Robert Smith took the The Cure out to a Las Vegas casino last night to warm up for the band’s Sunday night headlining slot at the Coachella Valley Music and Arts Festival.
The Cure turned in a career-spanning — including something off the dreaded Wild Mood Swings, even — 2.5-hour, 27-song set at the 2,500-capacity Pearl Concert Theater at the Palms Casino Resort (see setlist below).
But even with all that, did fans get shortchanged?
According to audience reports on the authoritative Cure blog A Chain of Flowers, the show ended uncharacteristically abrubtly, with Simon Gallup throwing down his bass to end “A Forest” and no customary goodbye from the ever-polite Smith.
As one attendee noted, “It was a pretty odd way to see them end the show. I’ve never heard Simon end ‘A Forest’ like that… ever.”
A fan’s snapshot of the setlist shows an “old school encore” — reminiscent of the sets the band played last summer — that would have included “Three Imaginary Boys,” “Fire in Cairo,” “Boys Don’t Cry,” “Grinding Halt,” “10.15 Saturday Night” and “Killing Another” (Smith’s politically correct retitling of “Killing an Arab”), followed by yet another possible encore of “Faith.”
Nevertheless, fan reports indicate the show was “great until that bizarre ending.”
Setlist: The Cure, The Pearl, Palms Casino Resort, Las Vegas, 4/17/09
“Underneath The Stars”
“Prayers For Rain”
“A Strange Day”
“alt.end”
“The End of the World”
“Lovesong”
“To Wish Impossible Things”
“Pictures of You”
“Lullaby”
“From the Edge of the Deep Green Sea”
“The Perfect Boy”
“Inbetween Days”
“Push”
“Just Like Heaven”
“Primary”
“Want”
“Shake Dog Shake”
“The Hungry Ghost”
“One Hundred Years”
“Disintegration”
“It’s Over”
“If Only Tonight We Could Sleep”
“The Kiss”
“At Night”
“M”
“Play For Today”
“A Forest”
Video: The Cure, “Lullaby,” The Pearl, Las Vegas, 4/17/09
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