The Cure - Reflecting on Reflections

OK so I wrote this really long post about the concert... then the Internet ate it...

So instead I'm not going to review the show - I'm going to tell you how this whole experience has made me feel... if you want to read a review might I suggest here which is my mate...

So The Cure... I first heard them when I was a teenager... I must have heard them on the radio but the moment when I really took notice was in a car parked in my mates driveway (a farm in Terara NSW). He had a tape (probably a copy) of this band he liked. It was Kiss me Kiss me Kiss me and we listened to the whole album 4 of us jammed into the car... lucky we didn't drain the battery... That for me was the moment I remember that I realised that this band, this group meant more to me then a single, or an album. The songs touched me and reach out to me... Even more when I started to get the back catalogue (again mostly through tapes coping mates CD's then returning the favour when I got a few albums on CD - don't judge me it was the 90's and we were all doing it!!!)

It was all we could do to get all the albums all the live material and Video's (yes VHS type videos) of the band... Many nights I spent recording RAGE on ABC to edit out the rare Cure film clip to a battered VHS, we shared and traded these rare clips like gold... not realising in years to come you would be able You Tube them... or buy a DVD full of them all!

Then Wish came out and a tour was announced.

This was 1992 and I was 16 years old...

My mate's Mum took us, three of the original 4 (and Tim's little sister - Tim was in Brazil, he got girls we got the Cure - I think we won, girls blah they are everywhere)

I would see them 5 more times after that first concert... and all of the shows were different. I even have a list of the tracks played - it is quite impressive with many songs that are rarely (if ever) played live. I was happy to have been able to see them so often and with such great company and with a great crowd of Cure fans...

Then Reflections was announced. A twin to the previous Trilogy (Pornography, Disintegration, Bloodflowers) but for the first three albums. This would take us on a journey from the post punk Cure to the beginnings of the Goth era. Albums that gave us such seminal hits as Three Imaginary Boys, A Forest, Primary - the lead in to the dark Pornography - which in turns leads into the pop - top 20 hits of the mid - late 80's and 90's. This was the beginning, the start, the raw unformed Cure... This would be a once in a lifetime event and I had to be part of this. We all had to be.

The trio got back in touch and between us we hatched a plan on how to get tickets. We would all go online, pre-registered and ready for the opening of the ticket sales... We would be 3 against many thousands wanting to get the 4,000 tickets (spread over two nights). We had little chance, almost none, but still we would try - we had to.

It was Tuesday when I got the email, two whole days before the launch, "You're going to the Cure" read the subject line... that was all nothing more. I rang almost immediately to find out what that meant, was it true? If so how?

Apparently the demand from out of State and indeed overseas was so high the ticket seller released some tickets early to allow time for travel arrangement and such.  One of the subscribers who got that early notice posted the information on a Cure web forum. Col was at home that day, checking Twitter when he got notice of the advance sale. He lives out of NSW (therefore out of State) - without hesitation he bought 4 tickets for the first night and forwarded an email to us all. We really were going...

It strange - I really didn't think I would get to see them. We stood an almost zero chance and yet fate played the cards we needed and we went.

What was it like?

It was magical... from the friends I went with who like me grew up with the Cure, knew all the words (and even how to play); to the two lovely French guys we met who had traveled out to see the show. The fans around us were dedicated fans, ones who lived and breathed the Cure (sometimes more heavily then others) but they all were there to be part of something special. This would NEVER happen again.

I am glad that they filmed this event so that not only can I have my memories but I can re-live them again when I play the DVD... hear the crowd roar at the opening of A Forest feel the vibe of good vibrations as Lol Tolhurst entered the stage for the first time with the band since 1989... It was more then a show, more then a concert, it was a home coming, an affirmation from all the dedicated fans but mostly it was a gift from my favourite band to me (and 3,999+ other people)

You know what is so special about living in the future? I can share part of that with you... You Tube it and see for yourself - but for me this song sums up so many memories... I'm sure I have a scratched, flickering VHS somewhere with this film clip - why not a video phone short grab instead...