Tuesday, November 29, 2016

The Cure in Manchester (Nov. 29th, 2016)

Manchester Arena in Manchester, England
Doors at 5:30 / Twilight Sad at 7 - 7:44 / The Cure 8:14 -10:14
US start times for The Cure are 3 PM Eastern, 2 PM Central, 1 PM Mountain, and Noon Pacific
Please arrive early for The Twilight Sad! They are excellent!

Setlist: Shake Dog Shake, A Night Like This, The Walk, Push, In Between Days, Sinking, Pictures of You, High, Lovesong, Just Like Heaven, Primary, Want, The Hungry Ghost, From the Edge of the Deep Green Sea, One Hundred Years, Give Me It

1st encore: A Forest

2nd encore: Burn

3rd encore: Lullaby, Friday I'm in Love, Boys Don't Cry, Close to Me, Why Can't I Be You?

Reviews: Mancunion / Manchester Evening News / Last Night I Dreamt Of / Get in to This / Even the Stars / NME

Photos: Getty Images 

Videos: Shake Dog Shake / Push / In Between Days / Sinking 1 - 2 / Pictures of You 1 - 2 / Primary / One Hundred Years / Give Me It / A Forest 1 - 2 / Lullaby / Friday I'm in Love - Boys Don't Cry - Close to Me /

Periscopes: Snuffybear 1 - 2 

Facebook Live Stream: A Pink Dream (or here)

Twilight Sad setlist: Reflection of the Television, Last January, Don't Move, Seven Years of Letters, It Never Was the Same, The Wrong Car, And She Would Darken the Memory

Twilight Sad Periscope: Snuffybear (Complete set)  

Thank you so much to , , for setlist & photos, & to for scopes & for stream!

94 comments:

  1. Doesn't look like there will be many people in Manchester tonight! I thought it seemed like an ambitious venue but maybe it will fill up. I'm not there, just judging from pre-show pics

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  2. I'm here at Manchester. Starting to fill up now. cocteau twins on the PA so all good.

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  3. Good show so far but the acoustics are terrible and poor Roberts voice!

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  4. what's going on?
    Feel very worried

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  5. Already playing close to me. Is this going to be the shortest gig of the tour? I took me 10 hours to get to Manchester and so far not worth it. Hope London is better.

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    1. I think Robert didn't take ageing into account. Most bands in their prime wouldn't attempt 3 hour sets for this number of gigs. Factor travel and one night off breaks. Too much. I'm not surprised his voice is fucked (if it is). His vocal performances throughout the US leg were phenominal. I hope the tour ends quickly for him now.

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    2. It was still awesome, we still got 2 hours, longer than most bands do, I could tell his voice wasn't the same during deep green sea, hope london gigs are full sets though

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  6. It is over. This is my fifht concertbof the tour ( saw the US and Canada). It started quite well but then the middle was not so good. A deepgreen sea was butchered??. And then it ended so quickly. Hmmmhmm... Manchester..

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  7. Clearly it was his voice tonight. He was holding his chest and said a very heartfelt goodbye to the audience. He was kind of saying sorry.

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  8. The place was full but the acoustics were a bit ropey shall we say. As for Roberts voice it's still amazing but I think he's struggling a bit with an infection or something, still loved the show, thanks boys!

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  9. Very saddened and Roberts voice and acoustics were terrible

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  10. Disagree. His voice was still better than Chicago or Toronto and they played full sets there. I think something in the band was not great.

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    1. I was at both Chicago gigs and I thought his voice was in top form both nights.

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    2. I was at both Chicago shows as well and I thought he sounded perfect as cats. I enjoyed both shows immensely considering the rare Top set-list and Bloodflowers set-list.

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  11. What the hell happened? His voice was perfect on saturday in barcelona.

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  12. His voice was not perfect in Barca. You can tell he has to protect it and is deliberately choosing to sing an octave lower and/or with less force. It's really sad as he is a fantastic singer with a unique voice.

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    1. Agree. His voice was perfect on the US leg and the first shows (imho the scandinavian shows) in Europe.

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  13. BTW my name is a reference to a British children's tv show - one that Robert hasn't mentioned yet!

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  14. Yes I agree 100 percent about him singing an Octave lower. Also notice that Push, Give Me It, and Shake are sung differently so he does not blow his voice. Sadly, Robs voice is in decline

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  15. Sorry to say. Bad voice and bad Euro sets. The set for Paris was unforgivable.

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    1. That`s not correct. The first Euro sets were great. I was in Helsinki & Stockholm. His voice sounded perferct there.

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    2. Milan night 2, Amsterdam and Bilbao were good too in term of setlist...

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  16. Ooooh tonight, hmmm...

    Sound was well dodgy on a few songs, the mix on Burn was hideous. Just a pulsing mess.

    The crowd weren't into it massively, the standing section was static until FIIL kicked in.

    Not bad all in though. Not the worst gig I've been to by anyone, but far far from being up there with anyone.

    Again for the price I'd not complain, but having seen the mega sets other places got, it was a tad disappointing heading home not much after 10pm...especially with an 11pm curfew.

    Always a pleasure to see The Cure though, but I feel a little 'Meh...' at the moment.

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  17. Any pic of the official setlist?

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  18. Gotta say the organisation at the Manchester arena was shocking. Queues to get into standing area missed first couple of songs, unforgivable shit.

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  19. I agree with the comments above....doing 3 hours sets across so many dates with so little recovery time between shows was highly ambitious at the age Robert is. I think this will definitely be the last major tour

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  20. Someone says robert's voice was good...it's becoming difficult to understand what happened in Manchester :)

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    1. I found RS's voice to be fine and he seemed in a good mood.

      Simon was clearly into it, he was all over the place the entire show.

      Something went wrong on 100 Years...I can't say what...there was a huge bass note that played for a while completely out of key. I say bass, but I don't think it was Simon, I'm sure he was playing his correct part still. For a moment I thought maybe Roger was accidentally holding a low octave note without even realising. Doubtful though. Weird. Maybe the backing track screwed up. Either way, it took a while to recover it and I think they lost their place, as I'm sure at the end after Jason stopped the drum backing track continued for a second before it was stopped.

      But generally they played fabulously. Jason was spectacular on Give Me It.

      I'm mostly sad that Reeves was lost in the appalling mix. Such a talent and you could barely hear him.

      Something was amiss though. There was a lot of hardcore around us and people were bewildered with the 2 x one-song encores.

      Like I basically said above, I'll not complain at a two hour gig by anyone. They need to have words with their sound people though, excluding the light/pop stuff, the mix was actually ghastly.

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  21. I can't say much about this concert because I wasn't there. I was for Bestival this year and will be for all three London's.

    But I am understanding the reasoning behind the picked setlist songs for the entire tour really.

    I found an old interview from Robert in 'The Ultimate Music Guide for The Cure' magazine, it's in the 1989 section, page 91. I think it somewhat relates.

    Here I'll quote it:
    "We've tried playing some of the old stuff but it's a bit difficult really. We've got like an A set which we keep basically the same, and we've got a B set which is radically different, but when we've attempted that, it's been pretty awful, so we've tended to stick to the A set more and more. The B set's got 'Figurehead' in it and 'All Cats Are Grey' and stuff we haven't done for ages.
    "'All Cats Are Grey' is a bloody disaster. I sorely misjudged what people want to hear. But it's really difficult because, y'know, two people completely into us will make a banner that says 'All Cats Are Grey' and we'll play it and 14,000 other people don't know what the fuck's going on. They sit there going 'Whats this?' They'd rather hear 'Close To Me'. But then if you just play what the majority of people want to hear, it gets dangerous because the fanatics with the banner are chucking rocks at the bus with 'All Cats Are Grey' written on little bits of paper wrapped around them. Y'know, 'Play "All Cats Are Grey". Love, your greatest fan'."

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    1. The weird thing with the european setlists are the last two encores...

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    2. But Robert didn't have a problem playing Faith/Pornography encores during the Dream Tour. So the 1989 interview doesn't really explain the greatest hits pop encores we got with this tour. You would think with his vocal issues they would break out a 20 minute version of Faith rather than endless 3 minute pop songs.

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    3. It has to be a nearly perfect gig and he has to be feeling really good for them to consider 'Faith', and it doesn't sound like that was the case. It hasn't been played since 2008 anyhow.

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  22. Hmm. I thought his voice sounded great tonight. My 7th gig of the tour (US & Europe), my first with my mum. I'm not a weirdo who takes his mum to a load of gigs, and she isn't weird either, ha. She commented how great how great his voice was, and also how could he keep it going. It sounded pretty good to me. I also thought that he sound wasn't great, I couldn't work out if they were messing up 100 years or if it was the sound. As for the crowd, I've seen enough other nights on this tour where they only jump up for the hits, so nothing new. i also saw the people down the front going nuts to 100 years. Roger running around the stage to BDC didn't look like a band that wasn't happy either. He seemed to pint a lot to his chest at the end. I also think that there is a possibility they might have tried to make a run home tonight (four hours, maybe five driving) to rest before the last push.
    My mum had never seen them before, she is 73. The crowd did seem to largely be older tonight. She loved it, and I enjoyed her loving the hits, sometimes I forget to!

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    1. Wonderful. So glad you and your mum enjoyed

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    2. We were in 113 with seats next to the stairs. My mum just texted again to say how much she had loved them

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    3. Ah, sorry...just there was an older lady near us, I found that awesome ! x

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  23. Awful sound in the arena...Roberts voice very weak near the end. Complete mess up with 100 years..still enjoyed the gig and looking forward to Thursday in London

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  24. I remember a tv interview Robert did with Ray Cokes back in the early 90s (I think the interview actually took place in the back of a car/van on the way to a show on the Wish tour) and he essentially said that as a fan if he went to see The Rolling Stones and they didn't play ''Satisfaction' he'd be pretty annoyed, and along those lines he explained that was why he still felt obliged to play the big pop hits when people have often paid a lot of money to see them. But then he also explained in the same interview that because of their long sets they had time for the hits 'and' the less known album tracks.

    Ok so this is not breaking news and is obvious to any fans that follow their sets, but it was interesting to hear Robert directly respond to any accusation of them being a jukebox/best hits/nostalgia band

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    1. Oops for context this was meant as a reply to the update above from 'HolyItsARaccoon' and the comment around the set list

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  25. I was standing in front of the mic, second row, and from what I can gather there was nothing wrong with Robert's voice. Something was not quite right almost from the start. I am certain it was not the voice causing the show to be cut short. Robert looked a little pissed as did Simon. I will be brutally honest- this was an extremely disappointing show, shorter than even a festival set. Not to mention it was a lot of effort to get there, ten hour flight into London, plus two hour train ride from London. The entrance process was total chaos. Many of us standing outside the venue doors in the freezing cold for four or more hours got to the standing area later than some who showed up right when the doors opened. There was no system at all. Whatever the reason for the show being cut short, I walked away alone, upset, and with nothing left but faith. I hope the last shows are better, considering the collosal sacrifices a lot of fans are making to attend these shows.

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  26. The MEN Arena is a shit aircraft hanger venue with bad acoustics. They should have played the old Manchester Apollo instead.

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    1. Or birmingham nec - only 7 miles from my house ;))

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  27. so sad to read this. why did they undertake a so long world tour?

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  28. RE setlists - I saw them being VERY quickly ripped up off the floor at the end of the show and immediately binned.

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    1. Because six or seven songs were dropped from the set and they didn't want anyone to know.

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  29. I was dissapointed with the performance. I must say probably the worst Cure concert I've attended. Better concert in Bogota in the torrential rain... Acoustics were flat and Robert was singing in a different key in most songs... Let's hope he improves for the London shows, which are normally the best performances at the end of their tours...

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  30. His voice was gone. As he was doing his thank you walky but and as he went off he was wincing and clearly indicating his throat.

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  31. It doesn’t bode well for 3 straight nights in London (all of which I’m attending) I can see them condensing it down to two encores per set to save his voice.

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  32. I've listened to a bunch of songs, 100 years and FTEOTDGS included, but Roberts's voice did not sounds as weak as I've read here or on FB...

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  33. Well how did The Twilight Sad sound?

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    1. I wasn't there but I can assure you they sounded amazing.

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    2. They sounded ok but the accoustics were obviously poor for them too. But he can dance!!!

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  34. I'd say the problem was definitely with his voice. At the start of the show it was really strong and sounded excellent but by the time they got to FTEOTDGS he was holding back somewhat. Throughout the show he could be seen holding his throat and chest and the quality of the vocals deteriorated.

    For a large venue I thought the overall sound was good. Not all smaller venues are better. I saw Lush last week at the Manchester Academy and the sound was dreadful because the venue is basically a concrete bunker. Unfortunately demand dictates the size of the venues.

    I had no issues with the crowd either. People stood around me were enjoying the show. Have to accept that not everyone is a massive fan and will go because they like the hits. My days of queuing up all day in the cold and running to the barrier are well behind me. I go to the shows to hear the songs in a live environment. I don't feel the need to jump around for every song or frown on the fans who happen to enjoy FIIL.

    This was only the bands 2nd show in Manchester since the Swing Tour with the other show being at the now defunct Move Festival in 2004. I feel that the show was cut short to allow the band to play the full 3 hour shows at all 3 nights in London because this is where their loyalties lie (as is evident by the lack of shows outside of London in the last 20 years). This is a shame as a lot of people will have travelled considerable distance to see the show. I hope I'm wrong but I do feel the Northern audience will be the ones to suffer.

    I still enjoyed the show. It was by far from the best Cure show I've ever seen (this was number 22 since 1992) and it wasn't even the best gig I'd seen this year by any band. It was my friends first ever Cure gig and he really enjoyed it. Can't see them rushing back to Manchester though which is a shame. Although like many people I was disappointed by the short set I do have some sympathy because he was clearly struggling with his voice. Maybe a world tour was too much this time.

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  35. not sure if I was at the same gig as some of the folk on here - the sound and band were amazing they all looked happy and enjoying them selves and joking around.. Robert twice pointed to his throat and did a little bow/apology..its obvious that was why it was cut short....and for the most part the crowd was up dancing screaming .......my friends who either had not seen them before or not since 89 absolutely loved it and thought it was amazing ...it s only the grumpy old fucks like me that were disappointed by the short set coz we are so used to long sets ....but 2hours was great for them.
    the set up for getting into the hall was shockingly bad though no excuses at all for people to queue for half an hour after they've got in already

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    1. I think your comment pretty much nails it! :)

      I'm watching them Friday with my nephews, I'm taking them for the experience & suspect they will be quite happy with a 2 hour set full of hits. Fingers crossed that the brief break between last night and London will see them back to playing a set closer to 3 hours than 2, but like many have said - as Cure fans we have been spoilt

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  36. Robert recovered within 20 hrs after the Vienna show ('far-from-ideal' venue, throat problems) for the perfect and -seemingly- effortless Budapest gig, so let's hope London will follow at least the same pattern.

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  37. all these excuses. ok. I get that The Cure has a very attached fan base. but who cares. I was paying 80€ for a concert presented a singer with no voice. if you can't perform, don't do it.

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    1. You'd probably complain even more if they rescheduled the show to a later date!

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    3. why should I? id rather have a great concert than a "consider this, consider that" concert

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    4. I agree 100%, I'm just back and it was awful.

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  38. you got 2hrs of music (longer than 95% of bands play for) plus great support band - so hardly short changed

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  39. From what I saw on u tube, looks like he had a voice to me!

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  40. Everyone that keeps talking about his age... I disagree, you are only as old as you feel. I don't think Robert feels his age at all, nor do I feel he looks it. I know people younger than him that looks yeeeaars older (and people older that looks younger).
    People get sick, people get sore throats and laryngitis at any age.
    Let's quit with the age comments, he looks great, sounds great and I highly respect him for still doing what he loves. He planned the tour this way because he wanted to make sure he got to see his fans because he loves us as much as we love him. I don't see anything wrong with how he did things. You cannot anticipate falling ill, especially if you are a healthy person otherwise.

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  41. Overheard in the toilets last night, 'Have you seen them before? They are incredible, so much going on in each song, and what a back catalogue. His voice is amazing as well.' My mum asked how could he ding that powerfully each night. She also said it was great to see so many men up (we were seated) singing their hearts out.
    Wasn't my favourite gig of the tour,but also don't think it is the disaster people are trying to make out.

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  42. The show was great. I don't understand why so many people are whining, so what if it was a shorter set than usual? You got to see The Cure!! And as for Robert's voice being bad and saying he shouldn't have gone on with the show if he's got problems with his throat at the moment, you'd probably complain even more if they cancelled it and rescheduled the show for a later date!

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  43. Been to 40 Cure shows this sadly was one of the worst. Trust the opinion of a loyal fan - Roberts voice was nowhere near full strength.

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  44. If you watch 100 years on the Periscope and can't tell that RS voice is suffering, then you must be "hearing impaired" as the politically correct say.

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  45. according the reviews anyway was a good show

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  46. As one last comment, and in defence of the Arena, I'd like to say this...

    My group headed in around 7.45pm (to seats, granted) with no issues. We left behind thousands of people who were milling around and/or buying more drinks. By almost 8pm less than half the floor or seats appeards to be taken up, then all of a sudden the intro music came on and in an instant there were huge queues trying to get in to standing. I personally believe nobody expected them to actually take to the stage that early and they were simply caught short. In fairness the supporr had been finished a good while, so nobody had an excuse to not be in by 8pm.

    I disagree the Arena were unnecessarily taking their time letting people in. The reality of the world we live in now is security etc. Turn up on time and you won't have a problem.

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    1. thatys just wrong sorry .. they had by 8 closed ofgf all entrances to the floor bar one lane at block 111 so no other entrance was available to either get to your searts in that block or get to the floor ..it was a joke

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  47. Crimson sorry you're wrong. I was there in the queues to get into the standing area and believe me we were trying to get in but couldn't due to poor organisation of the entrances. First time I've missed an opening to a Cure show!

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  48. Just back from Manchester and the concert was a complete let down. An uninspiring, pop heavy set (with no rarities or new songs) and a lacklustre performance. To me, it was the worst Cure show I've ever been to, I have never left a Cure show feeling this disappointed.

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  49. A shame that the show was cut due to Robert's voice. I'm still surprised they haven't adapted the sets to make it easier on him, but then again it seems his voice was fine at Amsterdam and Barcelona. Hopefully, the Manchester show was cut to save it for London...but they had the longest break of the tour between barcelona and Manchester so it is a worry that his voice was so bad.

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    1. I don't understand why they are playing energetic songs like Shake Dog Shake and Give Me It only for Robert Smith to "talk" through the songs.

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    2. I have never agreed with a post on this site more than this one. Also they should can Deep Green Sea. It wastes too much time. Play the idiot dance singles but lose this one.

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    3. i have never disagreed with a post on this site more than this one. are you seriously asking them to 'get through' a concert by playing only singles? you are not the only fan, but I presume that you were or have been in attendance and that this comes from real experience, not just chiming in on something that you are reading. AND, I will give you credit that you are speaking of care for Robert. that being said, he does not need the help or assist of anyone on this site ...the band will perform the songs that they want ... and 'from the edge of a deep green sea, is something that he cares about...SO WHAT if it is not 'vinyl' perfect...it is a true, live performance from the heart....

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    4. rien - I agree with you soooooo much!

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  50. The Barcelona gig was one of the best I've seen them do, total contrast to Manchester. The acoustics front left of stage weren't good and the audience where I was were pretty static even during Primary and the likes. Shortest set I've seen them do, hope everything's ok for Wembley

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  51. Porl's extremely loud guitar caused this problem countless times in 2005-2008, trying to sing over such volume blew out Robert's voice time and time again. They appear to have a great balance on stage these days and I don't think it happened even once during the U.S. leg. That was during the summer and it was pretty hot night after night. Maybe the cold has a negative effect and heat doesn't?

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  52. Manchester got another raving 4 star review in this mornings Metro newspaper. They also topped the Go See section with the London shows.

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  53. Well there isn't a better band on the planet so for me Manchester was beautiful, jlh made my eyes teary, amazing

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  54. I went to Manchester, a disappointing show, terrible sound with a set shortened by 40 minutes. I went to first Wembley set, a full set, great gig, great band. Manchester was an bad night for the bad exacerbated by a venue that was short of staff which meant that people queued 30 minutes to get into standing area from the top of the arena blocking view of people in the seats. Frustrating for everyone and an accident waiting to happen!

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  55. "it has nothing to do with a curfew, nothing to do with my throat ...it has everything to do with whether an audience likes you"
    So commented Robert at London#1, according to a fan's tweet. I don't take it at face value, though. Sure the audience was of a sedate manner at Manchester, but reportedly there were other dates on the tour where the audience was generally quiet yet they invariably got a full set.
    I suspect Robert used it as an excuse on the spot when the true reason of the show cut short was, in fact, his vocal issues that were reported by a number of eyewitness accounts.

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  56. Billboard Boxscore for UK shows:

    The Cure, The Twilight Sad
    Manchester Arena
    Manchester, U.K.
    Nov. 29, 2016
    $825,444
    16,103 /
    16,103
    1 / 1
    $62.27, $31.13
    3A Entertainment

    The Cure, The Twilight Sad
    SSE Arena
    London, U.K.
    Dec. 1-3, 2016
    $2,087,470
    35,352 /
    35,352
    3 / 3
    $62.39, $31.20
    3A Entertainment

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