The Cure in Antwerp March 16, 2008

Friday night I finally got to see one of the founders of the new wave: THE CURE! The band played a stunning 3 hour during set. The set was amazingly well balanced (a good ratio hits vs rather unknown songs). The Cure played more than 30 songs, including two of my favourites Just Like Heaven and The Walk.  Hits such as Boys don’t cry, Friday I’m in love, Never enough, Lullaby, Close to me and A Forest, made the audience go completely wild. Even the people who were  sitting felt the urge to shake their asses on The Cure tunes. I noticed, in addition, that the crowd was in general surprisingly enthousiast. I found this quite remarkable considering the somewhat mature audience (the band has its roots in the 80’s, meaning a lot of people in their twenties back then are between 40 and 50 in 2008 ). Several thousands experienced a true nostalgic moment I guess…

Also noticable was the charismatic frontman Robert Smith who looked amazingly happy friday night. I always imagined him to be a mysterious, gloomy man, but friday he was even flirting with his audience when singing Why can’t I be you, he danced while singing Lullaby and addressed the audience several times.

There was one downside to this wonderful evening. Because of the lack of a keyboard the typical Cure-melodies weren’t as refined as on CD. The Cure, however, did manage to impress me and thousands other Belgians.

The Setlist

Plainsong
prayers for rain
a strange day
alt.end
the end of the world
lovesong
to wish impossible things
pictures of you
lullaby
from the edge of the deep green sea
hot hot hot!!!
please project
the walk
push
friday i’m in love
inbetween days
just like heaven
primary
a boy i never knew
never enough
wrong number
one hundred years
disintegration

Encore 1:

at night
m
play for today
a forest

Encore 2:

boys don’t cry
jumping someone else’s train
grinding halt
10:15 saturday night
killing an arab

Encore 3:

freak show
close to me
why can’t i be you?

 

QOTSA in Antwerp March 3, 2008

Yesterday evening the Queens of the stone age performed a kick-ass gig in Antwerp. I was looking forward to finally see them in an inside setting in stead of on festivals (I’ve seen them 3 times before) and my patience has been rewarded.
They only played for about an hour and a half, but it was such a powerfull and intense set that I couldn’t blame them . Hit singles such as No one knows, Go with the flow, Little sister and the crazy rockin’ tunes from Feel Good Hit Of The Summer arose a musical blast among the enthusiastic audience. But QOTSA classics such as A song for the dead, Burn the witch and In the fade caused a lot of “dance-your-shoes-to-pieces” moments as well .

The songs from the new cd were also very popular: 3’s & 7’s, Make it witchu and Sick sick sick were already singles in Belgium. But also the very dancable Battery Acid and the melodic Turnin on the screw were justly praised…

Moreover the highlights of the evening weren’t merely musical. At one moment a crowdsurfer managed to get ON STAGE for about 4 seconds after which he jumped off the stage into the audience again. Homme could appreciate this rock-and-roll behavior and this guy has the eternal respect of all QOTSA-fans

And finally I must add: Josh Homme is sooooo charismatic. He is a true frontman of a true classic rockin’ band!!