Even if you’re a mega fan, it’s easy to take The Cure’s discography for granted until you see and hear it laid out bare for you, as the band did across this 35-song marathon consisting of a 19-song main set and four encores of four songs each. Whether you’re a fan of the band’s more commercially-visible material or the darker, moodier, more frantic material, whether you only have their Greatest Hits compilation or you’re all about the deep cuts and B-sides, there was something here for you tonight. There was even a new song called It Can Never Be The Same which sat among the standard of the rest of the set as if it had always been there. The encores were built in such a way that any of them would have served as a fitting, exciting end to the show, so by the time the final encore set rolled around with The Lovecats, The Caterpillar, Why Can’t I Be You and Boys Don’t Cry, it felt like more than we had any damn right to ask for.
It sounds ridiculous to say but Robert Smith really sounds like Robert Smith. To hear his voice on Pictures Of You or High in 2016 is to hear him inhabiting the material every bit as intensely and deeply as he did when it was brand new. Bassist Simon Gallup, as always, brings a punkish presence to the band, with his basslines often occupying a space somewhere between a bass and guitar – which when combined with the six-string basses often used by Smith and guitarist Reeves Gabrels leads to a low, lush, dark sonic foundation upon which to place the keys and vocals. And Gabrels, a veteran of Tin Machine and David Bowie’s band and a great solo artist in his own right, adds a real sense of musical danger to tracks like Never Enough while still being respectful to the requirements of the more sparse tracks.
We’ve lost so many icons recently – particularly ones who might count as The Cure’s ’80s contemporaries – that it felt like there was something of a revived spark of excitement and vitality among the fans. The very same people who might have had Let’s Dance and Purple Rain fanned out either side of The Head On The Door in front of the record player as teenagers seemed collectively shaken by this unique 2016 ‘what the hell is going on’ pop culture grief into a renewed appreciation for the bands who are still with us and still making great music. That’s not to say The Cure didn’t earn the rapturous reception they received: they really fucking did. But this is the first legacy act concert in recent memory where an audience made up of mainly over-35s seemed to inhabit the moment with a passion and abandon usually seen in teen crowds making their memories in real-time rather than older crowds celebrating their memories after the fact. It probably helps that The Cure always appealed to the misfits, the goth kids, the readers, the artists. The lifers. There was none of that sense of ‘let’s dust off the concert-going attire and see if it still fits.’ This felt timeless.
BY PETER HODGSON
Loved: The accent – gets me every time.
Hated: Not knowing all the words.
Drank: Nothing
Image: Ian Laidlaw
