The Gothfathers return to Leeds with a blissful two and a half hours of mournful uplifting reverie
Words and Photos John Hayhurst
The Cure feel like a constant ‘go to’ in my life, from the hallowed 6th form common room in 1979 where eager pupils would listen to the new fragile sounds of A Forest or Boys Don’t Cry to dark nights out at Futurama Festivals in Leeds (where they almost played in 1979), to their headline performance at Leeds Queens Hall in 1985 during The Head on the Door tour, their superb headline performance at Glastonbury in 1995, and now this week at the newish FD Arena in the Goth Capital of the UK. Finally, we have a venue large enough to contain the lights and sounds of this legendary band.
Personnel may have come and gone in those intervening years but Robert Smith still stands as an icon of his own genre, influencing so many shoegazing electronica/guitar bands of the last thirty five years. He’s put on a few pounds but haven’t we all, grey hair thinning he still manages to get that electric shock look, and with his smudged lipstick and eyeshadow still intact, he effortlessly becomes his own caricature persona.
Extensive concert hall tours are rare these days as the band tend to just play headline slots at festivals, so the chances to catch them in a more intimate setting are few and far between. The place is rammed, 13,000 capacity and they could have sold it out twice.
We arrive to hear thunder and rain sounds pouring from the speakers and as the lights dim the band walk out and start new song Alone which will appear on their much delayed but highly anticipated new album Songs of a Lost World – hopefully soon but it is still not finished. Smith appears to look a little dazed and confused as he walks from one side of the stage to the other, gazing in wonder at the people gathered to watch his every move. Stopping at the mic to sing in that trademark high pitched delicate voice, it hasn’t changed in 40 years and he has no right to still be able to sing like that at his age (63). Picking up his guitar he announces that its a ‘Friday Night Disco’ and mumbles something about getting old isn’t easy. Then the opening of Pictures of You can start and those memories can flood back into your brain.
It is easy to forget that around 70% of The Cure is actually instrumental, long extended intros and synth flourishes with that arpeggio style punctuated guitar sound fill the arena and wash over the audience. Lights and background projections are perfect accompaniment to the beautiful soundscapes projected all the way up to the nosebleed seats at the top.
We get plenty of new songs teasing this new album, they all sound immense and fit well into what was a two and a half hour set. A massive slice of the much moody and lauded Disintegration album, and some deeper cuts to keep the diehards happy. The coolest man in the room is bass player Simon Gallup, I’m not sure who came first Peter Hook or him, but they both hold their bass guitars as low to the ground as possible, frequently him and guitarist Reeves Gabrels have a guitar ‘pose off’ behind Smith whilst the other band members are pretty much static throughout the whole performance.
Ending with new song Endsong they go off for about 30 seconds before returning and Smith announcing another new song I Can Never Say Goodbye a weepy uplifting dedication to his brother Richard who sadly died recently. Smith actually recently lost his Mother, Father and Brother so you would expect any new songs to be darker than their back catalogue if that can be at all possible. Plainsong and the title track from Disintegration are equally majestic and that leads us to the last section of the evening.
Opening the second encore with Lullaby with its spiders web background projection, the phone cameras are hoisted aloft for the next 7 songs. Yes a 7-song second encore!! It became a greatest hits selection, all that was missing was Lovecats but you can’t have everything. However, electronica influencer The Walk booms out of the sound system and then Smith jokingly says “This is another new song, it’s called Tuesday I’m In Leeds” and of course they follow 2 hours of mournfulness with the happiest song ever – Friday I’m In Love. Then Close to Me but unfortunately without a decent trumpet/trombone solo, a fantastic In-Between Days keeps the party moving and then a synth rocked out version of Just Like Heaven left them with the song that started it all for me Boys Don’t Cry, still sounding as epic as it did in 1979.
Nights like this do not happen very often but I can see The Cure being around for at least another decade and we really need them right now, so don’t miss your next opportunity.
The Cure Setlist: Alone, Pictures of You, A Night Like This, Lovesong, And Nothing Is Forever, The Last Day Of Summer, Cold, Burn, A Strange Day, Push, Shake Dog Shake, A Fragile Thing, At Night, Play For Today, A Forest, From The Edge Of The Deep Green Sea, Endsong. Encore1: I Can Never Say Goodbye, Plainsong, Disintegration. Encore2: Lullaby, The Walk, Friday I’m In Love, Close To Me, In-Between Days, Just Like Heaven, Boys Don’t Cry.
