The Cure: Classic or Dud?

4 encores, 15 songs?!

A 'greatest hits' setlist with "Trust," "2 Late," "All I Want" and "Piggy in the Mirror" alone? I mean, I'll take that.

That doesn't look like a bad setlist at all to me. The guy who runs the Smash Hits archive was apparently at the show.

You all know about the London residency/secret gig towards the end of the year, yes?

[Disclaimer: may have just been someone bullshitting on my Facebook page]

Go on...

my review of last nights show at the Hollywood Bowl. i was really mad at my friend. really wanted to get there on time and maybe catch a bit of the first band. he got here over an hour late and i was pissed. ended up missing "Plainsong," we are talking about a song in my Top 5 Cure songs and he made me miss it, was so pissed. we were so late we should have missed half the show but bought tickets for a shuttle ride and they were able to drive us almost to the front door to miss the all that traffic. settled down and they played "A Night Like This" so was happy again. then they just played all these Disintegration including the hits. if was still daylight out and it really didn't seem right to watch them in the sun. the sun finally went down when they started to play "Fascination Street" and it was perfect. right after "Just Like Heaven" they started to play "2 Late" and i almost died. i could not believe they were playing this song. they they followed that up with "Trust" which probably stole the night for me. it was unbelievable, it sent goose bumps down my spine. they played "Want" after that and followed up with "One Hundred years" which was all painted in red lights. then they end the set with "Disintegration." they then played "A Forest" but you could tell they were on a time limit so it didn't go on like it normally does live but still was about 10 minutes or so. for the second encore they played three songs from The Top and by this time i was going pretty crazy. i could not believe i was hearing song after song from The Top with a Kiss Me song thrown in for good measure. at one point he just went to his usually howl and it lasted and lasted and lasted. what a set of lungs on that guy. he must not smoke because his voice is as good now as it has ever been. they closed out with a bunch of hits to make the crowd very happy. i would have preferred a few more obscure songs, but the people always want to see the hits it did make sense to play almost all of them. was not the best i have ever seen this band but they are on the top or their game and if you see them you should have a great time. they are always a blast live.

and they need to release a new album, those two new songs i heard are really, really good. they didn't sound out of place at all! what a band.

my only in L.A. moment. i ran into Ron Jeremy.

Quite reassuring, thanks. Sux I'm only seeing one date but I'm excited

Sounds like a wonderful experience. I'm most interested in those new songs.

http://www.laweekly.com/music/the-cure-played-four-encores-last-night-and-we-still-didnt-want-it-to-end-6956159

I see "Exploding Boy" last night.

X-posts. Don't know anymore than that, really. Butterfly Child's Joe Cassidy mentioned them in a FB post.

Huh, I missed that post of his then. I do know Joe was sitting with Lol, at least.

http://www.latimes.com/entertainment/music/la-et-ms-the-cure-hollywood-bowl-20160524-snap-story.html

I saw them last night. I guess it was a good show?

Reasons I should not spend $250 dollars to go to a concert ever again.

1. I am not meant to go out in public, I can't deal with people around me. I get distracted by lights and noises too easily. i don't know how to relax.

2. Phones. A lady two rows up facetimed with her friend for almost the whole first song - so her friend could see the show, i guess? I got to see a bright smiling face of a woman just below the stage. Her face looks as big as any member of the band. Also, so many little hollywood bowls all over the place on people's phones throughout the show. I understand one or two pictures every once and a while, but the recording of whole songs or even half of songs on video really bothers me. I am trying to get over it. Also, the girls sitting right next to me would make videos and take pictures with the flash on. that only illuminates the back of peoples heads and makes your phone annoying to the people behind you and in front of you. ugh. A selfie or two will be a great way to remember the show! but then when you check and see if your selfie got any likes every three songs or so, it gets really distracting to me.

3. Talking. So, 15 minutes before the show a bunch of self proclaimed Cure superfans show up. I mean this dude has been into the Cure since he was 12! It's a pretty incredible feat. This superfan loudly announces to everyone around him that he isn't sitting down until he gets to his car after the show. Never mind that this will force everyone behind you until the end of the section to stand as well. But its fine, It's a concert, stand to your heart's content. You don't have to loudly announce it multiple times before the show maybe, but live your life. But then the show starts and this superfan and his friend loudly say the name to every song as it starts and then continue to loudly chatter to each other about whatever the fuck unless they wanted to sing along to the occasional lyric or sing the keyboard riffs loudly out of tune. my "favorite" exchange: "BLOODFLOWERS!" yells superfan. "I've never heard them play this live before!", says friend. cool, me neither. "BLAHBLAHBLAHBLAHBLAHBLAH" the two of the continue to talk throughout the entire first verse until they sing some lyric and then a brief respite before continuing to talk amongst themselves. My girlfriend is a little closer to them and she asks them politely if they can keep it down. they look at her like WTF and simply say "no." I break, I tell them repeatedly to shut up, please just shut up. not my finest hour. i should have dealt with the situation better. From there on the tried and true method of the occasional dirty look is tried. they yell at us that the show is over there while flicking us off and saying they will kick my ass. it's good times. I give up and try to enjoy whats left of the show. The superfan that was never going to sit down sat down eventually. He never stopped talking, but he did sit down. Also, the girls sitting directly next to me were constantly on their phones and seemed to want to have a nice loud chat whenever there was a midtempo dirgey kinda song. It's a Cure show.

4. The Hollywood Bowl isn't a huge venue, but its pretty big. They have two video monitors on each side so that people that sit far back can kind of see what is happening on stage. The Cure apparently want the focus to be on the music and their own projections, so we just get two static cameras shooting across the stage from each side. The left side of the Bowl could watch the monitors closest to them and see the guitarist Reeves looking cool and all Jerry Garcia-esque and a little tiny Robert Smith at the edge of the screen. The people on the right side of the Bowl could watch Roger playing the keys and a little tiny Robert Smith at the edge of the frame. we could also just directly watch a little tiny version of the Cure and their rather cool projections behind them on stage. I think this lack of consideration for people sitting in the "cheaper" seats might have led to the general inattention and lack of enthusiasm around me? I dunno. Most shows have multiple cameras and you at least get to see the band and the singers face. I know paying money to essentially watch a concert on screen isn't the ideal scenario, but it is a nice option to have.

I get it. It's a rock and roll show, you gotta let some shit go. But fuck. I can't deal with it anymore. The worst part about it was, early on (prior to confrontation) we saw how it was going to be and moved one row down and a couple of seats over to an empty spot and it was so nice for 3 songs. Some people were singing and dancing and having a good time, some people were sitting quietly listening to the music. Everyone was doing that thing where if you have a comment you put your mouth near the persons ear and tell it to them at a reasonable volume and then you go back to enjoying and listening to the music. Then our happiness had to end because in typical LA fashion the people whose seats we were in show up late at like the 7th song and we have to go back to the misery of our original seats.

I just needed to rant. sorry for taking up all this space. I realize that ultimately I am at fault for letting this kind of thing get to me. Also, I am sure I have been the obnoxious person at plenty of shows in my life.

This (seriously) is why I go for the cheap seats. If the audience throws me off then at least I'm not going "Well I didn't sink hundreds of bucks here." (My ticket for tomorrow's show only cost me $45 or something -- not even lawn, it's an actual seat!)

Yeah, that might be the best move if I feel motivated to ever go to a large venue show again. This kinda thing doesn't seem to happen as much (or maybe it doesn't bother me as much) at the smaller shows I have been to recently. And it usually doesn't bother me too much at the Bowl because I realize that most people are there just to have a pleasant picnic in the summer evening.

Hopefully when I see the LA Phil this Friday everything will go well. At least there won't be chatter.

To get things back on the Cure track, I have also never heard them play Boys Don't Cry so I was pleasantly surprised that it sounded like a later-day Cure song and not like the more punk-y original. I love the original, but it was a welcome change.

I don't blame you for the rant, that sounds terrible.

Sorry Bronto, that really sounds like a horrible experience!

The idea of someone taking selfies during 'One Hundred Years' is just WTF.

"Something small falls out of your mouth and we take a selfie of it."

"It doesn't matter if we all die lol!" #thecure2k16 #happy #goth #partay

Man, I'm reading #3 and after each sentence I'm dying a little more inside/getting a little more angry. Condolences.

The secret to attending a big, inconvenient show is to take joy in other people's joy. It's hard to do when you're feeling grumpy or anxious, but for me seeing a chatty superfan freak out when they play his favorite song is kind of endearing and part of the experience (even if it's objectively obnoxious).

I know, easier said than done. But I always enjoy myself more when I surrender myself to the reality that concerts aren't going to be an ideal experience for me and focus instead on the shared experience.

Also lol at Austin and Turrican's posts

I've had an unexpected "Disintegration" phase recently, to the point that I found myself reading the comments beneath a review of the Cure that dared criticise the length of their concerts. Anyway, I'd want to sit down for some - if not all - of a three hour concert.

thanks everybody. I still feel bad about getting angry and distracting myself from enjoying the show, but it felt good to vent and have people voice support.

the selfie/pictures/video thing is the kind of thing that I really have to just let go. this seems to be how modern day concerts seem to work, so I am just going to have to be a little less oldmangetoffmylawn in the future.

i love people freaking out! song starts, omg omg scream, woo! but at some point, i dunno, listen to the fucking song. singing is cool too! release! communal release! its the best part of going to a show! chatting with your friends like you are in the back of a bar where some local band happens to be playing for three hours kinda sucks for everyone else around you.

i am thinking next time i'll just chat everyone up around me a little bit before the show starts, so if I do feel like I need to ask them to talk a little less, or talk a bit quieter we'll have some sort of rapport before hand.

The Cure! Robert's voice really did sound quite good. Hot!Hot!Hot! sounded really nice and funky, and I've never been super into that song. Same goes for Fascination Street, it made more sense to me live than it ever did on record.

Did Robert make the little cat paw gestures during "Lovecats"? I love when he does that

No, Lovecats for me. he did some sorta wiggly arm shuffle dance thing every once and while.

Brontosaur- was anyone else around you annoyed?

I generally don't like massive concerts, I tend to remember the assholes and the discomfort more than the music. Singalongs rarely enhance the experience for me. Don't miss those type of gigs one bit.

The Cure might be the only remaining band I'd go to a huge concert for but I doubt they'll come to Scotland.

My girlfriend mentioned that the fella sitting immediately next to her gave her a little smile when she turned around to ask them to be quiet. but the people in front of me seemed fairly oblivious, and the people to my right were also chatting throughout. I dunno man. Like I said, I have no doubts that I am overly sensitive to this kind of thing. My girlfriend less so but they were literally sitting right behind us. A big part of my job (production sound mixer) has me basically listening to signal (people talking) and noise (anything else) and determining when the noise overtakes the signal to such a degree that we should stop rolling. Spending my time doing this has made these situations kind of maddening sometimes, so I tend to try to let things go as best I can. It obviously didn't work out last night.

Did Robert make the little cat paw gestures during "Lovecats"? I love when he does that

yes he did. the song was a lot of fun.

sorry to hear about this brontosaur, i had a very difference experience Sunday Night. everyone was so happy and friendly in my cheap seats. i thought it was one of the best large crowds i have seen. most of them were also drunk, lol.

One Hundred Years from Sunday Night:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=aWn2QKfM0UI

how great is this song? i think it is, brand new Cure:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=C_HzXtAEzF4

Wow, sounds really good!

And Rob looking in good health, too! Like he's maybe dropped some weight.

He slimmed down a couple of years back -- was looking extremely good on the Reflections tour and I think has generally maintained that since.

I will never tire of Simon's Prancercize moves as he plays

I've noticed a lot fewer phones out during club or theatre shows, smaller things, but it's as bad as ever in arenas and larger venues, to the extent that bands like Coldplay or Taylor Swift encourage people to wave them around, which looks pretty cool, actually, and saves them some light show budget. But yeah, watching a show with your own eyes but also through several screens capturing the exact same thing you're watching, but smaller, is really distracting, and it's a lot of effort - probably impossible - to train your gaze to ignore them.

Brontosaur, you nail exactly why I avoid 'big' shows, and I absolutely relate to your inability to just relax and try to ignore these things. I saw Neil Young a year or so ago and it couldn't have been less, err, magical, for all the reasons you describe. I can't think of a single living artist I'd pay more than $25 to see in a venue this size, and it has everything to do with the behavior of (modern) crowds. A music festival in 2016 is kind of my idea of a living hell.

one of the reasons why I'm skipping radiohead's SF stop this year at outside lands. this album really doesn't lend itself to a festival setting and the crowds are awful. I'm still seeing the cure tonight though.

Festivals are way better than stadium / arena shows, because: the crowds at any one stage are more likely to be club or theatre sized; people are most likely there to have fun, not eat in a seat, talk to their friends, and get to a car park to drive away afterwards; and there's enough room to just move away from any dickheads who are talking, aggro, or on more drugs than they can handle.

(They're not a good way to see just one band that you're really interested in, though.)

new song is excellent

Festivals are way better than stadium / arena shows,

this is the biggest crock of shit ever posted

Ain't that the goddamn truth.

I found myself wondering what Robert Smith's lounge looks like, today.

I've not really spent much time pondering pop stars lounges (aside from I once thought "I bet David Sylvian has a nice lounge").

With apologies once again for perhaps being lazy, but... A question:

Which of the Cure remasters are really worth getting in the deluxe 2CD edition?

I'm about to order a bunch of these to replace my LPs. Most of the single CD remasters are very cheap, and I reckon in most cases the album on its own will suffice. I'm not really interested in demos of songs on the album, for example (I think).

Are any of the 2nd discs really essential? Thanks for your help - I've been listening to lots of Cure lately because of this thread.

I should say in my defence that Amazon Germany doesn't give details of the second disc!

If you're interested in the "deluxe edition" type stuff in the first place, they're all worth getting eventually.