One night with The Cure
by Amy Paterson
It’s been 15 years since British act The Cure performed live in New Zealand.
And for many of their ardent fans, it was well worth the wait.
Thanks to the online petition organised by New Plymouth fans Gordon Pitcairn and Alastair Ross, The Cure returned for one show only at the Vector Arena in Auckland recently.
As a Cure fan myself, I was full of excitement and anticipation.
Although not a crazed fan, I still got goosebumps when I finally got to hear Robert Smith sing live.
As I looked around the arena, I noticed each individual was experiencing the live performance in a unique and different way.
So scrap “reviewing” the concert, here’s why I would go see The Cure again:
Tuesday I’m in love
- The concert lasted for three hours, and I wasn’t bored once.
- It was a greatest hits tour, so it was packed full of about 35 songs from all of their 12 albums.
- The long set gave them time to break away from the short and sharp recorded versions, giving us a chance to see their instrumental talent.
- Robert Smith’s unique and spine tingling voice was just as good live – and of course his signature cheeky stares out into the crowd made me chuckle.
- Smith’s contrasting casual attire with his wacky hair and make-up was interesting to see in ‘real life’ – he’s also the only one who can pull off wearing camo cargo pants ten years after they were ‘in’.
- Bright lights don’t normally impress me, but the lighting definitely added to the excitement of the live performance – they even matched the lyrics on occasions … Yellow and green and tangerine.
- The Cure have been around for 30 odd years, so the place was full of oldies trying to reconnect with their youth. It was like a double whammy, The Cure and 50 pluses smoking pot and attempting to dance – highly amusing.
- By the end of the third encore the Cure had enticed most of the Vector Arena to get up out of their seats and dance which was awesome to watch from down below.
- Oh, and it’s The Cure.
It was a fabulous night!!