2008.05.09 Fairfax - Patriot Center (USA)

Started by dsanchez, June 22, 2007, 06:09:39

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TomKat

What time did they take the Stage? How long did they play? I will be in Philly tonight.
Thanks

crowbi_wan

Quote from: TomKat on May 10, 2008, 21:32:59
What time did they take the Stage? How long did they play? I will be in Philly tonight.
Thanks

They started shortly after 9:00 and played just over three hours.

TomKat

What time was the show supposed to start? I'm in philly tonight. It is supposed to start at 7PM. I'm gonna have trouble getting there by 7PM.

crowbi_wan

If the show starts at 7:00, 65daysofstatic should be on from 7:00-7:30ish.  Tear down/set up will take a half hour or so.  That would put The Cure on around 8:00. 

TomKat


Nicholas

Ah, maybe it's just that we're older and more prone to break a hip or something!  It was a pretty middle-aged to aged audience there.  And I was probably one of the 'mall rats'there, just consider it my Mick Dempsey 'dog's breakfast'just rolled out of bed look.

But with FTEOTDGS, Wrong # audience participation, I just don't think that the majority of the people at the show were familiar enough the songs to pick up on those exact cues.  They got it when hit over the head--after the third time Robt said hello, he finally got an answer, but that was more of a give and take between performer and audience rather than an in joke between knowing fan and idol.  So, while they weren't reacting as hardcore fans, they were having a good time and were very vocal and appreciative after the songs, for sure.  My wife and friend are 'çasual' fans so they didn't know to do that stuff, but they were still impressed by their performance and gave it all they had in thanks.  Also when playing the sides during say, 'Never Enough' or LGTB, people were jumping in the aisles for that.  And there were quite a few people stomping and dancing where I was (Sec 101, CC 11) but with the seats on the floor I think it would have been hard to pogo.  I broke into it'a bit for 'Push' but I was in danger of falling over half the time!  The thing is, as far as Robert was concerned we were a pretty damn good audience.  He and Porl genuinely seemed to be loving the crowd very much so.  I also think breaking the curfew and thanking us for making it a 'f*cking excellent' night speaks volumes.


The only goofy thing I witnessed was some guy jumping seats in front of me just to take pics of himself 'rocking out' with the band in the background.  But I just laughed.


As far as performance: Robert's voice was in really, really excellent form, and although Porl's guitar was buried in the mix at times I was able to hear more of what he was playing than the other times I have seen him.  Robert was egging him on quite a bit, which I thought was cool to see--along with shared smiles with Simon and turning his back to face Jason, all added up to a band really enjoying themselves.

The opening trio was incredibly sleek and powerful, like a bullet train.  The crowd was massively appreciative of Robert's held note in 'Prayers'.  They were also grooving to 'The Walk' and of course 'Lovesong' really got them going.  Maybe I'm just making sh*t up, but it seemed Robert was gazing at his ring hand a little at the beginning.  Surprisingly for me, a very animated and fresh sounding Lullaby was an early highlight.  I really enjoyed Robt's guitar work on that, impressive for making an overplayed chestnut like that stand out.  'The Perfect Boy': closest to 'Before Three' a bit in it's sparkling strummed guitar sound, very big and with a yelled chorus, but a little faster and the drums don't gallop around as much and there are starker changes for the chorus.  A bit of the 'he said' 'she said' type lyrics in there, it's definitely an upbeat number, but not in the 'pop' vein insomuch as I wouldn't consider 'Before Three' straight ahead pop like TEOTW or Inbetween Days, more like the power pop of 'Push', which was served incredibly last night, just incredibly done.



Nice interplay btwn Porl and Robt for Hotx3, nice work on FTEOTDGS, I may be in the minority when I say I really liké 'The Only One' AND 'Freakshow' but I honestly was glad to hear them.  'Primary' was too slow for my taste, the pace drags the song down when it should have wings and fly.  TEOTW was off as well.  Supreme filagree of 'To Wish Impossible Things', and the metallic tang of 'Shake Dóg Shake' were great...agree with most that 'Wrong #' works so much better live.  '100 Years' seemed a little thin and clunky at times, a shame, but it finished strong and the transition into 'Disintegration' came off very well.  As did the 'Jumping...'to 'Grinding Halt'one--very nice to hear those.  I haven't caught any of the versions of 'Á Forest' off of the European tour yet--were Robert and Porl doing a very long intro of duelling guitars for this?  It sounded freaking incredible, well done.  'Killing An Arab' was just a towering beast, really furious, even Jason was impressive.  Too bad they had to cut it short, looked like they could have gone on for a while.


As for the lack of variety in the set list, I'd be lying if I said I wasn't hoping for a little more of a shake up.  On the other hand, to get a first time ever performance of 'The Perfect Boy' really just not, could not be beat.  And the thing is, I wonder, if I didn't have access to all of the earlier setlists/shows (via the internets) and I had gone into this with only the memory of the previous shows here in MD/VA I think I would have been more blown away by the likes of the 17s and 3IB encores and the new material.  Sure I would have liked say, 'The Kiss' or 'Á Boy I Never Knew' or even 'Forever'(yeah, right) but overall the set was pretty well balanced, maybe leaning towards the 'pop' side of the meter.  But, hey, since it looked like Robert was having a fantastic Friday night of dance hits, I really didn't want to rain on his parade and just ended up having a blast--especially when 'Lovecats' hit, I just forgot about it all.

My friend took some pics, so when I get them, I'll try and up them.  And thanks again to j and others for their reports.


QuoteThough I'm beginning to wonder if we should be seeing a thematic pattern for this album: Robert's lack of children.

Very, very good point!

lostflower4


silversand

Thanks j for the setlist and the others for the reviews  :)

You've written a nice review Nicholas. It was like i was there :)
It seems you enjoyed the show very much.

I'm really looking forward to Chicago next week :D


Something to the crowds in Europe:
I have the impression that the people at the shows were at the beginning
reserved, but when the band played e. g. pop song they danced and when it came to the encores they went crazy. That was e.g. the case in London.
What i can remember that the crowd at the seating area didn't stand up until let me say the encores. And for me it was different from city to city. Maybe it has something to do with the temper. In some countries the crowd is more enthusiastic than in other countries. For me a crowd which is enthusiastic is great.

But in the end what really counts is if you enjoyed the concert, had a wonderful time, that you danced, screamed till you were hoarse and went out of the hall with a big smile on your face :)


ushlynn

WOW...just read the five pages of comments and had to join in!
For those worried about merch prices--you have a choice, so make a choice and stop complaining ;)
For those worried about the crowd response--this 37 yr old wife and mother of two who has LOVED the Cure since 1985 didn't sit down from the time they took the stage until I got to the car at 12:30am.  I sang, I screamed, I knew the 'cues' and I danced my a$$ off the entire time!  To hear songs that made me who I am today absolutely blew me away.  No, I didn't hear 'Homesick', but I didn't expect that I would anyway...and let's face it, they can't play EVERYTHING!  In the end, the Cure seemed very pleased with the crowd and if they weren't I don't think they would've played past midnight for us.  An absolutely awesome concert experience of absolutely beautiful music and that's all that counts for this 'Mom'.

Gothiczartan

who was the opening act band for the cure?

I heard they are from the UK
Robert Smith is our hero!

crowbi_wan

Quote from: Gothiczartan on May 11, 2008, 03:33:14
who was the opening act band for the cure?

I heard they are from the UK

65daysofstatic

Gothiczartan

Quote from: crowbi_wan on May 11, 2008, 03:36:35
Quote from: Gothiczartan on May 11, 2008, 03:33:14
who was the opening act band for the cure?

I heard they are from the UK

65daysofstatic

thank you!

I'll see if they have a myspace for the band
Robert Smith is our hero!

japanesebaby

thanks nicholas for a review and everyone else for gig comments too.

by the way, about merchandise, in case it's of interest to anyone:
it looks like the US tour has a lot of stuff that wasn't being sold on the european tour - or then some merchandise stands i was visiting had simply very very incomplete selection. anyway, looking at this:
http://www.pbase.com/craigparker/image/96831045
compared to this:
http://curefans.com/index.php/topic,4623.msg44545.html#msg44545

in europe, i don't remember seeing the striped shirts, the shirt with a picture of the band sitting on the ground wasn't available in blue, the t-shirt with red vertical 'the cure' text wasn't available in white.
Ay, in the very temple of Delight
Veil'd Melancholy has her sovran shrine

dsanchez

2023.11.22 Lima
2023.11.27 Montevideo

Gothiczartan

Robert Smith is our hero!