Arena gigs are strange affairs, and the 02 especially so. For those who have never been; it is a lot like an airport: there are a heck of a lot of commercial units, surly security and gate numbers to deal with before the main event. After dealing with all of that, and having been ‘processed’ through the various block/level/rows to get to the designated seating areas: I missed White Lies and Crystal Castles. I am informed by a friend already on the inside that NME darlings White Lies are “A copy cat band who have been listening to Joy Division” so either that is an ego boost for the headliners or enough to incur anger from the purists. This being an NME gig though, there are plenty of young ones in as well as die hards, and by the time Franz Ferdinand arrive on stage there are plenty of kids ready to dance.
In general, Franz Ferdinand make pop music with great hooks and memorable choruses, and they have a few up their designer sleeves tonight. However, for some curious reason Alex Kapranos appears to have borrowed David Byrne’s voice for the evening. I’m not entirely sure it fits! Their hits to date ‘Michael’, ‘ Take Me Out’ etc go down well but the slower numbers sound a little lacklustre in this gigantic space. After the obligatory ” Wow weren’t those other bands great, enjoy The Cure” parting shot, Kapranos et al take their leave.
Taking to the stage in the afterglow of their NME ‘Godlike Genius’ accolade; The Cure appear from the darkness to an arena full of expectation. One such expectation (admittedly, my own) is that this is going to be a hits show. Hits are indeed forthcoming, but they begin with ‘Underneath The Stars’ a perfectly passable new song but after a handful of their more recent output, there is a definite positive shift in energy when bequiffed bassist Simon Gallup adopts a power stance and launches into the familiar bass crunch of ‘A Forest’. Robert Smith addresses the faithful many by saying “Those of you who have seen us before might be wondering what that’s doing so early in the set. Now to introduce the concept” Uh-oh! Not a concept gig! Fortunately for all concerned, this consists of cherry picking songs from each album, which is more of a fair system to represent three decades worth of material than a concept-phew! This way we are given epic miserbalism and glorious guitar pop in equal measures: something to suit the purists, the Goths and the more casual fans.
In fairness, The Cure don’t seem to begrudge their pop moments tonight ‘Just Like Heaven’ and’ Inbetween Days’ sound superb, although I feel the atmospheric ‘Lullaby’ would have sounded incredible tonight and would have taken it over the slow-burning ‘One Hundred Years’. Then again, I’m not a ‘Godlike Genius’.
There is something rather wonderful about seeing Robert Smith playing songs like ‘Killing an Arab’ and ‘Jumping Someone Elses Train’ with such intensity on an ‘axe’ covered in glow stars and space stickers. It’s like a tiny slither of whismy has peeked through the curtain of gloom. Tonight has been a heady, musical mix of happy/sad and at moments, I’m sure I even saw Mr Smith smile. I couldn’t swear to it though. Maybe boys don’t cry, but on occasion The Cure still make grown men weep.