First, let me say that The Cure's show at the Hollywood Bowl
on May 31, 2008, was -- without qualification -- the best concert I have
ever seen.
To begin with: the venue. I had never before had the privilege
of seeing a concert at the Hollywood Bowl, and it's a magnificent venue.
Capacity just under 18,000, as I understand (and it was packed to
the rafters) . . . fantastic acoustics . . . great sight-lines . . . just
a wonderful venue built into the Hollywood Hills. Just being there
was an experience.
My wife and I were lucky enough to have seats in the "Pool Circle,"
Row 2, so we were maybe 10'-12' from Porl Thompson when he moved to the
front of the stage. We had to pay 4x face value to get those seats,
but I can honestly say they were worth every cent.
The opening act, "65 Days of Static," were really quite good, I thought.
They reminded me (a bit) of an almost 100% instrumental "Nirvana,"
but perhaps more "atmospheric." Nothing to complain about in the way
of an opening act, in my opinion. Whilst 65DOS were playing, and before
they even took the stage, you could occasionally see Simon Gallup peering
around the "ribs" in the Hollywood Bowl's "shell," and he smiled and waved
and was wonderful. He even signed some autographs for a couple of
fans brave enough to go and ask the stage manager to have him put pen to
program.
We were seated "stage left," right under Porl Thompson, and I was
initially shocked by his new "Dr. Porl 'n Furter" get-up. A far cry
from the wrap-around sweater and blue ribbon in his hair from the era of
"The Cure in Orange." He looked like "Pinhead" (sans pins) from "Hellraiser,"
crossed with "Dr. Frank 'n Furter" from the Rocky Horror Picture Show. Great
big high-heeled, patent leather, thigh-high boots, a corset, lycra arm sleeves,
a fishnet top, and of course his signature bright-white Schecter "Porl Thompson
Corsair Bigsby." In contrast to reports from prior N.A. tour shows,
we found his sound to be crystal, sparkling clear, powerful, and just amazing.
One of Porl's strengths (IMO) is his ability to play "jangly" stuff
that sounds almost like it came out of Roger McGuinn's 12-string Rickenbacker
. . . right to power chords . . . with no pause or difficulty in any of
it. His guitar and Robert's voice "made the evening," IMHO.
Admittedly, I'm a bit of an "oddball" Cure fan, in that while "Disintegration"
and "Pornography" are almost universally considered to be the finest albums
in The Cure's "canon," my personal favourite albums are "Seventeen Seconds"
and "Faith." Thus, I like a more "sparse," stripped-down sound, and
I didn't find the absence of keyboards to be a problem in the slightest.
Of their entire set, the songs that really jumped out at me as being
the best were: "A Night Like This," "The End of the World," "Pictures of
You," "A Letter to Elise" . . . and then the whole of the 2nd encore, which
was entirely material from "Seventeen Seconds."
I can't imagine a better place to see The Cure than the Hollywood
Bowl, and they certainly did not disappoint. Just an absolutely fantastic
show. We were perhaps particularly focused on Porl, as he was right
in front of us, but the skill and passion with which he played made it an
ideal place to be. His Cornfeld tube amps produce a wonderfully warm,
rich sound that seems to just ring out forever.
We loved the show so much we are going back (well, traveling) to
see the band again in Houston on June 9th, so I'll report on that as well
when I get the chance.
It's almost hard for me to find the adequate superlatives to describe
how wonderful/amazing the concert was.
- Michael
Scott
The Hollywood Bowl marked the sixteenth time I
have seen the Cure perform.
My first show being the Holy Grail of all Cure
shows, Dodger Stadium 1989 with the Pixies and Love and Rockets. I’ve invested
a lot of time, love and energy into The Cure for the past 22 years. Albiet,
it has been tough at times; Junkie XL, Blink 182, Mixed Up, the HP commercials
and everything after Wish (oops, did that slip out) and so forth…
My point is
this; I’m a die hard with A LOT invested and because of this, I’m particularly
critical.
I’ve never been more proud to be a Cure fan than
I am right now. The boys completely kicked ass Saturday night at the Hollywood
Bowl. I was fortunate to experience the show from the Garden Box, which is
literally an egg toss from the stage.
The show started
on time. I wanted the chimes and the big crash opening of "Plain Song" but
as soon as I heard the waves crashing, I knew we were going to get "Underneath
the Stars" as an opener. What a beautiful way to start the evening and I
will look past the irony of listening to a song called "Underneath the Stars"
during the daylight. Robert’s voice was in top shape and dead on. I have
to admit, I was really worried about the lack of keys but, they did an awesome
job without them. Robert's double strum lead on Lullaby was so cool.
If you have
the ability to let your mind wander and follow each instrument and the melodies,
you're in in for a treat. That is why I fell in love with The Cure to begin
with. I read the previous review and I have to whole heartedly disagree with
Scott (and his reference to Bob Seger). "The Edge of the Deep Green Sea"
was on point from where I was sitting (50 ft back between Robert and Porl).
When it was time for Porl's solo, HIS GUITAR ROARED LIKE A MONSTER. It was
brilliant, strong, and extremely effective. I kept thinking to myself, "holy
fuck, holy fuck, oh fuck that’s cool." Words can’t describe how perfect FTEOTDGS
sounded. Also, Simon and Porl DID NOT kiss during Never Enough. Thank
God. I don’t like “staged” moments like that. All the new songs were really
well received and sounded great. The one thing that did not work so well
is the "Love Cats" and the slide guitar.
Also, as a
side note… If you have a small child around the age of 2yrs old and you bring
said child to a concert, especially a 3 hour concert that was this loud.
You are a bad parent.
- Jeff Love
This show was 1000 times better than Santa Barbara. And the HB is
a tad bigger. Robert's voice was completely dead on the entire time.
The set list was a wish list. Underneath The Stars was beautiful (can't
wait for single). There wasn't one song that didn't get to me.
I actually cried on POY. PORL IS STILL FUCKING AMAZING!
Highlights for me were Baby Rag Doll Book can't wait for that one as well),
THE KISS! Robert was soooo good on his guitar, and At Night. The
Bowl was packed. It is, however la la land, so I did expect most pop
hits, but the way Porl works it and Robert gets his jig on, it's ok by this
fan. Robert took flowers and a stuffed animal and was adorable.
- Debi
This was my lucky seventh time seeing the cure since 1992. Interestingly
enough, it was eight years to the day since I last saw them, on the Dream
tour in 2000. Was this the last time ever? Who knows- only Robert will tell.
I wanted to get a hoodie- they were pretty cool- but $75 (!) is a bit much
to ask. The crowd was a great mix- mostly older 35/36 & up to late 40s
and beyond. Not nearly as many folks dressed up like Robert as in the old
days, but I did see a few. It was a beautiful night- breezy, clear skies.
65DOS were alright- very self-effacing, very Mogwai-ish, a couple good
tunes but nothing I’ll remember or try to seek out. What was weirder was
the music played during stage setup for The Cure- Carol King? Earth Wind
and Fire? There was also a track that sounded like it could’ve been the band-
very similar to Carnage Visors- but who knows?
I’ll preface this review by saying that throughout all the incarnations
The Cure has gone through that I’ve seen live, this version is by far the
most visceral. Porl is a guitar god- his presence has reinvigorated the rest
of the band and they play with a vengeance, tight and alive. Also, one of
the best things about the show was the onstage banter between the guys. Robert
seemed to be in a great mood, smiling and chatting with the rest of them
and with us. I never can really understand what he says on the mic to the
audience, but he was smiling a lot, doing the goofy Robert dance through
the songs that called for it, and just in general having a great time.
I was overjoyed when I heard the waves crashing that would signal the band
coming onstage. “Underneath The Stars” is every bit as beautiful in person
and more so. Robert’s voice was strong and clear, and I knew he was feeling
better. “Prayer For Rain” confirmed this as he held the ‘rain’ for quite
a long time, igniting the crowd. The keyboards weren’t missed. I could’ve
done without “End Of The World” but Porl’s solo completely rocked. Everything
he did tonight rocked. Robert was cracking up throughout the whole song.
I won’t go over each individual song since you’ve all seen the set lists,
but I’ll raise a few points. FTEOTDGS sounded really off. In fact, Robert
was having in-ear monitor problems all night and at one point had to ask
the sound guy for help. “Pretend you didn’t hear that,” he said to us. But
the issues were most pronounced during “Deep Green Sea.” Porl’s guitar sounded
really muted and the band sounded off during the whole song. It’s something
that could and should be dropped from the set lists in favor of others not
yet played.
The band started on the pop mid-set and didn’t let up. Don’t get me wrong-
it was great hearing “Push” followed by “Friday” followed by “In Between
Days.” I’ve heard em all so many times, but never quite like this. The guitar
fills for what once were keyboards were phenomenal. Things slowed when the
duo of “Never Enough” and “Wrong Number” came up. Contrary to what many others
say, I thought WN was pretty lame live and added nothing to the night, but
Robert was having a great time playing it. And contrary to what someone
else here said, Simon and Porl kissed during NE.
A note on the other new songs. “The Perfect Boy” is fucking brilliant.
It’s a total rock n’roll riff song, really great live. Reminded me of Bob
Seger for some reason. “The Only One” was great live too. Everyone left
to piss when Robert announced a new song, but they stuck around for TOO.
It fit in the best with the set. Though I liked it up til now, “Sleep When
I’m Dead” didn’t come off all that great. In fact, SWID, “Baby Rag Dog Book,”
and “Freakshow” are all surprisingly similar songs, despite how they might
sound so different. They’re all very unstructured as far as verse/chorus/verse
(like, in my opinion, the best Cure songs), but Robert sort of rambles through
them and, strangely, the course the lyrics take in each song is very much
the same. Maybe others that were there can corroborate this…
The encores were brilliant. This version of “The Kiss” was the hardest
I’ve ever heard. My wife asked me if this was the thrash metal section of
the show. The interplay between Robert and Porl was fantastic. During the
second encore, Simon tore his bass up during the end of “A Forest.” Brilliant
stuff. I could’ve done with a Faith encore rather than the pop third encore,
but it was still great fun, and I realized something. Robert plays those
songs because people eat them up, he feeds off their enjoyment, and in turn
has a great time on stage.
All in all, a great show. My wife said it was one of the best shows she’s
ever seen. The place was sold out, packed to the rafters, and singing along
with most every song. A completely magical night.
- Scott (MonkeyButt)
