And then there were Four... The Return of The Cure

Last week I saw The Cure live on their latest tour. Seeing The Cure in concert has always been a big event for me, being a long-time fan of the group, and their latest appearance didn't disappoint. It was a big, loud, exciting show, this time around dominated by a heavy guitar sound and a setlist hearkening back to their '80's glory days, while introducing some new songs (good and bad) from their upcoming album, due out in September '08. I would have preferred seeing the group after hearing the new album, but the release date has been pushed back several times, so it didn't work out that way this time around. As it turned out, the show here in Toronto (May 15th) coincided with the May 13th release of The Cure's new single, "The Only One" (have a look at the video below), a nice, dreamy melodic pop song in the tradition of earlier singles such as "Catch" or "High". In typically playful, Cure-like fashion, the group will release a new single on the 13th of each month leading up to the new album. Robert Smith has always been such a tease, hasn't he?


The Cure - The Only One

Truthfully, I wasn't all that psyched to see The Cure this time around. I've seen The Cure 8 times before (!), and I wasn't sure that it would be worth the $100 ticket price to see them again. There are very few bands that I've followed for this long (almost 25 years!), and few that I'd be willing to see again and again through the ebb and flow of their career. In fact, the only others I can think of are Rush, David Bowie (who I've only seen twice), and Nick Cave and the Bad Seeds. Of course, I'm talking about bands playing at large-scale venues here – there are numerous local or lesser known groups that I've seen play as many or more times. What persuaded me to see The Cure for the ninth time was the new lineup. When I heard that guitarist Porl Thompson had returned to the ranks, I was intrigued, and so I dutifully purchased tickets for the show, anticipating something good. Thompson's accomplished guitar sound augmented many of The Cure's key albums (The Head On The Door, Disintegration, and Wish to name a few), so I was expecting the group to be back in top form, albeit without a keyboardist. I bought the tickets almost a year ago – the show was originally scheduled for September, '07, but was postponed and moved to this past week. Talk about killing the buzz...

So the show finally came around, two seasons later, and here we are in 2008. I'm happy to say, despite my dampened anticipation, that the show was worth seeing, and The Cure are alive and well, loud and strong, stripped down to a core 4-piece unit. As a keyboard player, I do miss Roger O'Donnell's contribution to The Cure. His presence added a certain sophistication and expansiveness to the group's sound. And, on a personal level, I have known O'Donnell as a friend and one-time musical collaborator since the early '90's, so his place on stage was noticably bare. However, The Cure has been an ever-evolving group since day one, and its current lineup is solid. My ideal Cure lineup was the one that played on the 1989 "Prayer Tour", in support of the Disintegration album, which comprised Robert Smith, Porl Thompson, Simon Gallup (bass), Roger O'Donnell, and Boris Williams (drums). Well, Smith, Thompson, and Gallup are all currently on board, and drummer Jason Cooper (who I've always considered a distant second to Williams) is sounding better than ever, so the future looks good for the seasoned goth-punk-pop combo.

I shouldn't read set-lists from previous shows on-line before going to a concert. I was expecting the show to open with "Plainsong", "Prayers For Rain" and "A Strange Day", as it had in Montreal the night before. Silly me, but just as I got to my seat, The Cure walked onstage and launched into "Open", one of my favourite Cure songs and a great opener (see the Show concert video if you have any doubts). This was followed by "Fascination Street", setting the tone for the evening. Lots of songs from the Porl Thompson era (welcome back!), and nothing from the dubious Wild Mood Swings or Bloodflowers albums (over-rated in my opinion). The concert was just under three hours long, so I can't go over every highlight, but I loved hearing "Open", "Push", "Primary", "One Hundred Years", "Shake Dog Shake", "From The Edge Of The Deep Green Sea", and the shiny pop singles "Friday I'm In Love", "In Between Days", and "Just Like Heaven". You can see the full set list, as well as others from the current 4Tour, at the Chain of Flowers blog if you're interested.

 

On a personal level, the second encore was really a special treat. Way back in 1985, the first two Cure albums I ever heard were Boys Don't Cry and Japanese Whispers, and after hearing these two captivating and darkly eccentric collections, I was hooked. The second encore of the show, amazingly, was a four song selection of tracks from Boys Don't Cry, including the songs "Boys Don't Cry", "Jumping Someone Else's Train", "Grinding Halt", and "Killing An Arab". With this, The Cure went full circle, from their first singles to songs from their unreleased upcoming album. The group also played three songs from Japanese Whispers during the evening, "The Walk", "Let's Go To Bed", and "The Lovecats", but these never translated all that well in live renditions, and certainly suffered from the lack of keyboards (although kudos to Simon Gallup for his pulsating bass grooves on these songs). The show ended off with the classic moodpiece "A Forest", and then my wife and I were off home to relieve the babysitter, back to the hectic realities of everyday life.

My personal all-time favourite Cure show will always be the "Prayer Tour" stop in Ottawa, which was on August 26th, 1989. That was my first time seeing The Cure live, and it was at the peak of their career (you can see the setlist here). But I must hand it to Robert Smith and co. for keeping the group vital and alive after all these years. We'll see what the group's new album has to offer this fall.