When I first heard about 'Reflections', it was a one-off show in Sydney, Australia where The Cure were to play their first three albums in their entirety: Three Imaginary Boys, Seventeen Seconds and Faith. 3IB and 17Seconds aren't exactly my favourite Cure albums, but I figured that hearing all of 'Faith' would be a spectacular fucking experienece, even though I'd prefer hearing all of Pornography, Disintegration, Wish or Kiss meX3.... the prospect was enticing but the location made it impossible without going into even more debt.In April of this year, before the first 'Reflections' show was announced, I vowed to do everything in my power to be at the 30th anniversary of Faith, were they to play the full album (as rumour had it).
Anyway, the first show in Sydney comes and goes; I wish I could have gone, the bootlegs and videos sound amazing... Then they announce 7 more Reflections shows: one in London, and three a piece in LA and NYC. "What better time to visit New York for the first time?!", I told myself. So I managed to get a decent ticket for the last 'Reflections' show - the third and final night in NYC (they'll never play those three full albums again). I roped the boyfriend into joining me for the whole Cure roadtrip, which helped with bills for the car rental, apartment in Brooklyn, etc. Luckily he's enough of a Cure fan that it didn't take much convincing (I could never be with anyone who didn't like The Cure!)
New York was great. It's crazy just how big the city is. We barely scratched the surface. Everyone we talked to and met were super awesome and nice. We were staying in a pretty rough part of Brooklyn but never had any problems. Walking from where we were staying in Bed-Stu (as the locals are known to call it) to the hotbed of Hipsterism that is Williamsburg was really interesting. It was like... Brooklyn hip hop culture to blocks and blocks of Hasidic Jews to the mecca of all that it hispter, all contained in about an hour's walk! Times Square was one big advertisement, but you can't help but be in awe at the scale of it. I kept telling Aaron that I really wanted to find some acid. I think that would have been mind blowing!!! We ended up just getting drunk instead at the best dive bar in all of Manhattan: Rudy's. They have 7$ pitchers and FREE HEBREW NATIONAL hot dogs - the BEST hot dogs known to man. Needless to say, I woke up feeling less than perky on Sunday (the day of the show. On a final note: NYC bagels are on par with Montreal bagels, but corned beef/pastrami has nothing on smoked meat!!!! Also, Whitecastle. WOW!
THE SHOW
The theater is just gorgeous. Beautiful. Puts every other theater I've ever been to to shame. Seats are ok - not the best but not the worst either. Maybe 18-19 rows up off to the right. Three Imaginary Boys was fun. It was just Robert, Simon and Jason (mimicking the original trio of Robert, Micheal and Lol). I danced around a bunch. It was amazing hearing so many of these songs from 1978-79 for the first (and I'm sure only) time. Robert was talking a lot between songs... After the cover of 'Foxy Lady', he says: "Jimmy must be spinning in his fucking grave!". Awesome!
Seventeen Seconds was more serious. Roger and Lol join the trio for the this album. Things get more serious. The crows goes pretty crazy for 'Play for Today' and 'Primary'. The REALLY crazy during 'A Forest'. 'In Your House' and (especially) 'At Night' were intense and chilling, 'Seventeen Seconds' was really sad - I never liked the song much up until that point but seeing it live really changed my view. It was emotional. The whole set was. Simon and Roger hug as they exit for the 10-mins intermission.
Faith. It was like 40 minutes standing still and passing by in the blink of an eye simultaneously. It was INTENSELY EMOTIONAL. Robert was crying during 'A Funeral Party', you could tell that song really means a lot to him. 'All Cats are Grey' was gorgeous. got some video of it. I shed a few tears during 'The Drowning Man', i won't both describing how good it was. Then 'Faith' with some extra lyrics: "After all these years, I don't know ow to say goodbye", yeah, that was a bit a tear-jerker as well! haha.
Then 3 encores of B-sides and hits, the crowd was going nuts. A bouncer escorted me from my seat during the second encore and almost kicked me out of the show for taking some video during Charlotte Sometimes. Brief moment of panic. There was no way I leaving that show though. Got back to my seat in time for the next song.
Best night of my life, bar none. A totally surreal and amazing performance. My only regret is not stopping to wait for an autograph after the show (we walked passed the people waiting at the side entrance). That will be for the next tour. I will meet Robert Smith. I can fell it. And there will be another tour, Robert said it himself at the end of the show: "See you next year!"
