me
Why Can’t I Be You?
Boys Don’t Cry

Even though I may have very well seen the only two shows on the entire US tour that did not feature either a song from ‘Pornography’ or ‘Faith’, the fact that ‘Disintegration’ was so well represented made Atlanta a special show. (As an aside, the very next show Sunday in Miami featured an encore that was simply four songs from ‘Pornography’! GAH!!! Maybe I’ll see something like that next time.)

Some thoughts on specific songs:

It’s great that ‘Burn’ a track released on the soundtrack to ‘The Crow’ is being played regularly. Smith has called it ‘Son of ‘Hanging Garden’’ so that was as close as I got to hearing a track from ‘Pornography’. Hearing it live, it really does fit well amongst the more upbeat numbers in the set and is placed wonderfully, right before ‘A Forest’.

‘Wrong Number’ must be one of Robert’s personal favorites. It was a bonus track stuck on their singles compilation ‘Galore’ in 1997 and again on their 2001 ‘Greatest Hits’ disc, and yet it seems every recent tour, the song has been a staple of the set. It’s not a bad song; it just surprises me that this song is a staple when there are so many other (better) songs to choose from.

Hearing the title track to ‘Disintegration’ in concert, no matter how many times it happens for me, will always make me smile and scream in unrestrained joy. This was one of the songs where Simon’s bass was so loud I felt it vibrating in my chest. Hearing that song alone was worth my ticket; the other thirty songs were a fantastic bonus!

Also of note, the band played two songs from the album ‘Wild Mood Swings’, a record that had been underrepresented thus far on tour (Jupiter Crash and Want). Those are both favorites of mine and it was great to hear them live, especially ‘Want’.

Robert recently turned 57 years old, and yet his voice still sounds very much like it did 30 years ago. He may not hit the high notes as hard as he once did, and occasionally he may have to go down an octave from the recorded version, but his voice on both nights was strong and sure. This lineup of The Cure seems like it could go on for as long as Robert wants it to. Look for a new album at some point late this year or early in 2017, and if we are lucky, another tour before too long.

Extra special thanks to Mimi for driving five hours to Atlanta to see this show with me. It was fantastic to see this band and this show with you, despite the heat and the venue’s total lack of charm.  Also thanks to my friend Tony, who introduced me to the music of The Cure twenty-five years ago, even though I wasn’t as much a fan as a captive passenger riding shotgun in his car.  My love and fandom for The Cure would not have happened without you. (It’s a really funny story that my friends have heard several times but I have never written a blog post about it. I’ll get around to that at some point.)

Thanks very much for reading.