The Cure w/ The Twilight opening
Merriweather Post Pavilion
Columbia, MD 6/16
A family show with my brother and sister who I turned onto the Cure back in 1980. Somehow we all married spouses that weren't fans. This was only the 4th and most likely the last time I'll see them since they haven't toured the US after 2016. IMO there are 3 reasons for the Cure's enduring popularity.
1. Robert Smith is argueably the best post punk romantic lyricist of his generation and that brings the girls,
2. Where the girls go the boys will follow and they stayed for the music and the hooks.
3. The Cure makes the audience feel they have some small amount of control and that the band rewards them for their efforts..
An example of what I mean in #3 is that the Cure has mostly played fairly long shows but instead of playing for 2 hours or more and then have the audiane stomp and clap to get a 2-3 song encore. The Cure will play for 90 minutes and come out for the 2-3 song encore. If the audiance shows their gratitude they do another 3 song encore and then a 3rd or 4th turning a 90 minute show into 150-180 minute show with audiane thinking they were the reason .
The show at Columbia was no different, 4 encores spanning 13 songs going just shy of 3 hours. If I need more I'll have to go to Europe where they tour quite regularly or watch the 3 hour live streaming show they just put out on November 1st.
This is the 2016 tour, the next show after the one I saw.