2008.03.12 Paris - Palais Omnisport de Paris Bercy (France)

[dsanchez]

17 years today. Where did it go?

[dsanchez]

My personal review of the amazing show I saw in Paris.

One day in Paris… with The Cure (Part II)

The Part I is still in spanish, about three pages. Need to make the translation yet. This part two are my remembers of the concert, an amazing night which was even greatest because of the people I met.

Since that link is broken, sharing the review here, 17 years later:

March 12, 2008
One Day in Paris... with The Cure (Part II)

For me, it was the first show after five years. The first time was an unforgettable November 9th in 2002 in Hamburg. Now it was Paris. This was a different lineup. There were no longer Perry and Roger, but instead one of the best guitarists ever: Porl Thompson. At 20:15, the lights turned off, and the screams and claps of 20,000 people asking for The Cure multiplied. Behind the stage, some multimedia projections appeared—a Milky Way—and you could hear bells. It's the beginning of the show. It's the beginning of the first song of the Disintegration album.

Jason Cooper—black shirt, black trousers, blond hair—walked to his workplace: behind the drums. Then Porl Thompson—bald, with some tattoos on his head; Robert Smith—a bit overweight but with his nice-scary panda bear makeup and classic haircut; and then Simon Gallup, someone who doesn't seem to feel the passage of time. The man looked younger than ever, despite being almost fifty. A short-sleeved shirt, black trousers as well, and short black hair. The four guys stood in front of thousands of fans who screamed their devotion. And surprise! Professional cameras hovered over our heads, and on the stage, some professional cameramen were filming. Perhaps this concert will be released on DVD? That's what I've heard.

Jason Cooper played the drums, and the concert started. "Plainsong," the perfect song from the perfect album. The people went totally mad. It looked like the French had never seen The Cure. They screamed and showed a passion I'd only known from Latin American audiences. Some started to "swim" among the crowd. You might think "Plainsong" is a "fast" song, but no—it's slow, a song just for listening and enjoying... calm. But the people were insane. The next song, "Prayers for Rain," made them even crazier. The crowd pushed and jumped. It looked like I would fall soon. Am I at a punk concert? The people kept jumping, screaming, pushing. As I said, it seemed like they'd never seen The Cure, despite the band having probably played at least fifty times in France. I missed my friends in Lima—I'd love for them to see what I saw. What a concert!

With my friend Eva, we moved a bit back because the people in front were just too wild. Then it was perfect. From there, we could enjoy the concert without problems. And there was still a long way to the end of the show. I screamed to Robert, "Please come to South America," like three times. I certainly don't know if he could hear that, but at least I tried. Honestly, that show must be seen in Peru and all the countries around.
With "The Walk," the venue turned into a total party—a party of thousands of people. The new version was perfect. I didn't miss the keyboards at all. "Push," my favorite Cure song, was played in a strange way. It started with some sequences. That song doesn't need anything, honestly. I hope Robert considers going back to the "original version." Anyway, I screamed as much as I could the famous line, "like strawberries and cream, it's the only way to be." Thousands of people jumping at the same time. And that's because "Push" is such a powerful song. The Cure also played "Never Enough," and in this song, I took the chance to show the Curefans.com banner to the band. Andreas, the webmaster of cure-concerts.de (and also a curefans.com member), helped me with the task. Did Robert see it? I'm not sure, but at least we kept it up in the air for 25 to 30 seconds. The banner didn't just serve the band, though. A girl called out from behind and asked, "Are you David from Curefans.com?" It was Chrystel, a member of the community. The world is so small.

The concert went on for more than two hours. They closed the first part with "One Hundred Years" and "Disintegration." The four guys left the stage while the people kept clapping... and they came back. The four geniuses played four songs from the legendary Seventeen Seconds. The dark "At Night," "M," and then "Play for Today." In this song, the crowd started to sing along to the part where the band used to have keyboards. It was so noisy and great. Robert looked happy and gave himself totally to the audience with an unbelievable version of "A Forest." For me, it was the highlight of the night. It's a 1980s song, but it still sounded fresher than ever. Robert's voice during the "again and again" sounded the same as before. The band left the stage again. And they came back again, now with the "pop" part of the show: "Lovecats," "Close to Me," and a new song, "Freak Show" (which isn't that good), and they closed with "Why Can't I Be You?"—which, to be honest, missed the keyboards. But what the hell—the show was still 100%. And they came back again. They played their most famous song, "Boys Don't Cry," and also some songs from their first album, with "Jumping Someone Else's Train" as the best. Finally, they ended with one of the favorite songs of the legendary John Peel: "10:15 Saturday Night," followed by the outstanding "Killing an Arab."

It's the end of the show. At least, that's what everyone thought (because with "Killing an Arab," they'd finished most of their other presentations in Europe). But Smith thanked an audience that never stopped screaming by coming back for the last time to play "Faith." A dark projection showing a church is all I can remember. The people listened in silence to one of the anthems of the British band—a song that Smith wrote in his hardest moments, when, it's said, he even thought about committing suicide. And it's over. Three and a half hours of concert. What else can I ask? I'm tired. It's been more than nine hours standing up, but I don't care.
How to qualify the concert? Perfect? Incredible? More than thirty years of career, and The Cure still shows in every performance why they're simply the best band on the planet.

The Cure
Paris - Palais Omnisports de Paris-Bercy
March 12th, 2008 

Main Set: Plainsong, Prayers for Rain, A Strange Day, alt.end, The Walk, The End of the World, Lovesong, To Wish Impossible Things, Pictures of You, Lullaby, From the Edge of the Deep Green Sea, Kyoto Song, Please Project, Push, How Beautiful You Are, Friday I'm in Love, Inbetween Days, Just Like Heaven, Primary, A Boy I Never Knew, Shake Dog Shake, Never Enough, Wrong Number, One Hundred Years, Disintegration 

Encore 1: At Night, M, Play for Today, A Forest
Encore 2: The Lovecats, Let's Go to Bed, Freak Show, Close to Me, Why Can't I Be You?
Encore 3: Three Imaginary Boys, Fire in Cairo, Boys Don't Cry, Jumping Someone Else's Train, Grinding Halt, 10:15 Saturday Night, Killing an Arab
Encore 4: Faith