Leeds welcomed undisputable music royalty when The Cure visited the city’s arena and their subjects were treated to something rather special.
Back in our city for the first time since a Leeds Festival headline slot in 2012 Robert Smith’s band performed a 27-song set spanning the alternative group’s decades of success. The Cure are different things to many people. Unapologetically goth, indie dancerfloor fillers to mere rock gods.
Whichever camp members of the audience at Tuesday’s Leeds First Direct Arena gig found themselves in they were more than catered for. From the moment Smith, 63, stepped foot on stage, at the Leeds city centre venue, there was an ongoing theme of the theatrical.
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Before the opening numbers, Alone and Pictures of You, had even been aired the frontman mesmerically swayed across all corners of the stage to greet fans who had travelled from near and far. Such was the feeling of excitement in the air, the arena, was at near capacity during The Twilight Sad’s impressive support performance.
Making light of the Cure’s deliberately wistful and considered start Smith joked declaring the set ‘psychic Bob’s Friday night disco’. Smith’s presence, easily one of the most recognisable in contemporary music, is as endearing as his evergreen flawless vocals.
It probably wouldn’t take much imagination to envisage how Robert Smith appeared on stage at Leeds First Direct Arena. The big frizzy hair, make up and dark, baggy black clothing were all present and correct.
The brooding intensity of A Forest was a highlight of a two-and-a-half-hour set which was layered with some of the Cure’s most best-known songs and lesser-heard joyous oddities. The evening featured staggeringly brilliant musicianship with the crowd getting to enjoy additional helpings of it during the night’s two encores.
Disintegration was a triumph during the band’s first return to the stage while the Cure’s second was something of an indie disco megamix. Lullaby kicked things off although no one was ready to sleep with this being the point the vast majority of those in the seated areas raised to their feet. The swaying spotted from this reviewer’s vantage point, in the newly-opened hospitality area The Mixer at the arena, turned to ‘lost in the moment’ dancing from Friday I’m in Love onwards. Before the Cure performed that number Smith teased it as 'a song about Tuesdays'.
As a nice throwback, it was something of a refreshing change to see a significantly less number of phone lights in the sold out crowd. A simple photo here and there was enough with the dazzling performance left to illuminate the venue.
Boys Don’t Cry brought the curtain down on an unforgettable evening at Leeds First Direct Arena. Boys might not cry but Tuesday evening’s festivities comprehensively proved grown men do watching their musical idols.
Setlist
- Alone
- Pictures of You
- A Night Like This
- Lovesong
- And Nothing Is Forever
- The Last Day of Summer
- Cold
- Burn
- A Strange Day
- Push
- Shake Dog Shake
- A Fragile Thing
- At Night
- Play for Today
- A Forest
- From the Edge of the Deep Green Sea
- Endsong
Encore 1
- I Can Never Say Goodbye
- Plainsong
- Disintegration
Encore 2
- Lullaby
- The Walk
- Friday I'm in Love
- Close to Me
- In Between Days
- Just Like Heaven
- Boys Don't Cry
Our passes for this review came courtesy of Leeds First Direct Arena's exclusive hospitality bar The Mixer. The private premium space at the venue serves a wide range of food and drink and offers a great spot to catch the top acts. You can find further details here.
To find out the latest news about events in our city you can visit our Best in Leeds homepage. There you will also find a guide to great things to do in Leeds.
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