The Cure - Live, Sydney Entertainment Centre
Last Friday I finally got to see The Cure live in concert with Joanne & DaveMc (read his review - it’s nicer than mine). It was a bit disappointing having been a bit of fan since the 80s. There were some highlights (hearing some my favourite Cure tracks like Fascination Street, A Forest, Close to Me, Lullaby, Boys Don’t Cry) but I felt that it lacked atmosphere and energy. Perhaps I was not a dedicated enough fan. Maybe it was the mature age MORs sitting next to me! Maybe it was because we were sitting near the back of the venue (though luckily, they weren’t using the full capacity of the Ent Cent). Perhaps I just don’t like too much guitar thrashing in my 80s idols. It seemed that all the synth/keyboard parts of their songs were replaced by more guitar. Think what you like - I like to hear keyboard melodies where they belong. I knew less than half the songs they played, and they played and played and played for 3 hours. Have to say that Robert’s Smith’s voice was very good, just like the records! Now in some cases - having the act you paid your hard earned bucks for play for twice as long as normal would be awesome eg Prince. Now I’ve been to quite a few concerts in the past year or so where I wasn’t a big fan of the artist and ended up being quite entertained and enjoying myself but on Friday, the Cure gave me quantity over quality. Bernard Zuel nailed it in his review on SMH