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So Colleen, Johnny (brother-in-law) and I drove into Boston on Monday night to see The Cure.
In case you didn't know, The Cure is C's favorite band of all time. She refers to Robert Smith as "dreamy."
I've dragged C to several concerts (Roger Waters, Jethro Tull) and quite a few club shows (Living in the Past multiple times, The Mood, The Machine), so I figured this was her turn.
So here's the breakdown...
We lit out from Worcester around 500pm, maybe 515pm. We needed to get gas, but the local Exxon was packed, so we drove back to the small mom-and-pop Getty right by our flat. Traffic on I290 and I495 wasn't too bad, typical for the evening rush. The Pike heading into Boston was decent enough, all the way to Exit 18, where we needed to go.
This is where Google Maps failed us. First time I've experienced this.
It told us to bear right, merge onto Soldier's Field Road. We didn't see any of those roads, and we ended up in Cambridge itself.
Somehow, my mind was driving on autopilot, following the same route I used to take to get to a UPS depot in Malden when I did contract work for Dell. However, we didn't get to Malden, which was a good thing.
We pulled over, and asked some locals for directions. We were directed to Mass Ave (past MIT) onto Memorial Drive (following the river), then onto a rotary to get over the river onto Commonwealth Ave, which is where we needed to get to in the first place.
Our seats were on the concourse of the Agganis Arena. If you stood on the stage, we were at the opposite end, just a little to the left. Great seats, better visibility than floor.
There was an opening act -- a lesser-known British math/prog rock band called 65 Days of Static. They weren't too bad. We would have picked up their CDs, but the concession stands wanted $20 each.
So The Cure goes on stage around 838pm... and play continuously until 1038pm, with three encores.
Here's the playlist:
Plainsong, Prayers For Rain, alt.end, A Night Like This, End of the World, Lovesong, Sleep When I'm Dead (new song!), Pictures of You, Lullaby, The Perfect Boy, From the Edge of the Deep Green Sea, Hot Hot Hot, The Only One, The Blood, Wrong Number, The Walk, Signal To Noise, Push, Inbetween Days, Just Like Heaven, Primary, Us or Them, Never Enough, One Hundred Years, Disintegration
1st encore: Lovecats, Freakshow, Close To Me, Why Can't I Be You?
2nd encore: Play For Today, A Forest
3rd encore: Boys Don't Cry, Jumping Someone Else's Train, Grinding Halt, 10:15 Saturday Night, Killing An Arab.
Show ended at 1130pm
We were back in our car by 1145pm.
As we didn't know where to go to get back on the Pike from where we were, I just decided to stay on Comm Ave, as it was Rt 20 West. Somehow, we must have gotten off of Rt 20, and ended up going through the main side streets of Brighton. We did manage to find the Pike -- in Newton, right by the Sheraton that sits on top of the Pike.
All in all, got home around 100am.
I'm not the world's biggest Cure fan, as I haven't really listened to their music a lot. However, I could appreciate the talent in the music and lyrics that were presented before me. I recognized a few songs here and there, so I didn't sit there feeling clueless and lost. C was dancing at her seat for most of the show, and I sat there with binocs watching things up close.
There were a few songs from the upcoming new album 4:13, which didn't sound too bad.
C enjoyed the fact that there was a good cross-section of people in the audience -- young, older, goths, non-goths, gay, straight, in-between...
All in all, a good show and a good experience. I wouldn't say no to seeing them again in concert. However, I'm not sure if a Cure tribute band could do justice to Robert Smith's distinctive vocals. This point was also given to me when I asked, "What Cure song could David Cook on Idol do?"
In case you didn't know, The Cure is C's favorite band of all time. She refers to Robert Smith as "dreamy."
I've dragged C to several concerts (Roger Waters, Jethro Tull) and quite a few club shows (Living in the Past multiple times, The Mood, The Machine), so I figured this was her turn.
So here's the breakdown...
We lit out from Worcester around 500pm, maybe 515pm. We needed to get gas, but the local Exxon was packed, so we drove back to the small mom-and-pop Getty right by our flat. Traffic on I290 and I495 wasn't too bad, typical for the evening rush. The Pike heading into Boston was decent enough, all the way to Exit 18, where we needed to go.
This is where Google Maps failed us. First time I've experienced this.
It told us to bear right, merge onto Soldier's Field Road. We didn't see any of those roads, and we ended up in Cambridge itself.
Somehow, my mind was driving on autopilot, following the same route I used to take to get to a UPS depot in Malden when I did contract work for Dell. However, we didn't get to Malden, which was a good thing.
We pulled over, and asked some locals for directions. We were directed to Mass Ave (past MIT) onto Memorial Drive (following the river), then onto a rotary to get over the river onto Commonwealth Ave, which is where we needed to get to in the first place.
Our seats were on the concourse of the Agganis Arena. If you stood on the stage, we were at the opposite end, just a little to the left. Great seats, better visibility than floor.
There was an opening act -- a lesser-known British math/prog rock band called 65 Days of Static. They weren't too bad. We would have picked up their CDs, but the concession stands wanted $20 each.
So The Cure goes on stage around 838pm... and play continuously until 1038pm, with three encores.
Here's the playlist:
Plainsong, Prayers For Rain, alt.end, A Night Like This, End of the World, Lovesong, Sleep When I'm Dead (new song!), Pictures of You, Lullaby, The Perfect Boy, From the Edge of the Deep Green Sea, Hot Hot Hot, The Only One, The Blood, Wrong Number, The Walk, Signal To Noise, Push, Inbetween Days, Just Like Heaven, Primary, Us or Them, Never Enough, One Hundred Years, Disintegration
1st encore: Lovecats, Freakshow, Close To Me, Why Can't I Be You?
2nd encore: Play For Today, A Forest
3rd encore: Boys Don't Cry, Jumping Someone Else's Train, Grinding Halt, 10:15 Saturday Night, Killing An Arab.
Show ended at 1130pm
We were back in our car by 1145pm.
As we didn't know where to go to get back on the Pike from where we were, I just decided to stay on Comm Ave, as it was Rt 20 West. Somehow, we must have gotten off of Rt 20, and ended up going through the main side streets of Brighton. We did manage to find the Pike -- in Newton, right by the Sheraton that sits on top of the Pike.
All in all, got home around 100am.
I'm not the world's biggest Cure fan, as I haven't really listened to their music a lot. However, I could appreciate the talent in the music and lyrics that were presented before me. I recognized a few songs here and there, so I didn't sit there feeling clueless and lost. C was dancing at her seat for most of the show, and I sat there with binocs watching things up close.
There were a few songs from the upcoming new album 4:13, which didn't sound too bad.
C enjoyed the fact that there was a good cross-section of people in the audience -- young, older, goths, non-goths, gay, straight, in-between...
All in all, a good show and a good experience. I wouldn't say no to seeing them again in concert. However, I'm not sure if a Cure tribute band could do justice to Robert Smith's distinctive vocals. This point was also given to me when I asked, "What Cure song could David Cook on Idol do?"
