Flowers in your mouth and the same great songThe Cure's annoucement of a couple of Christmas shows came as a total surprise to most Cure fans and came as a perfect addition to my already planned trip to London to see my other favourite band, Slowdive, on 19th and 20th December. Just a few days after the band's announcement tickets went on sale and as expected they quickly sold out their two initial dates (21st and 22nd December). For this reason, one extra, final date, was added for the 23rd December.
Unlike recent years, where the band played in the mythic Royal Albert Hall (one date in 2011 and two dates in 2014) the London venue chosen this time was the Eventim Apollo (formerly known as the Hammersmith Odeon) a place where the band played 30 years ago during
The Top tour. However, this time, the line up was very different (no Andy, Lol, Porl or Phil and instead Simon, Roger, Reeves, Jason) with, of course, Robert Smith as the band's leader.
To recreate in a certain way that 1984 show, Smith invited the same band that supported The Cure back then: And Also The Trees.
Although the tickets were sold out quickly I had no problems to get them through Eventim. When I think on it, it was also Eventim the company where I bought the tickets for The Cure Hamburg 2002 legendary concert, twelve years ago. Was this a good sign? Hamburg 2002 stands out of one of the most memorable gigs ever among Cure fans and it set the bar really high for any The Cure concert I ever saw since then.
Already a tradition since 2008,
I met with a few Curefans for a lunch , this time at The Distillers, a very cozzy and beautiful pub located to just five minutes talk from the venue. We relaxed and talked about everything, but of course the interest was focused on what The Cure would play that night. All seemed to indicate that
The Top would dominate the show's setlist. And it was like this.
Before going on stage, the band used as intro a song that resembled pretty much to The Glove's "Relax" (or it was "Relax"?) an intro used during at The Cure shows in 1986. Were they going to play Shake Dog Shake as they did back then as well? Of course it couldn't be other way! The first song of
The Top album initiated the concert and the sound couldn't be better. It was "crystal clear" as Marci Shoe, a German curefan who was with me watching the show would describe it.
The Cure has been playing basically a very similar setlist since 2008, but this drastically changed this night. After "Shake Dog Shake", the band played "Kyoto Song" followed by "A Night Like This", in a live version I don't enjoy when I compare it with the magnificent
In Orange performance. Not only Jason adds unnecessary cymbals at the beginning of the song (why?) but Reeves Gabrels, an excellent guitarist, makes his own version of the beautiful guitar solo and for a moment, if I wouldn't see Robert's figure on stage, I would think I was at an Aerosmith concert rather than at a The Cure concert. The Cure is not a conventional rock band, but this guitar solo makes it sounds like it is.
This little detail, however, doesn't make me like less the concert because shortly afterwards the band started to include songs they didn't play in ages:
Like Cockatoos, Hey You, Wailing Wall, Empty World and specially (!)
Piggy In The Mirror (a song
I personally asked Robert to include in The Cure's usual setlist) or songs they never played before, like
A Man Inside My Mouth.
How many bands make such a change on their setlists to please their fans?
Those who know my The Cure preferences know that the highlight of the night was for me Piggy In The Mirror. It's a song I have stuck in my mind since early 90's when I used to watch again and again the In Orange concert, when Robert said "To cure the act this called Piggy in The Mirror" to introduce this song. They never played this after 1997, so we are talking about almost two decades (!) of absence in setlists. Unlike the
In Orange version, Robert didn't play the guitar solo, instead, this was done beautifully by Reeves who used an acoustic guitar to give that Spanish sound in the solo while Robert played the tambourine.
I must also point that Robert's voice was absolutely awesome. I was comparing both Piggy In The Mirror from 1986 and this was from 2014 and I see little to no difference in Robert's vocals. I would even say that his voice has improved compared to the 4Tour 2007/2008 as well as the band's "metallic" sound of back then.
The Cure gave us nearly 3 hours of show with 4 encores and songs for all kind of fans. For the knowledgeable fan, there was the The Top played in its entirety and the inclusion of songs never played before; for those who only knew the radio songs, there were Boys Don't Cry, Close To Me, Just Like Heaven and many other pop songs; for those fans who saw The Cure for the first time, an array of songs that would made of this an unforgettable, unbelievable night.
The sensation after the band played the last song of the night, "Hey You" (an odd closing song compared to the songs we are used to, such as "Boys Don't Cry"and "Killing An Arab") was that this was a memorable concert, and perhaps, I dare to say,
the best show since Hamburg 2002 (excluding the Trilogy 2002 and 2011 shows). I am personally very optimistic and think 2015 will be a great Cure year. Hopefully a new album, a new trilogy and a new chance to meet all of you nice people again.
