The 1980s produced a lot of great basslines and, watching The Cure‘s marathon show on Wednesday night at Madison Square Garden, it was hard not to be struck by how many of those this band is responsible for. Long-running bassist Simon Gallup, wearing a sleeveless Iron Maiden t-shirt and his bass slung very low, is well aware of this (he played almost all of them) and was not afraid to ham it up a little, striking poses, throwing shapes, playing atop stage monitors and generally running around the stage non-stop as he drove “Fascination Street,” “Charlotte Sometimes,” “The Walk,” “Lovesong,” and “Push.” Nowhere was he more in his element than on “A Forest,” that ended the first encore and was basically the Simon Gallup Show with an extended jam-out as he hammered his instrument into a noisy dissolve.
Robert Smith too reveled in the scene at MSG scene. He was all smiles while greeting the crowd, as fans waved trying to get his attention, and busted out charmingly gawky dance moves to the delight of everyone. He was having a great time on Wednesday and, at 64, still is at the top of his game. Unlike a few of his ’80s contemporaries, his voice is in great shape and never faltered across The Cure’s 29-song set, unleashing those signature wails, yelps and occasional growls.
As Andrew mentioned with his Night 1 review, the main set and first encore are primarily the darker side of The Cure, while the second encore — more like a second set — showcased the band’s poppier side. All of it sounded fantastic. There were loads of deep cuts, though when it comes to The Cure, songs like “A Night Like This,” “Shake Dog Shake” and the blissed-out “From the Edge of the Deep Green Sea” are just fan favorites.
If your energy was starting to flag, though, the encore had everyone up, dancing and singing along loudly and it was hard not to be swept up in the classic singles, from “Lullaby,” to “Friday I’m in Love” (which Robert Smith intro’d with a “new song” he called “Wednesday, too”), “Close to Me,” In Between Days,” and “Boys Don’t Cry.” Truly, what a show.
A few other notes:
- Wednesday was the first day of summer but The Cure brought the gloomy weather to NYC, with unseasonably cool temperatures and grey skies. That continued inside MSG, as the band’s pre-show music was just the sounds of heavy rain, with crashes of lightning signalling the show was about to start.
- The Cure have been playing lots of new songs, with two Disintegration-esque psych-dirges, “Alone” and “Endsong,” bookending the main set. I thought they were all good to very good, with “A Fragile Thing” being a clear single option for whenever their new album is released. No pressure, Bob.
- Robert Smith also played maestro on a few of the lengthier songs, conducting Gallup, drummer Jason Cooper and keyboardists Roger O’Donnell and Perry Bamonte, and guitarist Reeves Gabrels with dark orchestral oomph.
- The light show was simple but very effective, mixing appropriate projections — spiderwebs on “Lullaby,” a rocky cliff for “Just Like Heaven” — with foggy emerald, violet and crimson lighting, as well as some some old-school video effects, like the infinite mirror look you get when pointing a video camera at your TV.
- Simon Gallup may be in a competition with Peter Hook on who can wear their instrument lower. Hook is still in the lead, but Simon’s not far behind.
- While Gallup wore a metal tee, Robert Smith sported a Marilyn Monroe shirt with the classic city grate seen from Some Like it Hot.
- Speaking of fashion, unlike at recent NYC shows by Sisters of Mercy and Love and Rockets, it was not a goth fashion show at MSG. Sure, there were many decked out in black, leather, teased hair and smeary eyeshadow, but there were just as many fans (singing along just as hard) in checked shirts and pleated pants, and one megafan near me seemed to have come to the show directly from the gym. The Cure transcend genre and everyone on Wednesday was having a great night.
I missed opener The Twilight Sad, but photographer Ellen Qbertplaya did not and you can check out photos from the whole show, along with the Night 2 setlist and a few fan-shot videos below.
The Cure wrap up their MSG run tonight, and you can still get tickets. Tuesday and Wednesday, good seats were released in the afternoon, so it’s probably worth checking back.
SETLIST: The Cure @ Madison Square Garden 6/21/2022
Alone
Pictures of You
A Fragile Thing
A Night Like This
Lovesong
And Nothing Is Forever
Like Cockatoos
Burn
If Only Tonight We Could Sleep
Charlotte Sometimes
Push
39
Fascination Street
From the Edge of the Deep Green Sea
Endsong
Encore:
I Can Never Say Goodbye
Want
Shake Dog Shake
One Hundred Years
A Forest
Encore 2:
Lullaby
The Walk
Friday I’m in Love
Doing the Unstuck
Close to Me
Why Can’t I Be You?
In Between Days
Just Like Heaven
Boys Don’t Cry