When The Cure frontman Robert Smith finally walked up on stage shortly after 8 p.m Saturday at the Allstate Arena, the audience exploded into screams and cheers…and relief. You could sense the anticipation in the air, Robert Smith and the band had postponed the show along with the rest of the North American tour to finish work on their forthcoming double album, due to be released this October. The previously scheduled fall tour became a spring one and Chicago’s September date was pushed to May.
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The Cure
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 Entertainment
 Art
Allstate Arena
Rosemont, Ill.
May 17, 2008
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After a great 45-minute instrumental set by opening act 65daysofstatic, sponsors 93XRT addressed the postponement to the audience and made a fitting statement for the show to come.
“Good things come to those who wait.”
I’ve always felt the opening song of every show should be one to capture the experience you’re about to go through with the band. It’s not just the slow crescendo of music, but the subtle build up of lighting and other visuals before exploding into that first definitive note. The Cure accomplished this with 1989’s “Plainsong.” The vertical, four-screen backdrop behind the band displayed a slowly moving sky of stars. The grandiose layers of the synthesizer and guitar accompanied by the soft drumming and bass lines hits it’s apex when Smith began to sing those familiar opening lines; “I think it’s dark and it looks like rain, you said.” Maybe I’m looking too much into it, but “Plainsong” seems to capture a deep, personal moment for Smith. Yes, Smith is singing to the audience at this point, but at the same time he is baring his soul and emotions…a great way to establish a connection with the audience not just for us but for him.
From there The Cure took the audience through most of the fan favorites from 1981’s Faith to 2004’s self-titled album, including two tracks off their forthcoming album. It was with “A Night Like This” which drew the first wild cheers from the audience. With an iconic career spanning nearly 30-years, Smith doesn’t need to do too much more than stare into the audience to get a reaction. In fact, the few times he walked to the left or right of the stage drew wild applause and cheers. It’s as if being that much closer to Smith warrants such a reaction. I found myself cheering as he stopped at the north end of stage and stared into our direction.
There’s a lot of hits to perform off a 30-year, 13-album career and The Cure delivered with “Lovesong,” “A Night Like This,” “From the Edge of the Deep Green Sea,” “Hot Hot Hot” and “Sleep When I’m Dead” among others, including new songs “The Perfect Boy” and “The Only One.” Despite some problems with the acoustics and at the soundboards, The Cure did a fine job working through them. Smith’s vocals and guitar work along with drummer Jason Cooper, bassist Simon Gallop and guitarist Porl Thompson sounded relatively clear and distinct throughout the night. Smith, who admitted to having a sour throat, drank tea between songs and kept conversations with the audience to a minimum. Gallop, who has played with The Cure since 1979, hit his mark on such songs like “Primary” and “Just Like Heaven.” Thompson, working steadily with The Cure since 1983, shined through on “Never Enough” and “Disintegration.” Cooper, who took over for Boris Williams in 1995, hasn’t always had his fair welcome amongst the fans. Nevertheless, he did a great job on “Push” and “One Hundred Years.”
At about the two-hour mark, The Cure finished up with “Disintegration” and left the stage before coming up for the obligatory encore. You would think some people would know enough to stay, but some fans left; little did they know The Cure still had an hour left of play in them, followed into a total of three encores. Over the final hour they played “If Only Tonight We Could Sleep,” “The Kiss,” “Close To Me,” “Why Can’t I be You,” “Boys Don’t Cry,” “Jumping Someone Else’s Train,” “Grinding Halt,” “10:15 Saturday Night” before closing the show with “Killing An Arab.”
For a three-hour show, Robert Smith and The Cure maintained a lot of energy throughout the night. Smith seemed to be in a good mood throughout the performances. His quips, antics and declarations drew appreciative laughter from the audience, and he seemed to really enjoy himself up there on stage and it showed through with his performance. When Cooper, Thompson and Gallop left the stage, Smith lingered for a few moments more, seemingly basking in the audiences’ cheers before he left the stage. After all these years the guys showed they could still put on a great show.
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