The Cure- Madison Square Garden

           

He's looking directly at you, or through you. 

            "This is the end" was the very first words out of Robert Smith's mouth when he and his band, The Cure, took the stage Tuesday night at Madison Square Garden. This is their first New York visit in 7-years, since 2016. They were here for three sold-out nights at The Most Famous Arena in The World! In fact, the entire U.S. tour is sold-out for all 30-cities! Rolling Stone magazine said that "The Cure is the Hottest Rock Tour of Summer 2023!"  

            Of course he was singing the first line of the opening number, 'Alone' from the upcoming new album, 'Songs From A Lost World' which, according to Robert himself, should be released any day now. The tune was quite somber, I do love the line "We toast to our emptiness." The band was letting us know, from the very first song, that tonight was going to be as melancholy as we wanted it, and expected it.

 

This fan's name is Francesca Kennedy. She loved the show and got the poster, check out that Robert Smith dress she wore to The Garden! That is a "You go girl!" moment right there. 

            Quite noticeable were a couple of things when you arrived; first was that there were paper signs crudely printed up, taped to the columns, that read "The use of strobe lights will be in effect tonight" and second, that there was no music playing. Usually music is playing at every concert from the time the doors open right up until the opening act, but not tonight. The stage was darkened. Every few minutes you would hear, over the loud speakers, roaring, crackling thunder which, accompanied with the strobe lights gave a lightning effect. The set design was giving off a gloomy rainstorm vibe as the anticipation was growing. It was absolutely perfect! 

The Twilight Sad in front of the Poseidon statue or is that Neptune? 

            8:00 PM promptly the support act, The Twilight Sad, began. With no music playing, wherever you were in the arena; the bathroom, the merch table or getting a beer you knew the concert had started. The five lads were from Scotland and they sounded really good. They did a great job, had excellent stage presence, interacted well with the few dancing fans that did know their music. The Twilight Sad has been in the game since 2003, all they need is one big hit and they'll be the ones headlining next. They were quite entertaining. One thing that the lead singer, James Graham, said "Opening for my favorite band is a dream come true" showed a human side to him. It endeared him to the audience. Yeah,... New York liked them. Definitely give them a listen here: The Twilight Sad's website

5 out of 6 of them

            The Cure took the stage at 9:00 PM and played 29 songs for just shy of 3-hours, WOW! The music started and there were five members of the band on stage performing. On the far points of both stage left and stage right were keyboards. Stage left keyboard duties were being handled by Roger O'Donnell and stage right keyboard was being played by Perry Bamonte. Perry is a multi-instrumentalist who also plays guitar and bass. He went back and forth between the guitar and keyboard throughout the concert. Reeves Gabrels phenomenally riffed lead guitar all night. On drums was Jason Cooper keeping the beat going and on bass was Simon Gallup. (The second longest member. They have had their dust-ups, but Simon was best man at Robert's wedding.) 
            Two minutes of music before he takes the stage, eye liner with red lipstick tonight. Immediately he noticed a fan, upfront, who was trying to give him a single rose. Robert walked over to the corner of the stage (stage right) bent down and accepted the flower. He took a moment and waved to everyone on that side. They went crazy. He lingered for a minute, gave them time to get their pictures while he was up close. (It has been 7-years.) After a good minute he meandered to the other corner of the stage and waved to the people on that side. They loved it too. He gave them a solid minute as well and at the 4-minute mark he began singing.

Section 116

            He sounded superb and the band sounded terrific. Halfway through the song, he picked up a guitar and started playing, just outstanding. From an electric guitar to an acoustic electric, he strummed on about half the tunes that evening. It was all really good. And since the first number was a new one, delightfully the second one was a hit, 'Pictures Of You'. That's a nice balance. The older we get, the harder that song hits. Track three 'A Fragile Thing' was also a new one, which was well received by the crowd. 

            After that a deep cut from 1985's 'The Head on the Door', 'Kyoto Song' was next. Two hits followed then another new one: 'A Night Like This' and 'Lovesong' then 'And Nothing is Forever'. The strobe light came on at certain times, during 'Plan for Today' and 'Shake Dog Shake' to mention a few. The last official ditty of the set list, before the encores, is another new one, a perfect song to end the set on, Endsong. I love this one too. It's an instrumental that just draws you in. 
            They encored for an hour! Encore number one was five-songs long, they continued doing what they were doing during the main set, hit, new one, hit, everyone loved it. Encore number two is where they brought down the house. It was like nine smashes in a row! The big ones that got the most radio airplay and the most rotations in the clubs: 'Lullaby', 'The Walk', 'Friday I'm In Love', 'Why Can't I Be You?', 'Boys Don't Cry', etc...
               If you are a true fan, do whatever you can to get a ticket to this tour. If you are able to pull that off and see this show, I can guarantee you, this concert will be...

(wait for it)...
Just. Like. Heaven.