THE CURE
Melbourne, VIC
2000

I would like to write a safe, pleasant concert review. I would like to talk about things like lighting, sound, and the precise playlist- but after seeing such an amazing concert, you realize the true insignificance of these things. Seeing the Cure over a week ago would probably have been the concert of my life. Unless by some freakish incident I happen to see Nirvana (HA!), I will not go to a better concert. This is all quite ironic of course, seeing as I can hardly remember what they played. Trying to recount the experience to a friend later was difficult. "Uhm.. most of bloodflowers, I think." I said, and had she not been on the other side of the world, I’m sure she would have given me a blank stare. I do remember them opening with ‘Out Of this World’ from the Bloodflowers album, but from there on it’s all a beautiful blur.

Looking around me when I arrived, I came to the conclusion that there was enough black eyeliner amongst the crowd to rewrite the bible 3 times over in japanese. Every third girl must have been wearing a black corset, and if you didn’t have at least two facial piercings then you felt out of place. Though not a huge follower of the ‘gothic’ scene, it was amazing to see this many social outcasts convene in one mass devoted to a band more than 20 years old.

People like to make assumptions and steretypes about ‘goths’ - they label them antisocial, unhappy, apathetic, and a number of other lies. And I admit, I did reserve my own naive opinions until this concert, but if like me you felt the joy and love at that concert, you would understand. As the Cure ploughed their way through a 3-hour trance-like set, I watched a single young man dance the whole way through. No, he didn’t ‘bop’, he didn’t ‘rave’, but you could see him exerting some kind of supernatural joy throughout the entire concert. Not once did he sit down. Despite most people around him giving him strange looks at the beginning, gradually throughout the concert more and more people got up and flung themselves around as much as they possibly could, and by the end at least half the crowd was standing, including myself.

It was unlike any other concert I had been to. At every other one, I can't help but damage myself as much as possible in the mosh pit or stand as close to the amp as I can, girating along with thousands of other teenagers. I thought that was what concerts and passion for music was. I wasn't even close. Talking about the concert a couple of hours later with my boyfriend, he said something quite profound: "Did you ever feel like at any moment your heart could stop beating, and the music would replace it?"

"Yeah."

A little more than just 'yeah'. That was exactly how I felt. In fact, I think from the first few bars of 'Out Of This World' to last chords of whatever the hell they played last, I think my heart was dead, and the vibrancy and mellowness of the music had replaced it. And I could quite safely say the same thing happened to everyone in that very large room.