4Tour World Tour 2007 - 08
October 6th, 2007 -
Mountain View, Ca. (Download
Festival @ Shoreline Amphitheatre)
Tape (intro), Open, alt.end, A Night Like This, The Baby Screams, The End of the World,
Lovesong, Pictures of You, Lullaby, Maybe Someday,
Kyoto Song, Please Project, The Walk, Push, How Beautiful You Are,
Inbetween Days, Just Like Heaven, Primary, If Only Tonight We Could Sleep,
The Kiss, Never Enough, Wrong Number, Signal To Noise, One Hundred Years,
Shiver and Shake, End
1st 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
2nd Encore: Play For Today, A Forest.
Show was 2 hours and 47 minutes.
(Thanks to Olivier for the setlist and to Chris for the ticket
scan)
Download Festival: The Cure saves the day
Other acts don't carry weight at Shoreline
By Jim Harrington
Mercury News
Article Launched: 10/07/2007 11:47:23 AM PDT
The Cure proved to be just what the doctor ordered on Saturday at the Shoreline
Amphitheatre in Mountain View. The legendary modern rock band thrilled fans
during what was only its second (and final) U.S. date of 2007.
Take away the Cure, however, and fans would've been left with a festival
in need of serious life support.
The Live Nation manufactured Download Festival, which made its debut just
two years ago at Shoreline, could well be on its last leg. The 2007 edition
drew poorly - at best only half filling the 22,000-capacity Shoreline -
and the lineup, aside from the Cure, was mighty mundane. It's safe to say
the Cure alone could have drawn just as many - or more - fans to the venue
without the assistance of the other acts on the bill.
Those are some of the reasons why it won't be a surprise if Download doesn't
reappear on the Shoreline schedule next year.
Unlike last year's go-around - which featured Beck, TV On the Radio, Muse
and the Yeah Yeah Yeahs - there was little buzz about Download 2007. What
talk there was centered on the Cure, with almost no complementary chit-chat
talking place about AFI, Black Rebel Motorcycle Club, She Wants Revenge
and the other headliners.
Many people didn't look at the event as an all-day festival - they saw
it as a Cure show with way too many opening acts.
For the most part, those acts didn't do anything at Shoreline to convince
Cure fans they deserved space on the bill. The one exception was Metric.
The Canadian rock quartet, led by terrific vocalist Emily Haines, delivered
a thoroughly enjoyable early evening set out on the secondary stage erected
in the venue's parking lot. The band charmed the crowd with a seamless mix
of '80s New Wave, '90s dance music and dreamy indie-rock sounds - the latter
being reminiscent of the Sundays and Bettie Serveert.
Far less interesting was Black Rebel Motorcycle Club, which offered up
a bland dose of pop-rock and, in general, came across like one of the most
overrated rock acts in history. Kings of Leon's bluesy take on alt-rock provided
a few nice moments, but not enough to distract many fans from using the time
to shop the merchant booths for more Cure paraphernalia.
Perhaps the biggest disappointment was the East Bay's own AFI, which seemed
to be suffering from an identity crisis during its set. The group jumped
from goth rock to punk to pop and basically acted like a less-interesting
version of My Chemical Romance.
Then, finally, it was time for the Cure.
The group sounded as strong as ever - like not a day had gone by since
the release of 1985's "The Head on the Door" - as it charged through such
cuts as "Open," "Alt.end" and "The Baby Screams." Vocalist Robert Smith
- now 48 - delivered his words with the same kind of remarkable intensity
and longing that he did when he was in his 30s.
Best of all, the Cure didn't treat this show like part of a festival. The
band gave fans a full concert experience - 2 1/2-hours of music that grew
stronger and more focused as the night progressed.
The Cure proved to be more than enough to fix what ailed this year's Download.
Next year, however, may be a different story.
- Jim Harrington in the Contra Costa
Times and the San Jose
Mercury News
For the second time now, I've been fortunate enough to be present
for the debut of a new Cure song at a live event. The first of which was
at
Coachella '04.
My wife and I showed up at the Download Festival pretty much to see the Cure,
we arrived during what I found out was AFI's set when the singer
declared in cheeseball fashion, "We are AFI!" Once that was out of the way,
I got ready for my first Cure show since Coachella, and my 12th
overall. After the obligatory delay before The Cure walked on stage, we were
welcomed with the familiar notes of "Tape," which of course lead into "Open."
I was instantly taken back to the Wish Tour '92 at the Philadelphia Spectrum,
with Porl back on guitar and everything.
One of my first impressions, which lasted throughout the show, was the strength
and quality of Robert's voice. My wife commented halfway through, "his voice
still sounds so young." Another impression was how tight the band sounded,
and how little, if at all, I missed the presence of keyboards. I had seen
the Live 8 footage with Porl having just returned, and I was a bit disappointed
with the quality of otherwise favorite live tracks of mine, like "The End
of the World" and "Just Like Heaven." Maybe it was my relatively low expectations,
or perhaps it had to do with my proximity to the soundboard, but I was really
impressed with the sound Saturday night.
Granted, "The End of The World" didn't sound as good to me as it did with
the 5 piece band, but I survived that. The biggest mistake of the night came
from Robert when he completely screwed up the lyrics to Kyoto Song. That
was made up for by a wealth of material from The Head on the Door, which
is always OK with me. "Push" in particular seemed to drive the crowd into
a frenzy. Overall, the setlist leaned toward singles, with an intense end
to the first set consisting of the spectacular performance of "The Kiss"
and the ever-present "One Hundred Years."
No one seemed to complain about the amount of singles played, this was a
festival after all. Even if in essence it was a Cure show with too many
opening acts, as the one local paper said. We were even granted a sneak peak
at a new track, "Please Project" which I first mistook for a new
live version of "Just Like Heaven." I spent most of the song thinking it
was too much like "Just Like Heaven" or "Taking Off" but after listening
to the MP3 online I'm really starting to like it. Anyone who's been dismissing
it lately right off the bat is interesting to me. If it was released as a
B-Side, they'd have said "why wasn't this on the album?" Anyway, I'm anxious
to hear the recorded version.
During the last three years of the like-clockwork 4 year space between Cure
albums (anyone who expected anything different hasn't been paying
attention since 1992) has left me finally liking The Cure more as a big part
of my musical upbringing and something akin to a lifelong friend I've never
met rather than a current band I follow. However, I have to say that witnessing
the vitality and energy of The Cure left me once again excited by The Cure
as a band, and leaves me anxious for the release of the album come next year.
As we were walking to my car, we were behind a group that included a girl
who I overheard saying "I've always found The Cure to be boring, but tonight
they were just terrible." Oh, well. What is it they say? It takes all kinds?
She was probably singing along to every word of AFI as I was sitting there
wondering who in the hell these kids were.
- Andrew
Normally not one to give a review or to comment on other reviews.
First and foremost The Cure were awesome Saturday night at the Download
Festival. Robert displayed a youth to him that was not present during
the Bloodflowers Tour and his voice was amazing as he still drives each
song with passion as if he wrote them yesterday. He also orchestrated
a sense of acting to a few songs especially his display with Lullaby - absolutely
breathtaking. Simon and Jason rock as band mates and Porl is a very
gifted guitar player. The only downside to their sound is maybe Porl
can bring it up an Octave, so he can sound more "Curish," as his high notes
were piercing to the ears. As most have mentioned, they sound very
tight together and I personally look forward to this new era. For those
that want the keyboards back, then watch Trilogy. Keyboards are in
the past let's leave them there. Yes, I agree keys provide a certain life
but I think this line-up now is forming a new identity. The new song
has a good melody to it and I think will be better on the album. As
far as those complaining about his lyrics, please let's give Robert a break,
he has been writing for 30 years now,
it's not easy coming up with new story lines, although I do agree, with the
exception of a few songs the last album lyrically was not very well constructed.
We should be thankful Robert and Co. are still creating the art they do and
that they still surge through powerful 3 hour live shows. The crowd
was on their feet the entire concert so I am not sure where some of the comments
were coming from about the crowd being subdued? It would be a shame
if The Cure did not return to the Bay Area next year when promoting the new
album as the Bay Area has always showed a good following for The Cure.
The Band appeared happy and that happiness showed in their performance.
They continue to rock after all these years.
- Luke
I just wanted to add my thoughts about last night's show. I am
glad to see there are more reviews from people like myself who were pleasantly
surprised by the setlist. They played more older, obscure songs than I
would ever expect to hear at a festival in the US. The energy between Robert,
Simon and Porl was infectious. I can also say that I have been to many, many
Cure shows and this was definitely one of the best.
Robert did fuck up Maybe Someday and Jumping Someone Else's Train--or
we could say improvised--but many of the other problems with the beginning
lyrics, apparently had to do with his mic not working. I can't remember a
concert where Robert DIDN'T "reinvent" a few of the songs. Kyoto Song was
specatular and dreamy. The Baby Screams was powerful and definitely
set the tone for the rest of the evening. When they started playing How Beautiful
You Are, I was absolutely astounded. The Kiss and If Only Tonight We Could
Sleep were definitely highlights for me.
The "oldschool" encores were better than we could have ever hoped because
we never thought they would do an entire pre-1981 set! The band's thrill
with being there and performing was obvious to (nearly) every fan there. My
friends and myself, except for a few minor exceptions, didn't really miss
keyboards at all. Porl's charismatic and dynamic talents more than offset
any void left by lack of keyboards. Or, as someone once said "Who needs a
keyboard player when you have Porl?"--Robert Smith
WE FUCKING LOVE YOU, PORL.....
- Lisa
Hi, just found the website and wanted to add a few things that
some people only touched on or did not mention. This was my first
time seeing the Cure and the most striking thing about the show to me was
Robert's voice: when he wanted to use it he hit all the same high notes
as he did in 1982. Obviously playing down songs like "Just Like Heaven"
and "Boys Don't Cry" (I'm guessing due to having played them a jillion times)
he gave special attention to other songs like "A Hundred Years" and "The Kiss"
that had me looking at my girlfriend in amazement. Robert Smith is
one of very few performers who still has the ability to sing at the exact
same level as in the past. It is really just mind blowing. The
lack of keyboards didn't seem to harm songs that would usually have heavily
relied on them. "Lullaby" and "Lovesong" were outstanding. "Just
Like Heaven" was lacking, but that was really more of a ploy to the under
18 crowd that stuck around after AFI to hear the one song that they know.
At 3 hours, I'm not sure what more you could want from a show. I was
in the very front, so I might guess that the sound would not have been great
from the grass, but from my perspective, the decision to go without a keyboardist
is fine. I was just listening to the Paris live album and it sounds actually
very cheesy. An earlier
reviewer complained about the cheesy pop songs being at the center of
this show, but I have to say though that having never seen the Cure I was
happy to hear the pop hits and I think the sonic reverb overdrive that the
double guitars use to make up for the lack of snyth is a great way to cut
down on that overly poppy sound. "Pictures of You" sounded great to
me as did the others.
- David
I have no idea how many times I've seen the Cure at this point. I've
enjoyed some shows more than others. But never, ever, have I seen a turkey
like the one they brought to the Download Festival last night.
I always find reviews that focus on setlists kinda unhelpful, since "good
vs. bad songs" is subjective. So I won't dwell on it. Suffice to say that
if you're a fan of "pop Cure," last night's setlist was your wet dream.
I think you'd have to go back to the Wish tour in '92 to hear that much
"cute" in one place. But if you're a fan of the Cure's darker stuff, as
I am, the drivel was absolutely relentless. I'll leave it at that.
OK, I won't. I'm sorry, but following up the awesome vibe from "If Only..."
and "The Kiss" (holy crap! what a duo!) with..."Never Enough" and "Wrong
Number" was cruelty. Cruelty, I tell you.
But taste matters aside, the show was just BAD. The band was woefully
underprepared--Robert moreso than the rest. I'm used to him forgetting
words here and there, but he botched just about every song. Worse, though,
was his lackluster delivery (to be fair, he did warm up a bit for the last
hour of the set). Desperate for a song I liked, I was thrilled when I recognized
the intro to Primary (which, sadly, took me longer than it should have
because it was pretty butchered). I jumped up to get my dance on, only
to have Robert deliver the lyrics in a flat, emotionless monotone that
sucked every ounce of energy from them. C'mon, dude, work with me here.
I know Robert's sick of "but we miss Roger!" stuff, but I'm gonna say
it. Dude, you need a keyboard player. If not Roger, than SOMEBODY. If you
want to remain a 4-piece, that's peachy. Knock yourself out. But put an invisible
member in the sound booth or behind the curtain or play to a damn track
or something. I don't care. But this whole "it sounds just as good
on the guitar" argument is a load of crap. No, sir, I'm afraid it doesn't.
How many songs were butchered? Let me count the ways...Pictures of You,
Lullaby, If Only Tonight..., The Walk (For crying out loud, couldn't you
at least get a freakin' KAZOO! They're small and easy to pack! Hell, I'd
have brought one for you in my purse if I'd known you needed it.), A Night
Like This (again, it took me way longer to recognize that intro than it
should have)...thelist goes on.
The "ancient stuff" encore (3IB, Fire in Cairo, Boys Don't Cry, Jumping...,
Grinding Halt, 10:15, Arab) was a welcome relief. Still kinda upbeat and
poppy, but they suffered a lot less from the lack of keyboards, so that
was good. In the second encore, Robert spat out the Play for Today lyrics
perfectly, and a Forest sounded great as usual, but for me it was too little
too late.
I'm not bitter. I'm a huge fan, and I'm glad I was there last night.
You couldn't be paid me to be anywhere else. And I will still go to a gazillion
shows when they come back in the spring. Because I know they can do better
than that. And I want to be there when they do.
- Angel
what can I say? Front row seat at the Cure concert.. there's
really no way to make any concert-going experience better, is there?
It was almost TOO intimate. Standing face to face with Robert I almost
felt like I was onstage.. I kept trying to hide behind the people in front
of me. I was... very high.
One note about the band's new line-up. Almost any sound can be
made with guitars, especially this talented band. Having no keyboards,
the result is a sound that is sharper, tighter and more concise. They
never sounded better. And I was happy with a lot of the more obscure
song choices. How Beautiful You Are...The Baby Screams, ah God that's
a good one. The set was very heavy on the Head On the Door. And
Maybe Someday is suprisingly intense song live..
Here's the setlist. Oh one very important note - I know every Cure
song in existant, being a fanatic as I am! and they played a NEW
song. Either that or it's a song I never heard before but that's very unlikely..
I think it was one of the new songs. And it was INCREDIBLE.
If that's any indication of the new album than it's going to blow everyone
away believe me.
(setlist snipped)
The crowd was pretty subdued and I bet the band would have come back
for another encore if the crowd had demanded it. I got some pictures
on my cell phone I'll send later
- Paul
Gonna keep this short, but just wanted to say that out of the
7 live Cure shows that I have experienced, this by far was the best one.
The setlist, the atmosphere, the dynamics were amazing. Robert was
in an awesome mood, laughing and joking and whatnot. I was very pleased
to hear 'How Beautiful You Are', 'Signal To Noise', and of course to be
able to hear the debut of new material. The song was very upbeat,
the crowd was dancing, the lyrics were very good....."How I love what you
do to me" was one of the lines in the chorus or something. After
they finished that song Robert stepped to the mic and said, " that one was
new, this one is old", and they busted into 'The Walk'. Porl was amazing,
was my first Cure experience with him on lead guitar. Oh, and I almost
forgot.....I got the honour of meeting Jason!!! He was sitting in
the crowd a few rows behind me, so I got up and sat beside him and shook
his hand, had a small conversation. Made it worth the trip all the
way from Northern Canada. Thanks to The Cure for one of the most enjoyable
fucking evenings ever!......as Robert put it.
- Nando
Wow! Got that setlist up quick. I got a picture of the setlist that
the lovely girl from Boston (?) snagged. On it the new song is titled 'Please
Project' (And I loved it! Sounds more like a 'Wish' track maybe than the
past few albums). 'Killing an Arab' was retitled 'Killing Another' (I couldn't
make out what he was singing until I saw that) and alternate 'Seventeen
Seconds' encores (not played) were 'At Night' and 'M.'
'One Hundred Years' remains possibly the most perfect live song by any
band. Amazing show - can't wait till Red Rocks!
- Stephen
Download Festival
THE CURE
A.F.I.
Black Motorcycle Club
She Wants Revenge
65 Days Of Static
second stage
Kings Of Leon
Metric
The Black Angels
Love Like Fire
Mountain View
Shoreline Amphitheater
October 6, 2007
THE CURE returned to the Bay Area to headline the Download Festival
at the Shoreline Amphitheater which was the site of where THE CURE played
in 2000 for the "Bloodflowers" tour. Originally THE CURE was supposed
to be on a 20 city tour of the United States, but they postponed all
dates 'til 2008 to finish up their next studio release. The only
date they kept was the Download Festival and it would be the only chance
to see THE CURE in the States unless you opted for the three dates in Mexico.
There was an eclectic mix of bands that performed at Shoreline.
We didn't get to see all of 'em, but there were a couple that caught our
ear. SHE WANTS REVENGE from the San Fernando Valley was receiving
heavy rotation on local Alternative station Live 105 with "Tear You Apart."
Pretty much in the same vein as INTERPOL, the band was surprisingly solid
live. The biggest surprise of the newer acts we were experiencing
for the first time was METRIC from Toronto which was led by vocalist Emily
Haines. Kinda a cross between Nina Persson of the CARDIGANS or Karen
O. singing for THE BRAVERY.
Finally it was time for the local boys from Ukiah A.F.I. It had
been almost a year since the band played the Shoreline headlining Live
105's BFD and the last show period in the Bay Area was headlining the Civic
Center in San Francisco. Unfortunately their homecoming was spoiled
early on by a bad mix from the soundboard as Hunter Burgan bass lines drowned
out Jade Pudget's guitar riffs. By the time they got to "Silver And
Cold," all sound problems had been smoothed out and the guys kicked it into
gear. The band mostly focused on material off "Decemberunderground"
and "Sing The Sorrow," with the exception of "Days Of The Phoenix" and a
cover of David Bowie's "Ziggy Stardust" which was definitely Murphy-esque.
The band played for about an hour to the adoring local masses.
A.F.I. set-list
Prelude 12/21
Girls Gone Grey
Kill Caustic
The Leaving Song Pt. II
Summer Shutter
Silver And Cold
The Killing Lights
Dancing Through Sunday
The Missing Frame
The Interview
Death Of Seasons
Ziggy Stardust (Bowie Cover)
Days Of The Phoenix
Love Like Winter
Miss Murder
1 hour
The headliners THE CURE came on about 8:30 p.m. which was 15 minutes
late as opposed to the scheduled time of 8:15 p.m. The last we saw
of THE CURE in the Bay Area was for the Curiosa Festival at AT&T Park
in San Francisco. There was something in the air that this evening
was
going to be a unique show since the band would be making their only
appearance in the States as mentioned earlier. What we got was that
and
a lot more. It would be the first time in the Bay Area to welcome
back the bald Porl Thompson back on guitar and was his presence something
the band was sorely missing in the previous tours as he left the band to
play in Robert Plant's backing band.
The band brought their A-game tonight. Vocalist/guitarist Robert
Smith was in strong voice tonight. Definitely a stronger range
that hasn't been exhibited in years. With the addition of Thompson
back in the fold and with him and Smith improvising on guitar the missing
keyboard parts, it's as if you didn't miss the keyboards and there was more
of a crunch in the guitar sound and the overall sound of the band.
The band played most of the popular numbers and some missing in action selections
like "How Beautiful You Are," "If Only Tonight We Could Sleep," "Shiver
And Shake" as well as a new song. There were a few in the crowd that
left early because of the long day, but for those that stayed, they were
rewarded during the encore as the band played selections from the first album
that haven't been heard in a decade-plus in this area like "Fire In Cairo,"
"Jumping Someone Else's Train" and "Grinding Halt." The lads returned
for one last of encore that included ! "Play For Today" and "A Forest."
Some might accuse certain bands of just going through the motions, for THE
CURE on this night, this wasn't the case, this was more than anticipated.
This was indeed something special that would be remembered for a long time.
I'm glad that I was apart of it.
- Rich
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