Blast From the Past, yo

I finished university yesterday. No, really, I did. The only thing left to do is put on the cap & gown, pick up my diploma, and maybe drink some champagne. So this morning I woke up full of energy. "I'm gonna find me a writin' job," I said. But you know? Writin' jobs are few and far between. And they all want "writing samples." What's up with that? Haha.
So I was going through my old files, seeing if there was anything I could punch up and use as a writing sample. I thought maybe a book or concert review, a press release, a formal report... you know. Whatever. Anyways, I'd forgotten about this, but the last time The Cure played in Vancouver, I wrote a review of it. And you know what? I like it. My workshop didn't seem too thrilled, but I think that's cuz they weren't really "The Cure's target market," if you know what I mean.
So I thought I'd post it here, for your reading enjoyment: here it is!

Amanda Thomson
May 30, 2008

The Cure, May 26th 2008, GM Place

You know you’re in the presence of a musical legend when the act of walking to stage left or stage right elicits shrieks of joy from five thousand people, young and old, male and female. You know you’re watching a legend when within the first five seconds of a song, the crowd is moving as one vibrating mass. You know you’re watching a legend when the mere raising and lowering of a hand can make people cry.

This was the scene at Vancouver’s GM Place this past Monday night, as Goth rockers The Cure took centre stage. The concert was the band’s first time playing in Vancouver since 1997, and even though the show (originally scheduled for October 2007) was delayed a few months, the crowd was more excited than ever. Take this piece of dialogue from the teenage girls behind me:

Oh my god, oh my god, if I see Robert Smith I’m going to scream and piss my pants.
Really?
Oh my god yes. And if they play The Walk, Fascination Street, From the Edge of the Deep Green Sea, A Forest… I’ll shit myself.
So basically if they play anything?
If they play any song, I’m going to faint. Oh my god. I’m fucking freaking out right now.

Over the course of a three and a half hour set, Robert Smith and crew DID play all those songs. Luckily, the girl behind me did not shit herself. She did scream a lot, I think… I can’t be too sure. I was screaming pretty loud too. With a set chock-full of hits like Friday I’m In Love, Lovesong, Just Like Heaven, and Let’s Go To Bed, how could any self-respecting person with dyed black hair NOT go a little nuts?

Bassist Simon Gallup and drummer Jason Cooper were low-key, leaving Smith and guitarist Porl Thompson to take over the stage. Thompson sauntered like an alien drag queen in full PVC, black makeup, and the biggest, reddest, glittery-est platform shoes I’d ever seen. Anyone who can walk in those shoes, let alone play a three and a half hour set without stumbling, has in my book earned the title of “guitar god”. But of course the real star of the show was Smith, who despite being a seasoned professional with almost 25 years of touring under his belt, was as shy and awkward (and endearing) as a three-year-old meeting one of mommy’s friends, clutching one of his many guitars as if it were the hem of her skirt. When he moved from centre stage to the left or right, the crowd erupted into screaming, arm-flailing animals. At one point he looked at me, and our eyes met, and… well, no. I’m sure he didn’t actually see me. But the collective consciousness in the stadium was such that we all knew Robert Smith was our best friend.

About half an hour in, I noticed that the songs sounded… different: more rock, less pop than the album versions. What was it? There were no keyboards; Smith played all the synthesizer lines on guitar. I have to say I liked it. One of my big complaints with The Cure’s older material is how the use of piano, saxophone, etc – staples of 80’s music – really date the sound for today’s ears. Replacing synthesizer with guitar made for a rougher, edgier, more contemporary sound.

It was a hard rocking, no-frills kind of set, with a minimum of video screens and on-stage banter. As the band moved into their encores (three in total), the transitions became faster and faster until the last set – a mix of early 80’s B-sides like Killing An Arab and 10:15 Saturday Night – flowed seamlessly from one song to the next. The band ended in true Cure form with a third and final encore of one song, (my all-time favorite) A Forest. Did Robert know it was my birthday? Did Robert know I was waiting for that one song? Of course he did. He is my best friend after all.