Curiosa Tampa Review

Curiosa Tampa Review
Originally posted
at Chain of Flowers

Much hyberbole to follow. Beware!

I was up front center last night in Tampa - right in front of Robert. In my 20 years of Cure fandom, I have never been so close. I was able to see the detail of Robert’s necklaces (yes, I was staring) and Roger’s adorable smile. And I was wtiness to one extraordinary Cure show.

The setlist was not the previous night's “pop nightmare;" of the four Cure shows I’ve seen, it was easily the best (not that I remember ‘89 too well). A sprinkling of pop songs among newer and older classics.

The band was in high energy mode. Simon was his usual frenzied punk self, Roger was glowing with smiles, Jason was bashing away frenetically, and Perry was unusually bouncy. Robert, of course, veered between being dreamy and intense and boyishly silly.

The sound was smooth, clean, and textured. The mix was far better than it was at Coachella. The band sounded tight and mature.

Highlights of the show included a psychedelic Fascination Street, when Robert walked to the side front of the stage, beaming with smiles as fans reached out adoringly; a gorgeous Pictures of You; a quirkier than usual Lullaby, with Robert really hamming it up with his trademark gestures and mimicking voices; an angry 100 Years, where I could barely contain myself from the passion of hearing this song so vividly; a lush Jupiter Crash; and the soaringly beautiful A Night Like This. The encores, too, were such a nice surprise: the elegant M, a punchy Play For Today, where everyone joined in with the “woah ooh oohs”, and, of course, the infamous Forest.

The new songs sounded great. They opened with Lost, which was a bit toned down and more melodic and really nice. Labyrinth was less frenzied than on the album but still intense; Before Three was a lovely rendition, with the guitars just right (however, Robert improvised some lyrics, which I always find amusing if frustrating); Taking Off was cute right after Inbetween Days - at the end, as he was hitting the high notes, Robert said cutely, “As you get older it gets a bit hard to do that.” Oh, and I have even learned to like Never; it sounds much better live!

But The Promise took the cake - that song was blow-you-away-fabulous. Naysayers need to see The Promise live to appreciate its epic grandeur. It’s thrashy and punky and hungry and angry and wonderfully extreme. It has become my favorite track off the new album.

All in all, I felt honored to be witnessing a truly legendary band so close. If there were flaws in this show, they were trivial, and I was too blinded by amazement to notice.


Shameless estrogen moment (sorry guys; it has to happen):


Robert was adorable as ever, but so were they all! Roger has a darling smile, and Simon, who I always found attractive but was never really attracted to, was just hot. And Perry! Damn that boy is cute, with his tight shirt and bouncy self. I couldn’t see surfer boi Jason too well, unfortunately.

Of course, Robert is the perfect blend of boyish charm and raw magnetism.

P.S.I have no idea what’s up with his eyeliner these days. Is he trying to look scary? Cuz it kinda works!