When you go to see a “big” band there are lots of expectations. You hope they will play for a long time, sound good and of course play the songs you want to hear. When it was announced last year that The Cure would be touring, I told my wife we need to go and that they are one of those bands you should see before they or you die. So naturally she agreed and we got tickets. After many months of waiting, the day arrived for us to go to the show. Armed with the criteria mentioned above, The Cure didn’t disappoint at all. We got to see the third and final night of their stay at the Hollywood Bowl and boy was it a show.
Taking the stage a couple minutes after 8pm and continuing on till a little after 11pm, The Cure played through 33 songs spanning their entire career in three hours. Lucky for us, my wife and I happen to be big fans of the albums Disintegration and Bloodflowers, and this evening they played a large chunk of songs from those albums. Songs like “Lullaby,” “Pictures Of You,” “Closedown,” and my all time favorite “Fascination Street” were played from Disintegration. And from Bloodflowers “39,” “Watching Me Fall,” “The Last Day Of Summer,” “Out Of This World,” and the title track. Those songs from those albums alone made this one hell of a spectacular night. Other highlights include “A Night Like This,” “In Between Days” “Just Like Heaven,” “Friday I’m In Love,” “Us Or Them,” “Want” “Burn (another one of my all time favorite songs by The Cure),” and not one, not two but three encores.
Robert Smith sounded amazing and was hitting every note beautifully. I had chills up and down my arms and spine during certain moments when he would sing. Robert was even joking around with the audience and dancing around a bit, really enjoying the night. Bassist Simon Gallup was extremely into playing. His tone alone is legendary. He’s got a presence that really invokes the spirit of the band. On drums Jason Cooper played with great prowess and precision. As did guitarist Reeves Gabrels and keyboardist Roget O’Donnell.
This is the second time I’ve seen The Cure, and it was truly magical. There is something to be said for a band that is 40 years into their career and can pull off a show like this. The crowd was beyond into it. You could tell who were real fans that knew the deep cuts and rarities. And of course there were those who just knew the hits. But it all made for a night of great music and memories.
Setlist:
1. Out Of This World
2. Watching Me Fall
3. Pictures Of You
4. Closedown
5. A Night Like This
6. Push
7. In Between Days
8. Doing The Unstuck
9. Lullaby
10. Fascination Street
11. (I Don’t Know What’s Going) On
12. The Walk
13. Lovesong
14. Just Like Heaven
15. The Last Day Of Summer
16. Want
17. 39
18. Bloodflowers
Encore 1:
19. It Can Never Be The Same
20. Shake Dog Shake
21. Burn
22. A Forest
Encore 2:
23. Step Into The Light
24. Us Or Them
25. Never Enough
26. Wrong Number
Encore 3:
27. The Perfect Girl
28. Hot Hot Hot!!!
29. Friday I’m In Love
30. Freakshow
31. Close To Me
32. Why Can’t I Be You?
33. Boys Don’t Cry
By: Brian Lacy
Photos: Alisa Lacy
audioeclectica 
Gonna see them in October can’t wait. Thanks for sharing the setlist i hope it doesn’t change much for europe. Cheers
Upon much scrutiny and intense investigation, the Sunday Cure night was the best. Monday night might have been the peak of tightness and group perfection, but the raw energy and variety of songs from every major point from past to present was unparalleled by Sunday night. All the other nights, except ours, played more songs from the Wish tour, while ours dove into rarer treasures from The Top album and even the fast and fun “2 Late” which definitely changed things. And for the die hard Cure fans, our Sunday night “A forest” was definitely the best and a wonderful way to say thanks to the city of angels for the years of support and encouragement.