Confessions of an IT Girl

Early in 2011, The Cure announced they would be playing a series of concerts in Sydney Australia.  Entitled “Reflections”, the concerts were going to be completely for the fans, as they would be playing their first 3 albums in their entirety, followed by selected encores.  Robert Smith would be there (of course) with Simon Gallup, and Jason Cooper, as well as returning band members Roger O’Donnell and Lol Tolhurst.

I saw The Cure a lot during the 80′s and 90′s, then took a hiatus from live Cure shows until I saw them play Madison Square Garden in 2009.  That show left me blown away – they were amazing live.  Robert’s voice was as good as it ever was (you still couldn’t understand a word he spoke when not singing) and the band was tight and in control of themselves.  I was kicking myself for offering up my ticket for the next night’s show at Radio City to my friend who had gotten the tickets.  I also resolved to do whatever it took to see them the next time they came around.

When the Sydney shows were announced, I kept watching all the sites on the web that are on top of things like this to see if a NYC show was in the offering.  Nothing.  So I kept watching the Sydney videos on YouTube and dreaming…

FINALLY, I saw what I had been wishing for.  The Cure announced 7 shows, 3 in LA, 1 in London and, wait for it, 3 (!!!) in NY at the recently reopened Beacon Theater.  I was beyond excited.  I immediately alerted Liz, my partner in crime, and we made plans to get tickets.

Of course, tickets were going on sale Halloween at 10am.  When I was supposed to be IT Boy’s Halloween parade at 9:30am, and then heading into work.  Not leaving a lot of time to battle Ticketmaster.

So Liz and I divided and conquered.  We had her try to get tickets for show #2, a co-worker of mine work for show #1, and we’d take our chances with show #3 with one of her co-workers.  The goal was to get into at least one show, and if we happened to get 2 or 3, we’d make do.

I had a number of friends mention they would like to go with me.  Unfortunately, there was a 2 ticket per person limit, and when it comes to The Cure, that friend is Liz.  Who else can say that they chased Robert Smith’s towncar all around NYC in 1987?  It had to be you, baby…

When it came down to brass tacks, only Liz was successful at getting tickets.  She said our seats were horrible, but heck, being in there was better than nothing.

My friend Dave forgot all about the ticket deadline, and missed out.  He hemmed and hawed, and finally went to StubHub to buy a single ticket.

As the dates of the shows neared, we found out that Liz’s co-worker who had connections at the venue was able to come through also.  We would be going to shows #2 and #3.

We followed the set list updates for the shows in London and LA, and watched the Twitter feeds as well.  It was clear that this was a show for the fans, through and through.  An almost 4 hour show, with 48 songs.  Mind bending.

Dave and I drove into the city together for show #2.  As you can see in the picture he took, I *might* have been a little excited.

We walked into the theater and he was told to go up 2 levels, while I was told our seats were on the first level. I was confused – I thought Liz said we had horrible tickets. Never was I as happy as to say she was wrong!  Our seats were in the loge, which apparently refers to the FIRST balcony, where as BALCONY refers to the SECOND balcony that is higher than the loge.  Got that?  We were in the second row with a great view of the stage.

There was no opening act, just the boys.  When they came out, Robert started to explain the format of the show by saying if you don’t know by now what they are doing, ask your neighbor.  That might have been the last bit of between song banter I could understand from Mr. Mumbles.  Then, approximately 2 hours before 10:15 that Saturday night, they launched into the first song on the first album, “10:15 on a Saturday Night.”

If you are keeping score at home, the video above is from the Sunday night show.  I couldn’t find a good one from Saturday on YouTube, and the few videos I did try to make look like I was experiencing an earthquake.

The format of the 7 shows was the same – for the first album, “Three Imaginary Boys“, they were a trio with Robert joined by Simon and Jason.  After a short break, they came out for “Seventeen Seconds“, joined by Roger O’Donnell, newly freed from his box of dirt (I later read that he was really nervous during the shows – something I interpreted as being vampire-y).  Another short break, and then they returned for “Faith“.  Three albums down, followed by a set of encores featuring Lol on keyboards.  Keyboards I am sure were not plugged in for sound.  But whatever…

The show was unreal – during “Faith”, one of the more depressing songs, I turned to Liz, squeezed her and said, “I’m just so happy!”  Because even though people say they play “mope rock”, there is little that makes me more joyous.  Robert’s voice was great and the band was tight and together.  Just like heaven…

The Saturday set list was almost exactly the same as the night before.  But they did manage to throw in a few surprises – this is “Do the Hansa”, which is a really old obscure track.  Robert said it was a request, but be warned they didn’t rehearse it and didn’t even have lighting cues for it.  No matter – some elder chick in the balcony was dancing like a fool to this one.

The second night was just as good.  Our seats were on the floor, 10 rows back from the Robert and Roger side of the stage.  My pictures are not so good, but here’s one of Robert…

I know, I know…I was trying not to be like every other person there viewing the show through a camera.  Entertainment Weekly ran a picture of him from the show with the caption “Goth doesn’t age well.”  I certainly regretted not wearing sweats when I saw that Robert was wearing parachute pants (followed by pajama jeans the second night).  I never understood goth groupie girls who were so giddy to meet Robert.  Because when they finally got a hold of them, then what?  A long night of reading poetry and styling each other’s hair?  No, let Robert be, on stage where he shines.

Simon, on the other hand…

Yeah.  Wow.  I always did like my men a little dirty.  Ahem.  Thanks to Sad Giraffe for that photo.

Since the show, I have been torturing Soccer Girl by playing The Cure at every opportunity.  She calls them “creepy” but no matter – I’m counting the days till they next come around, and you can bet I will be there.