The Cure - Phoenix 6-4-08

[tenohtwo]

Start time: 8:17
End time: 11:09
Total time: 2 hours 52 minutes

Underneath The Stars (new)
Want
Fascination Street
A Night Like This
The Walk
The End of the World
Lovesong
The Big Hand (early b-side)
Pictures of You
Lullaby
The Perfect Boy (new)
From the Edge of the Deep Green Sea
The Figurehead
A Strange Day
Sleep When I'm Dead (new)
Push
Inbetween Days
Just Like Heaven
Primary
The Only One (new)
Hot Hot Hot
Wrong Number (Greatest Hits single)
Signal To Noise (Greatest Hits single)
One Hundred Years
Baby Rag Dog Book (new)

1st encore:
At Night
M
Play For Today
A Forest

2nd encore:
Boys Don't Cry
Jumping Someone Else's Train
Grinding Halt
10:15 Saturday Night
Killing An Arab

Total songs: 34

Albums skipped:
The Top (1984)
Bloodflowers (2000)

Bonus - we weren't subjected to "Friday I'm In Love". The 1st encore was incredible. Their performance of "A Forest" (segued in from "Play For Today") was amazing, and the green/white lights mixed with smoke and a loop of the b/w forest imagery from the original music video made this song the highlight of the night.

The band sounded great, some songs were slower than their original versions, but still good. There was no keyboardist, the sparse electronics and sequenced percussion were either on a pre-tape, or triggered off a sampler by the drummer. Fat Bob sounded great all night, and the best performance of the night came from Simon Gallup on bass - his levels were on top of the mix, and his playing was flawless. Very impressed with this show, and this was way better than the Curiosa gig I saw in 2004. The band can still deliver (esp. in the encores), and 3 of the 4 new songs are actually pretty good, a couple of tunes reminiscent of the faster tunes from Pornography and Head On The Door (think a new punk version of "Push"). The opening song, "Underneath The Stars", is a bit dirgey (along the lines of the Disintegration LP), but very good. I have higher hopes now for the new album in September.

1002

[Frau_Blucher]

Thanks for the GREAT review. Sweet set list. Congrats on the good time!

[TheMunDial]

Shoot, I see them tomorrow here in South Florida. Should be a crackerjack performance.

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[ROOSKYGIRL]

Oh sweet!!! Finally! A concert that is worth the price of the ticket! [:p]
Can't wait to see them tonight!!!