The Cure @ the Hollywood Bowl
5/23/16
By D. Romero
I purchased my ticket for this Cure gig about six months ago and it felt like an eternity until the date arrived for me to see the band play. They were playing three nights in a row at the Hollywood Bowl, the iconic venue nestled in the Hollywood Hills. I was so excited to see them come around again since the last time I got to see them was in 2000. I have been lucky enough to see The Cure play a variety of sized places; from the Rose Bowl to a tiny hole in the wall that is the American Legion Hall in Hollywood way back in ‘97. Needless to say, I was very happy to score some tickets for this show. I was so psyched in fact that my inner, younger goth girl was impatiently waiting all this time and I mistakenly thought my ticket was for the first show and ended up arriving a day early – only to discover that my ticket was for the next day! Oops, the wait would have to last another twenty four hours.
It was a gorgeously cool night for late May (which made me even more elated since I have never been a fan of the sun or warmer weather) when The Cure took to the stage. They kicked off the nearly two and a half hour set with the shimmery number “Open” from their 1992 Wish album – a perfect opening for what was to come. The set was such a dream for longtime fans as they played so many tracks that spanned their entire career including highlights from Seventeen Seconds, Kiss Me Kiss Me Kiss Me, Disintegration, and the current unveiling of two news songs “Step Into The Light” and “It Can Never Be The Same” – fine additions to the long list of their already impressive catalogue.
The classic “Lullaby”, sung in Smith’s whispered vocals about becoming a meal for a spider, was eerily complete with a giant sized spider web backdrop where a spindly spider’s legs came in to view. The gothic gloom of “Fascination Street” and the beautifully romantic “Pictures of You” also had many of the fans in ecstasy. They also played some Head On The Door era songs, one of which was “In Between Days” – one of their first huge hits in the States. Another favorite of mine was “A Night Like This”. It was really great to hear the audience singing along.
I was especially excited to hear them play “A Forest”. This song never ceases to give me the chills. The graphic backdrop of hauntingly beautiful tree’s accompanied the spooky, jangly aerodynamic of sound that came flying off both Robert Smith’s guitar and Simon Gallup’s bass and really added to the songs intensity – which speaks of running through the forest searching for a girl that was “never there”.
It is so crazy how time speeds up when you are having fun and although Robert Smith was minimal with the on-stage chatter, he announced to the crowd as the clock was approaching the final moments that they would have to depart the stage for the curfew but that they were going to play as close to the edge as they could get. They played a total of four encores, each were like mini shows in themselves. The fevered “Hot Hot Hot” had gotten the crowd into a frenzy, and most were singing along to “Let’s Go To Bed” and “Close To Me”. The Grand Finale was a Cure staple “Boys Don’t Cry”. As a longtime fan, it was insane for me to even hear all of these songs back to back. Just when you thought they have played about every song you can think of from their vast catalogue – they played another song that you almost forgot about. The breadth of their catalog is as amazing in quantity as it is in quality. I left astonished at how many songs were played and still was thinking to myself “I wish they would have played…”
All I know is that I cannot wait for the next time they come to town.
Anarchy Juice 