The Cure 1996-09-09 Varsity Arena Toronto, Ontario, Canada

The Cure

1996-09-09 - Varsity Arena - Toronto, Ontario, Canada

Version : unkn.
Taper : unkn.

Mainset :

want
club america
fascination street
lullaby
high
this is a lie
lovesong
just like heaven
jupiter crash
round and round and round
catch
if only tonight we could sleep
friday i'm in love
strange attraction
mint car
like cockatoos
the kiss
return
treasure
trap
prayers for rain
in between days
from the edge of the deep green sea
bare
disintegration

Encore 1 :

hot hot hot
let's go to bed
close to me
why can't i be you

Encore 2 :

three imaginary boys
play for today
boys don't cry
10.15 saturday night
killing an arab
a forest
forever

Line-Up :

Robert Smith, Simon Gallup, Jason Cooper, Perry Bamonte, Roger O'Donnell


In anticipation for The Cure's upcoming 2023 North American tour, and the first time I will ever get to see my second favourite band live (both nights in montreal), I'd like to share my all time favourite cure show. My love of the cure was passed down by my dad, who has seen them constantly since 1989 and is one of his favourite bands. Whenever I talk about what the cure is like live, he always singles out certain shows as being truly exceptional. Sometimes it's the 1992 A Forest they played at skydome in toronto, but most of the time it's this 1996 show in particular that he raves about all the time. The band played an absolutely huge 36 song set from every angle of their discography, so the show didn't focus on all WMS material, (although when they did, they ran with it like the absolutely huge Want they played to open the show). What makes this show is the last encore, and more specifically, the A Forest > Forever, which my dad has always said was one of the greatest live moments he's ever seen to this day. Upon hearing this years back I did everything I could to try to find a recording of that exact moment which I then scoured the internet to find this mediocre recording of this show with no info file or information whatsoever. I listen to the A Forest > Forever regularly now, because of how good it is. Unlike other versions of the song, the band jams a middle section in between the two songs while Robert ad-libs some of the best lyrics I've ever heard to come of Forever, I haven't heard the band do this in any other recording on the 1996 tour, let alone any version of the song ever. The band absolutely kills this version too, injecting the two tracks with as much energy as they ever had (and to be frank, the whole show has this energy too, check out the version of The Kiss). It's not the greatest recording by any stretch of imagination, but the performance is too good that it makes up for it and I'm able to completely look past it. This show is an all-timer and a must have for any cure fan.

BRING BACK FOREVER FOR SHOWS OF A LOST WORLD 2023

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