4Tour World Tour 2007 - 08
August 1st, 2007 -
Singapore (Singapore Indoor Stadium)
Tape (intro), Open, Fascination
Street, A Strange Day, The Blood,
A Night Like This, The Walk, The End of the World, Lovesong, Push, Pictures of You, Lullaby,
Kyoto Song, Hot Hot Hot, alt.end, The
Drowning Man, From the Edge of the
Deep Green Sea, Inbetween Days, Friday I'm In Love,
Just Like Heaven, Primary, If Only
Tonight We Could Sleep, The Kiss, Shake Dog Shake, Never Enough, Wrong Number, One Hundred Years, Shiver and Shake, End
1st Encore: Let's Go To Bed, Close To Me, Why Can't I
Be You?
2nd Encore: Three Imaginary Boys, Fire In Cairo, Boys
Don't Cry, Jumping Someone Else's Train/Grinding Halt, 10:15 Saturday
Night, Killing An Arab
Show was about 3 hours and 10
minutes.
Soundcheck: At Night, Play For Today, Never Enough
(Thanks to Nic for the ticket scan and to Tito
for the setlist)
All cured out
By RAFIL ELYAS
Almost 30 years since its official formation, The Cure finally made its
first appearance in South-East Asia at the Singapore Indoor Stadium last
Wednesday, performing over three hours of three decades worth of material.
This was the third leg of their 2007 Australasian tour.
The Cure officially formed after several incarnations in Crawley, Sussex,
England in 1979 – so the wait for the band to finally tour this part of the
world has been an excruciating long one. For the fans, it didn’t matter who
was in the band with Robert Smith on this tour – just as long as The Cure
showed up in Singapore.
Smith, regarded as the band’s svengali multi-instrumentalist, front-man
is the only constant member. Smith is The Cure – ex-members learnt this the
hard way.
Smith is neither Anita Sarawak nor Oprah. He doesn’t do rapport. His lyrics
convey his message. However, he is polite, and will thank you when you applaud.
The Cure is generally described as “goth”. Smith hates this definition.
Looking at bands which call themselves “goth” these days, one understands
why. The Cure is certainly eclectic, a juxtaposition of post punk, goth,
psychedelia, and pop.
Even though the band is known in this region mainly for songs such as Love
Song and Friday, I’m in Love, the Cure has released 12 studio albums, several
compilations, various EPs and singles, remixes and rarities.
In the 4 Tour global trek, Smith stripped their line-up down to a guitar-driven
configuration, featuring long-time transient members Simon Gallup (bass),
Porl Thompson (guitars) and Jason Cooper (drums). Keyboards were replaced
by minimal sequencing and guitar arrangements, masterfully executed by Smith
and Thompson.
The band took the stadium stage in full regalia, black apparel, clumpy boots
and shiny silver.
The show started right on time in light of the marathon live session ahead
– of course, nightfall is essential for a gig by The Cure. No sunlight to
damage the pale goth skin tones of those hardcore fans rushing into the standing
arena.
The most striking and iconic member of the band, Smith, is disturbingly
intriguing. A large, Edward Scissorhands-meets-Raggedy Ann, with bird’s-nest
hair, mascara and smeared lipstick, he’s sometimes hardly moving, and other
times skipping from across the stage like a school girl, stopping only to
stare intently at the audience.
They opened aptly with Open, a lament about the drawbacks of fame (I can’t
take it anymore/ This it I’ve become/ This is it like I get/ When my life’s
going numb).
The band then launched into a raw version of Fascination Street. This was
followed by Strange Day, which trawled the depths of despair (Give me your
eyes/ That I might see/ The blind man kissing my hands), before they broke
the surface, shook off water to the flamenco pulse of The Blood, plunged the
stadium deep into A Night Like This and rode the crest to The End of the
World.
Cooper and Gallup delivered a steady rhythmic foundation for Smith and Thompson
to build their guitar work upon and trade riffs. Smith’s wavering vocals punctuated
with howls and squeals of delight clinched the Cure sound. Lighting was simple
but effective, purple, white, red and green lights framed the band perfectly,
mind-tickling strobes and lots of fog. At the packed-out venue (over 7,000
fans), the sound was excellent, all instrumentation and vocals came through
clearly.
The stadium erupted when the band struck up the opening chords to Smith’s
gift to his wife and the lovers of the world, Love Song.
The Cure’s darkly-lit songs, despite the years, have never gone out of fashion
as tortured, introverted souls revelled in the nihilism of One Hundred Years
(It doesn’t matter if we all die), Kyoto Song, The Drowning Man, and If Only
Tonight We could Sleep.
The crowd was lapping it all up religiously. Entranced finger dancers caught
halos, held their breaths and shook to Lullaby, The Kiss, From the Edge of
the Deep Green Sea and Never Enough. Feng Tau enthusiasts grooved away to
the lively Wrong Number.
Throughout the show, the perky goth in everyone burst, grinned, giggled,
blissed, skipped, jumped, sang and shouted to the perfect pop tunes, In Between
Days, Hot! Hot! Hot!, Just Like Heaven and the MTV staple, Friday, I’m in
Love.
The band ended the main set, aptly again, with End, another lament about
the downside of fame and fortune (I think I’ve reached that point/ Where every
wish has come true/ And tired disguised oblivion/ Is everything I do).
They took a short break, and then returned for the first encore. A pop set,
Smith shed his guitar and flailed around the stage, possessed by Delirium
and denizens of Faerie. The band coaxed 1980s dance moves from the crowd with
Love Cats, Close to Me with an unexpected bluesy solo from Thompson, and
Why Can’t I Be You?
The last encore was a gift. The band performed half of their post-punk debut
Three Imaginary Boys. Beginning with the atmospheric title track, the songs
kept on coming. The energy carried through 10:15 Saturday Night and climaxed
with the controversial Killing an Arab.
Three hours and 10 minutes. Smith set his guitar against his amp, thanked
the audience and left the stage, feedback piercing the darkness.
After 38 songs, it may seem ungrateful to complain but where was A Forest,
Charlotte Sometimes and Play for Today?
We remind ourselves that The Cure gave us over three hours worth of songs
that spanned almost 30 years since Three Imaginary Boys.
And we thank them for this.
- The
Star Online
This is my review of the Cure concert in Singapore
on August 1. It's extremely long though, because I wanted to capture and
remember every detail
as vividly as possible. Here goes...
Pre-Show + Meet & Greet!!!!
I reached the stadium at around 1.30pm and met up with a friend Yosa I'd
met on a local Cure forum called Cureforfinecity. It was set up about 2 months
before the show for fans in the region to discuss their travel and meet up
plans and of course discuss The Cure. We saw a sign with arrows pointing
in the direction of the free-standing queue stuck to the wall and we hurried
and followed more signs, worried that there might be a queue formed already.
There were 2 other fans, a guy and a girl, who appeared behind and they followed
us. We reached the Premier Entrance and were relieved that there wasn't a
queue yet and quickly settled down at the head. There would be other members
from the board arriving at different times during the day and I was appointed
the meeting person to call once they reached. The 5 of us (Yosa came with
his friend) quickly struck up a conversation. I left for awhile to get lunch
from a nearby 7-11, 2 banana walnut and chocolate muffins and a 7 Up. I hadn't
eaten anything in the morning due to excitement and nerves that the day had
finally arrived. As we chatted, small groups of people started arriving and
by 4pm, the line had only reached the corner of the wall.
This is the exciting part - I had won a Meet & Greet pass to see the
band backstage! The contest was organised by Zouk club and the rules were
first 2 fans to show up at their reception with their personal cd collection
would win 1 pair of passes each. However I only won a pass for myself as
the club
later changed the rules due to overwhelming response. Unsurprisingly the
club got alot of flak for that and I was abit disappointed as I'd promised
to bring my friend along if I won. But still, I was meeting the band and
the thought of that made me giddy. A Live Nation staff had called me the
day
before the show to tell me to meet outside their admin office at the stadium
at 7pm on show day. I kept checking the time every now and then and
developed butterflies in my stomach as 7 o'clock drew nearer. By 5.30, several
board members had arrived and we introduced ourselves and they took out their
Cure stuff for me to get signed by the band. One of them brought some of
his vinyl, which was impressive! He handed me his Just Like Heaven 7 inch
record which has a large white space in the middle, perfect for autographs.
The rest had books and postcards. At 6.15, I bade a temporary goodbye to
the rest, called my friend Jon who not only won concert tickets but a M&G
pass as well, and met him outside the admin block. He'd brought along a postcard
and a vintage Cure show poster and a vinyl. We started mapping out a strategy
in case the M&G turned out to be a 5 minute hurried affair. His rules:
ignore whatever the Live Nation people say and take as many pictures and
autographs as possible and get individual shots with all 4 members. Reasoning
being as long as the band oblige our request, they can't stop us anyway.
At 7.35, we had a roll call and they led us into the building and into the
dressing room which was empty. We spread our stuff onto the tables against
the wall and waited.
Then the band appeared! Several gasps of 'Whoa!' and 'Oh my god!' and everyone
clapped and cheered and they went round shaking our hands. I was trembling
as I shook Jason and Simon's hands, it felt unreal. The staff got us together
for 2 group pictures. I found myself next to both of them, with
Simon beside me. Then it was back to mingling around and it felt like a market,
everyone was grabbing members left, right and centre and taking
photos with them. I quickly asked Porl for a picture and introduced myself
and shook his hand after that. He was really friendly and cool. I wonder
how much it hurt getting his head tattooed! Jason was next and it was awkward
because I had forgotten to turn on the flash and the guy taking it kept
telling me that. All the while I kept apologising to Jason for keeping him.
Then I spotted Simon standing alone in a corner and I went up to him. The
minder nearby made to shoo me away but Simon said 'Sure!' and thank god for
him! He is possibly my favourite Cure member and I was just thrilled! Jon
suddenly asked him 'So what are your post-show plans? Are you guys going
out? Would you like to try the local food perhaps?' And Simon said 'Oh nah,
I don't think so. We gotta be back at the hotel, got an early flight tomorrow."
That dashed our hopes of a possible hang out with them. Then Jon passed him
a set of badges of his own band, the sly fox, and Simon thanked him.
At last it was time to meet Robert again and Jon took a photo of us. In the
whirlwind of the last few minutes I had completely forgotten what to say
to
him. I took out a scrapbook that a few board members and I had made for the
band and handed it to him. As he looked and flipped through it, I nervously
stammered to him about the board and how everyone on there was dying to meet
the band, and would he be so kind as to allow a quick 5 minute chat backstage
after the show? I knew nothing would materialize having heard Simon earlier
but I tried anyway. He was looking at me intently with a slight smile, nodding
his head now and then and I couldn't figure out what he was thinking. Then
I handed him a heavy gift-wrapped package that my friend had bought for them,
which she later told me was a 6 pack can of Tiger beer! I wonder if they
drank it and if they liked it :D
Amazingly I did not shake Robert's hand and I kick myself for missing that
opportunity! Argh!
By the way, my pictures of the show are up on Flickr. Check them out here
http://www.flickr.com/photos/ariddesert87
My friend Jon is second from left. I'm the one near the right looking quite
hidden in both pictures. In the second photo, Simon pops up beside me.
Enjoy! :)
Finally we were herded out of the room and I quickly gathered my stuff. Someone
had nicked one of my postcards! I had laid out 3 and got 2 back. I
was angry for awhile, then felt extremely relieved it wasn't my Faith cd
booklet instead. I would have murdered someone if that had been stolen! Jon
and I headed over to his car and I dumped everything in the backseat save
for my camera which I stuffed in my pocket and covered it with my jacket.
As Jon had seating tickets, I bade farewell for now and went ahead. I was
nervous as I passed the bag checkpoint and saw staff at the entrance with
metal detectors in hand. I glanced at one of them, who scrutinized me for
a moment and thankfully did not stop me. Then I was in the stadium and felt
an jolt of electricity course though me as I took in the crowd. I pushed
my way to the front where I knew my friends were waiting for me. To my delight
I found 2 of them in the middle in second row infront of the microphone.
It was nearly 8.15pm. Lots of screaming and whoops as everyone was getting
revved up.
It's Showtime!
And then - Jason, Simon, Porl and Robert strode on stage and the crowd went
mad with cheers and screams! To my annoyance the 2 girls infront of me screamed
'Robert I love you!' and I thought 'Shit!' and prayed they would shut up
during the songs. Wordlessly, they picked up their guitars and
started strumming snatches of song and then they launched into Open. I'd
just met them backstage but to see them again on stage felt incredible and
I
was mesmerised. Then they played Fascination Street and it was terrific!
and However I noticed many of the free-standers were reticient and barely
registered interested and only livened up with the popular hits came on.
I was puzzled and disappointed as I thought they were big fans, but hardly
anyone sang along or danced to the less familiar songs. That minor quibble
aside, the show was everything I'd dreamed of and more! I was over the moon
that they played some of my personal favourites like A Night Like This, A
Strange Day, If Only Tonight We Could Sleep, The Drowning Man and especially
Push! That song was the only one I recorded a full video, as my SD card is
only 1GB. One of my favourite moments was during The Walk when Robert changed
the lyrics to Ï saw you look like a SINGAPORE baby"! It was a definite
highlight and the crowd roared their approval. I took loads of photos, mainly
Robert as he was directly infront, and a few shots of Porl. No Jason pictures
I'm afraid, he was too far away and zooming was of no help at all. Taking
a decent picture of Simon proved to be a herculean task. The man moves like
a restless animal and I half-despaired over my countless blurry shots. A
random trivial: Simon uttered, or rather shouted 'Fuck' whenever he missed
notes, which I found hilarious. I took a short clip of the Pictures Of You
intro and nearly cried when the recording timed out and cursed my meagre
capacity. The song was beautiful and one of the few times that the crowd
actually sang along to every word. Same for Inbetween Days and Lovesong.
And everyone went crazy for Just Like Heaven and Friday I'm In Love, as expected.
However Primary was one of the highlights for me, I couldn't believe they
decided to play it. It's such a groovy great song with an awesome bassline
and I danced even harder. So was Lullaby and If Only Tonight We Could Sleep.
The former was just dreamy with Robert doing his enchanting hand signs and
spiderweb images projected onto the ceiling and floor and the latter was
so moody and atmospheric, I truly felt I was transported to another world.
The Kiss too was a scorcher of a song, I love Porl's guitar solo intro. I
noticed Robert kept looking over at him during the intro. And during Never
Enough, Robert attempted a kind of shuffle across stage which was very amusing.
Soon they put down their instruments and disappeared offstage and everyone
started shouting 'Éncore!. Sure enough, they emerged to applause and
struck up the opening chords of Let's Go To Bed which got the crowd dancing
and clapping. Close To Me followed with more clapping and Why Can't I Be
You wrapped up the first encore.
We were thoroughly High by now (I wished they had played that song) and people
were shouting song titles as they disappeared for the second time.
Then they came on and I have to say it was fantastic! They played 7 songs
off Three Imaginary Boys, which I think nobody was expecting. It was great
hearing their old songs. Boys Don't Cry easily got the loudest cheers, with
everyone bellowing along with Robert. I really enjoyed Fire In Cairo,
Jumping Someone Else's Train and 10:15 Saturday Night too. The band ended
with Killing An Arab and it was magnificent to hear this little-known song
from their earliest days. I had a sudden panic attack when I realised that
was their last song and they hadn't played A Forest, which I was absolutely
dying to hear. I was gutted for a few days after but the disappointed has
subsided now. All the more reason to see them again, time and money permitting.
All in all, the show was an exhilarating and marvellous 3 hour 10 minute
(!) spectacle. The lights were fantastic and the band was just awesome. I'll
never forget the night of August 1 2007.
- Jillian
I've just got back to the UK after seeing the
Singapore gig - what can I say? well, after having seeing the cure
live since 1989, this has to
be a highlight, there was so much energy on stage and a genuine enthusiasm
for the music fantastic!!
We arrived at the SIS at 18.00 to collect our standing tickets from the
box office to our delight the sound check was under way (At Night/Play
For Today and Never Enough & a few voice range checks etc from Robert).
The final encore was amazing, and to have Primary back into the live set
was a personal highlight. Good decision not to play any new songs prior
to the album, and a great range of songs for a nation that had not previously
had the fortune to see the cure live
Superb!!!!!!!!!!
- John
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