The Cure - Sydney Opera House 31/05/11

 'Expect the Unexpected' would have been an appropriate introduction to a night whose official epithet was 'Reflections'- The Cure's stroll down memory lane, a stroll that took them all the way back to their post punk beginnings. The setting was the Concert Hall of the Sydney Opera House - a modest seating capacity of around 2,500, which for a band of the stature, importance and following as The Cure, it's about as intimate a performance as you could get.

The official show program revolved around The Cure playing their first three studio albums (Three Imaginary Boys, Seventeen Seconds and Faith) in their entirety (complete with past band members appearing throughout the night) - no mean feat considering the first of the trilogy was recorded in 1979. The latter two albums comprise of perhaps some of the 3 most important pieces of work in modern music (The third being 'Pornography') - not only for crafting a sound that would become synonymous with The Cure but providing a cultural foothold into contemporary music for the Gothic and Romantic movement as well as being a continual source of influence for countless bands and new evolving genres. These three albums were also the bands most morose, dark but paradoxically beautiful pieces of work - the emotional strain of recording and performing these albums took its toll on the band resulting in a brief moment in exile while Robert Smith regathered his thoughts and established a new direction that related them more with their recognisable brighter "pop" sound but with much more of an emotional disconnect. Ok, so let's dispense with the introduction to The Cure 79'-82 and get on with important subject - the night of sublime and emotive music.

The night began with first album 'Three Imaginary Boys', the trio of Robert Smith, Simon Gallup and Jason Cooper walking on stage - with Robert moving sheepishly into the limelight, almost like a shy school boy. A rather subdued start (I never really got into this first album and Robert Smith has often quipped that it was a very superficial piece of work and not his favourite, this was reflected in their delivery). Don't get me wrong it was great hearing '10:15 Saturday Night' and 'Fire In Cairo' and they did sound great but compared to what was to come - they seemed to be warming up. At the end of that set, Robert Smith did make a comical but poignant remark about that in the old days this would have been the end of the concert but today, they would be back and off they went for a well earned breather.

The stage set was expanded with the addition of a keyboard - this time 4 members appeared with past keyboardist Roger O'Donnell in tow in preparation to reflect on their second studio album 'Seventeen Seconds', which is in my top 10 list all time favourite albums. They were about to play it live, so to say I was excited at this stage would be severely understating the situation. 'Play For Today' was met with rapturous applause and that familiar Cure sound was starting to emanate from the stage. I have never witnessed 4 chords to cause such euphoria as the intro to 'A Forest' - understandably so, probably the seminal Cure song, had brought the crowd into a frenzy. There is a moment on 'Seventeen Seconds' where 'The Final Sound' morphs into 'A Forest' and it was that brief moment that was utterly enchanting. For me, time literally stood still, I was transformed back to a time in high school when I first heard those same 4 chords, which lead to my first hearing of 'A Forest' and a subsequent lifelong penchant for what was The Cure. By the time the albums title track finished off the set, the crowd was totally caught up in the moment with a salacious desire for more as the band took their second break of the night.

The stage was again reset - this time for the third album 'Faith' and like a perpetually expanding vortex another keyboard and percussion area was erected for the one and only, founding member Lol Tolhurst and he was appropriately welcomed by the appreciative crowd with thunderous applause - the original trio have now become quintet, which is kind of reflective of their growth as a band and in their sound. The sullen and sombre sound and lyrical content were turned up another notch by now but honestly, musically this sound did not age one iota - full, gracious and emotive, it sounded every bit as good as the album - the stage lighting was absolutely mesmerising and used to full effect to bring out the impassioned melancholic sentiment that embodies the album. 'Primary' my favourite Cure track and easily in my Top 5 favourite all time songs was an absolute gem - the strobe lighting flashing in time to that underlying fast paced bassline - my only wish was that Robert Smith slid on a bass guitar and joined Simon Gallup to deliver a double bass line onslaught that the song is renown for. 'Funeral Party' was so gut wrenching, you couldn't help but listen and hang onto every note as the song moved through you in a continuous wave of emotion - judging by the silence in the Concert Hall, that song was having the same affect on all. By the end of this set, the official program  had come to a climatic end and of course most of the seething crowd would have expected "AN" encore - so off stage the
band went, to a standing ovation I might add (not one person was seated - 2500 on their feet responding with a resplendent reaction to what they had just experienced) and it was then the crowd began to chant.

What was to follow was 'the unexpected' I eluded to earlier, not one, not two but three encores - these three encores could have been a concert in themselves spanning 14 songs!. The song list was an eclectic mix - ranging from a taste of the third album from the 'Dark Trilogy' 'Pornography'('Charlotte Sometimes' and 'The Hanging Garden') , some rare tracks and b-sides ('World War','Plastic Passion', 'Descent' and 'Splintered in Her Head') to songs from their transitional phase ('Let's Go To Bed', 'The Walk' and 'Love Cats')  that help thrust them from their lachrymose Goth period to their more upbeat Pop offerings. The lyrics of 'Killing An Arab' were replaced with the more politically correct 'Killing Another' and 'Boys Don't Cry' had everyone up and dancing.

The nights song tally was 44 songs, over 3 and a half hours of music, a night where everyone witnessed a band's ability to continually evolve and reinvent themselves, not only as a unit, but also in their music and most importantly, without compromising their musical importance and status. My thanks to Robert Smith and co, for such a wondrous night is obvious but I need to also thank 2 other people, for without them this night would not have happened - Wendy for the 'inside running' and Nat who practically dropped everything to go online to secure the tix.

As Robert Smith penned 'Boys Don't Cry' but after a night of sheer brilliance and awesome music that paved the path for such a heartfelt journey, they certainly get emotional - well this one did anyway.