The Cure – Dwell in Leeds Area sixth December 2022 • TotalRock

Words: Diamond Dave

Images: Getty Images

After support band, The Twilight Sad, leave the stage of this sold out show, there are no tunes
coming from the PA or a DJ encouraging the crowd to dance, only the sound of a thunder storm and
strobe lights flicking like lightning which seems just perfect.

Robert Smith stalks the stage in an “Eraserehead” t-shirt and greets the crowd with “Hello again, it’s only been 10 years” with a smile matching that of many of the crowd.
Tonight The Cure treat us to an almost 3 hour set, consisting of older material like A Forest or Shake
Dog Shake which sit well with new songs like Bloodlines and The Last Day Of Summer perfectly. It
was especially brilliant to hear an amazing drum pattern from Every Time I Fall, as drummer Jason
Cooper plays a blinder, backed up by long time bassist Simon Gallup who prances the stage like a
panther whilst looking like a 1950’s biker; for a man of his age, he is ridiculously cool!! If I was going
to describe the new songs, I would say they would fit well on the Disintegration album which
recently celebrated it’s 30th Anniversary with a series of shows in Australia.

Images: Getty Images

Smith apologises for his voice (he didn’t need to) explaining that he has “McFlu” after a drunken fan
passed it on to him after a gig in Glasgow a few days previously. However, what follows is possibly
the beast encore that I have ever seen at a gig, let alone by The Cure. It starts with Lullaby, The Walk
and then Smith introduces what he calls a new song – Tuesday’s Great which every fan recognises
immediately as Friday I’m In Love which get’s virtually the whole crowd on their feet dancing!

Images: Getty Images

Close To Me, In between Days, Just Like Heaven and Boy’s Don’t Cry leaves a Yorkshire crowd, who are
mainly middle aged, sad that it had to end and they have to get home to that impatient baby sitter. I
am very much looking forward to hearing where The Cure will be taking us in 2023!

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