The Cure live in London, England (Feb. 26th, 2009)

Underneath The Stars, From the Edge of the Deep Green Sea, The Perfect Boy, The End of the World, Sleep When I'm Dead, A Forest, Three Imaginary Boys, Shake Dog Shake, Maybe Someday, The Only One, Inbetween Days, Just Like Heaven, Primary, Want, The Hungry Ghost, Disintegration, One Hundred Years, It's Over.

Encore: Boys Don't Cry, Jumping Someone Else's Train, Grinding Halt, 10:15 Saturday Night, Killing An Arab.

Show notes:

11:24pm - Show is over. 110 minutes.

Robert (before The Perfect Boy): "We're going to play a few songs that we didn't play last year. Quite a few."

9:34pm - Cure on stage.

9:20pm - Heron: "FF over, they rocked. Robert and the guys have been spotted several times watching the other bands sets from stage left. In between stage deejay before the ff set - "this is one to get you cure fans all ready for the show" we looked at each other, anticipating a cure song. He played "smells like teen spirit". Then there was a metallica song. Noice."

9:05pm - Olivier: "Btw, on the t-shirt, it's intended as a play on word on the name of the venue. It spells like the O2:
O :09 DREAM
2

8:41pm - Olivier: "You could also buy the 2009 Cure calendar. £5 regular and £10 signed by the band (there were only a few of those). "

8:31pm - Olivier: "Merchandizing... There's a new Cure T-shirt for this event. It says "THE CURE 02:09 DREAM" and is based on the album sleeve. Franz Ferdinand opened with "The Dark of the Matinée"."

8:20pm - Olivier: "Just got inside the venue. I had not realized row C meant first row, I couldn't be both seated and closer to the stage! Everything's on schedule, Crystal Castles went off the stage and an annoying DJ is attempting to entertain the crowd before Franz Ferdinand follows. The venue reminds me of MSG in NY, huge and steep. It's getting full but not packed yet."

8:05pm - Heron: "I had NO idea what I was in for! OMG SO BAD. I'm conserving battery for the cures set. I will send another update after ff."

7:58pm - Heron: "White lies was really good, said what an honor it was to open for the cure, they have finished and crystal castles is so bad their singer has to roll around on stage as a distraction, much to the consternation of the pit photographers. Hopefully their set is almost over."

Heron and Olivier will be providing live reports from tonight's "journey through time". : )

The Guardian / The Independent / The Final Word / This Is London / The Telegraph

My 5th Cure concert since 2004 and without a doubt the best of the bunch. The last gig i reviewed on this website, Wembley 2008, was almost an angry dissillusioned one, i was still annoyed about the lack of keyboards and Porl struggling to recreate them on his guitar and plus i was stuck in the balcony with all the "casuals" who just wanted the hits. Thankfully, this year, i was second row and completely blown away by the band, it was the most powerful, passionate and eclectic Cure gig i've ever been to, blowing away the likes of Franz Ferdinand (who were so bloody repetitive) with ease. Highlights were Want (never thought i'd get to see/hear this live!), Maybe Someday, Inbetween Days and the 3IMB encore. I'm not so sure the thousands upon thousands behind us in the balconys were that into it, maybe a bit too obscure for them, but it was mayhem down the front, great atmosphere. So all in all a great week, NME Award for Godlike Genius, Oasis get booed at the same event and a kick ass concert at the O2. I always knew the Cure would find their way back :)

Also, thank you so much to Britain Kitten, the kindest and coolest Cure fan i have ever met, i love you :)

- Paul Jeremiah, Cork

I arrived at the venue just in time to see White Lies, a great new band with a good sound, dark lyrics, and a great voice. I must admit that I didn't really understand the second band, Crystal Castles, who played a sort of weird dance music. Their performance wasn't helped by the fact that their singer seemed to be battling problems with her microphone and looked like she had drunk more than a cup of tea, judging by the way she was rolling around the stage. Franz Ferdinand, on the other hand, were quite professional and played a mixture of old songs and songs from their new album.  By that point in the evening I thought the crowd would be a bit more energetic than they were, but Franz Ferdinand's songs only received polite applause.

The Cure came on just after 9.30pm and started with a very powerful version of Underneath the Stars. I have now heard this song three times live and I think it sounds better live than on the album. It is also my favourite song on 4:13 and a great opening track.  The set then carried on with a good mixture of old and (quite a few) new songs. I particularly enjoyed hearing Three Imaginary Boys, Shake Dog Shake, Jumping Someone Else's Train and Grinding Halt. I also enjoyed hearing Inbetween Days and Just Like Heaven, not only because it got everyone to their feet, but also because it reminded me (and everybody else) of how good some of The Cure's pop songs can be.

The choice of setlist was very interesting but at the same time rather surprising.  As this was not a typical Cure gig in front of a typical Cure crowd, the obvious choice would have been to play a "greatest hits" kind of set. A lot of the audience members were very young and seemed a bit lost during songs like From the Edge of the Deep Green Sea and Want, but I suppose it would be fair to say that the setlist was a balanced representation of what The Cure really are.

Audience participation was relatively limited throughout the gig, except during Inbetween Days, Just Like Heaven and the encore. Maybe it's the size of the venue or the choice of setlist, but at times it felt as though the band were not able to fill the space very well. In addition to that, where I was standing (about 20 metres from the stage), I also felt that the sound mix was not good because Robert's voice and Porl's guitar seemed a bit weak.

As usual, I couldn't really understand what Robert was saying, although he did say something like "thanks for making this a fucking special night" right at the end. I suppose I would sum it up in just about the same way...

- Fab G

O2:09 Dream
So, how was it for you?

I had a blast, we had to rush to catch White Lies cos the traffic into Greenwich was total gridlock as usual. Really enjoyed their performance. Caught up with some old friends and fellow Cure-followers while Crystal Castles and Franz Ferdinand played and got all vibed up for the main event.

AND WHAT AN EVENT

UTS (finally in the UK!!!) was a beautiful opener and when they followed with FTEOTDGS, we knew it was gonna be something different than a "greatest hits" set. Hearing A Forest so high up in the set was quite weird, but in a good way, we're all used to the running order cos we've been spoilt by those 3+hr sets..

A couple of my friends were grumbling cos they wanted a "greatest hits" set with Pictures Of You, Close To Me, Lovecats ~ but they got all that at Wembley last year! They haven't listened to the new album, which left them a bit frustrated, but hey, it's their fault for being so behind the times...

"Want" and "Maybe Someday" sounded lush ~ and, after a while, it dawned on us ~ Bobert had made sure to select at least one song from every studio album (so no "Just One Kiss" or "Lament" then...) ~ such a simple stroke of genius and a lovely way to enhance the new tracks which sounded ace, especially The Hungry FOOKIN Ghost. His world-weary vitriolic last cry/mumble of "i can't do this anymore" brought a tear to the eye, but then of course he returned with a mischievous grin to deliver a perfect 3IB encore set and a promise of "see you again......."

My 25th Cureshow and a real barnstormer, and a lovely O2:09 Dream tee to commemorate, along with sore old knees from all the jumping around!

You know if you can, you'll see them in Vegas/Coachella (if i win the Lottery, i'll be there!) and the view will be beautiful and yours alone tonight...

- Frazer/hellboy69