Out Of This World, Watching Me Fall, Want, Fascination St., Open, The Loudest Sound, Maybe Someday, Edge of the Deep Green Sea, The Snakepit, Inbetween Days, Shake Dog Shake, Prayers for Rain, 100 Years, End, 39, Bloodflowers

1st Encore: There Is No If, Trust, Plainsong, Disintegration
2nd Encore: M, Play For Today, Just Like Heaven, A Forest
3rd Encore: Faith (8 minutes)

Soundcheck: Watching Me Fall, The Figurehead

It is a perfect moment, extremely emotional, when the introduction music is turned on. Four four yeras I’ve waited
and even though I’ve moved geographically quite bit since then – then in Sweden  now in Germany – the
atmosphere is the same. The German Curefans may seem a little bit older than the Swedish though, which I
approve of. The Schleyerhalle is not fully crowded. But when the band enters the empty seats are filled emotionally
with the tunes of ”Out of this world” and the reactions of the audience instead. The audience surpirisingly reacts
quite calmly, but still obviously appreciating the gig.  As a comparison to Sweden where the crowd mosly bumps in
to each other, trying to reach the front row with no excuses. The age difference might explain this.
The setlist gives me quite a Disintegration/melancholy feeling which proves good musically. During ”Plainsong”
Robert steps aside and walks to th right side of the stag where he bends down and waves to the audience seated
far away. (A sign of farewell?).
The backrground pictures illustrates, as always the songs and strenghten sthe effects off the lyrics. The
heartbreaking tenderness of ”There is no if…” is illustrated  by Mary’s shellhearts from the record sleeve.
The final song needs no background picture. ”Faith” is here an 8 minute version and Robert’s face seems pale
and almost ghostly. It is over and when the lamps are turned on in the hall a fear grips me. There is a strong
feeling signifying this was the last time, the last tour.
Schleyerhalle is cold but we walk together to the afterparty where Robert’s voice keeps filling our minds. It
might be the last time since the fire is almost out, but we keep hoping that ”tonight will live as long as dreams”.

So, this was the first gig in my homecountry and I think it was rather disappointing: The band performed well, they
did a good set and the lights were brilliant again. But the audience was unbelievable low. It´s incredible as the
venue was very big (much bigger as the Hamburg venue, where I am from) and nearly sold out. I actual think that
the audience liked the set, but it didn´t show it. Well, I am from northern Germany, and therefore told to be
"cool", not able to be enthusiastic etc. The Stuttgart audience gave me another impression of the correlation
between the place you live in Germany and the enthusiasm.
But now back to the gig. After seeing such great shows in Spain, I knew it would be hard to stand this level.
Personally I concentrated more on how the band improved playing. Each song really sounded as if they had
rehearsed them a thousand times. Each member of the group is having a great work on his instruments....even if
Roger apparently does not like much playing "Open" with a guitar:-)
I met a lot of friends in Stuttgart from all over the world (Andreas, Dominique, Gerald,  Scott....) so that
summa summarum I had a very nice time. And of course one cannot expect the audience be the same everywhere,
also liebe Schwaben, sorry fuer die Kritik! So the next gigs for me will be Berlin and Hamburg before going to
Paris.  Yepp!

It is always interesting going to a concert in a foreign land.....and the Cure shows in Germany are no exception.
Being American, it was a new experience to see how fans from other countries react and behave, as well as seeing
the different concert venues.

I arrived in Stuttgart early enough to choke down a Bratwurst and a Hefeweizen before the show and still get
a good position.  The floor section was all general admission with standing room only.  Around the floor was a
seated section, but a majority of the people were on the floor.

As time grew nearer to 8 pm, I noticed some dreary Cure-like introduction music being played.  I had remembered
this music from both the movies Platoon and The Rock.  I think it is taken from  some symphony of which I don't
know, but I remember it distinctly from the war and death scenes of Platoon.  I knew everyone was in for a good
show if this was the mood they were trying to put us in.

About 8:15, the intro music grew louder and then the lights faded out.

The guys opened as usual with Out of this World and Watching Me Fall.  I was especially looking forward to
Watching Me Fall because it is my fave on the new CD.  They didn't let me down, as they played fantastically and
emotionally throughout this song.

The next few songs sounded great  as well, with Fascination Street and From the Edge of a Deep Green Sea
impressing me the most.

I was then shocked to hear the Snakepit, as I hadn't heard that since the KMKMKM tour in '87.  The light show
really added a nice effect to this mesmerizing tune.

Shake Dog Shake was also a surprise for me, and quite enjoyable. Prayers for Rain is always great, followed
by 100 years, which in my mind was the most intense song of the night.  Again, the light show and video screen
really added emotion to this song.

After End, 39 and Bloodflowers, I unfortunately had to rush to the train station to catch the last train out to where I
was staying, so I missed the encores.  Ugghhh.

stuttgart was in my opinion a well played concert, which some laughs of the band, but not the highlights as i hoped
to hear. firsat of all, if you don´t know, going to the concerts, you have to, if you want to see the cure playing at its
almost best.

Out Of This World: For me it is not the right song to start a concert, but the intro with classical music was so
powerful, that this song started very well
Watching Me Fall : 11 minutes of a wonderfull song.
Want.. made the first time the crowd a little bit swing
Fascination St. very powerful " just like the old dayd"
Open: simons bass effect on this song is brilliant
The Loudest Sound: i never thought that this song can be played live, but it has such an atmosphere...unbelivibal
Maybe Someday: was powerful , and rocking
Edge of the Deep Green Sea: brilliant version, this is my live classic
TheSnakepit: robert on the flute :-))))
Inbetween Days: a pop single the crowd danced a little bit
Shake Dog Shake: a love them for playing this sooo powerful and rocking
Prayers for Rain: sounded ok
100 Years i couldn´t close my mouth , they played it perfect, and the dias were incredibal, just roger looked 2
    minutes at the dias...this lightshow ...brilliant
End: i think something is missing, but i don´t know what...
39: not very powerful, i like the song, but for me it was not as powerful and intensiv as it could be
Bloodflowers : brilliant

1st Encore: There Is No If: i don´t like the drumming sample in this song
Trust roger played a piano solo which is sooo intensiv,
Plainsong: robert just walked around the stage, smiling looking at the crowd Disintegration : just disintegration
2nd Encore: M,: it was superb to hear this song, and they played it very well
Play For Today i didn´t hear the crowd singing the keyboard line, and my concert-neighbors just looking "silly"
   to me, as i sung it
Just Like Heaven: this is how it should be played live, very well mixed and wonderfully played
A Forest : wonderfull, but short version, the crowd clapped their hands at the end.. was very powerful

it looked as this was the end, but
3rd Encore: Faith: its the first time i had seen it, and what should i say....wonderfully

the stuttgart show was played very well, the mixing was ok, if i were on the mixing table i had made roberts voice
a bit louder, i didn´t understand anything he was saying. but it was fantastic to see they lighting show. 100 years
with the dia show turned so powerful, i just stood there and watched the dias, which changed to every line and
were sooo brilliant

The intro startet at 8.15 h, and it was a big suprise (but a welcome one) for the nearly 10,000 people in the crowd
when the lights faded and the band entered the stage. Out Of This World and Watching Me Fall were very
powerful and especially the last one very well played (interesting how fast 11 minutes can pass). I think there´s
been some miscommunication between Roger, Robert und Simon in Fascination St. and Open, ´cause they played
some false chords (and took it with a smile) what only showed that even a "big" band like The Cure with such a
perfect live sound are no mainstream musicians. The Loudest Sound was more emotional than on the record,
Maybe Someday and From The Edge rocked (you couldn´t even hear that Boris and Porl where not there).
The Snakepit expressed the psychedelic side of The Cure (Robert on the flute was great and made me laugh).
The only song I didn´t enjoy on that setlist was End, because it seems there are a litttle bit too much noise-guitar
songs at the end of the main set. Certainly this song goes along with 39, but musically it´s too one-sided.
Bloodflowers was strong, emo and even better than on the record. The encore was fantastic, including Robert
walking around on the stage and taking a look at the crowd. Disintegration had a lot of power (even though Boris
drumming was so much tighter), the 17 Seconds songs pleased the crowd (along with a nice Simon-Robert duet at
the end of A Forest). Finally they played a very intense version of Faith and even though I wished I could hear
Siamese Twins or The Figurehead this was certainly the best Cure concert I have seen.

Hans Schleyer Halle is a large modern hall in the outskirts of Stuttgart, where about 7.000 people had gathered to
attend the first German date of the tour. Audience was eclectic, not only fans but obviously wannabee-gothics and
other people venturing here for a nice Saturday night out.

This diversity might explain the relatively small enthusiasm featured during the almost-three-hour-long show.
Going out for a beer while Faith is played is no longer thirst, it is anathema.

To describe it briefly, this was a clean-cut concert, with surprisingly nice versions of too rare songs, largely using
Wish and Disintegration.

The band played in real harmony and the show was of genuine quality, with great visual effects, maybe missing
some spontaneity sometimes.

However, Robert trying in vain to play the flute on ‘snakepit’ – by the way brilliantly interpreted – was a real
laugh, it reminded me of the violin experience when they went « Unplugged ».

Too bad the audience was below expectations.