The Cure

I'm listening the cure right now. Aaron got me the "Join the Dots" B-Sides and rarities album for my birthday last year. It's pretty good. It reminds me of the first time I went to see them.

The first time I went to see the Cure was for my very first concert ever. I was 13 and my friends Christine and Theresa invited me to go to the Bizarre Festival near Frankfurt, Germany. (We were stationed in Baumholder, Germany, so it wasn't far away.) I had just started listening to the Cure and was really excited to go. The Bizarre Festival was on May 13, 1989 in Lorelai, Germany.

I remember getting ready for the show. I ususally looked like a relatively normal 13-year-old. I was starting to wear more black, but I didn't look very goth. To remedy that, we all met at Christine's house and worked on our outfits. I ended up wearing some paisley pants, a strange pajama shirt my grandma had made and some black suede shoes with buckles. We tried to make my long hair stand up like Robert Smith's but we weren't very successful. I'm sure I looked like a dork, but I thought I looked cool. I can't remember what Theresa wore, but Christine looked the most goth of the three of us. She had on all black and wore stripey tights in black and white and had black lipstick. We all painted our fingernails black on the way there in the backseat of Theresa's dad's mini-van.

The concert was in an outdoor arena with open seating. We sat sort of close to the front. The other bands that played at the Bizarre Festival that year were the Pixies, the Sugarcubes, Eat, Shellyan Orphan, Mission U.K. and I think that was it. We missed the first couple bands because we got there late. The Cure was headlining, so we got to see The Sugacubes and The Pixies first. I had no idea what an amazing show I was in for. I was mostly into the Cure, so, sadly, I didn't know very many of the Pixies or the Sugacubes songs then. If only I could go back in time...

All the other people there looked like Robert Smith clones and everyone was wearing black. Everyone was really happy, too, but in a mopey sort of way. The Cure came on after it got dark. You can check out the Cure's setlist for that show here. Just click on "St. Goarshausen - Loreley, Bizarre Festival - Germany". It was the Prayer Tour. "Disintegration" had just come out, so they played a lot of songs from that album. I remember when they played "Charlotte Sometimes", because Christine screamed and poked me when they started singing it. I was excited when they played "Why Can't I be you?" That was one of my favorite songs. I really liked the album "Kiss me, Kiss me, Kiss me".

It was so cool to be able to see the Cure live. I still have the t-shirt from that concert. I loved Robert Smith all through high school. I watched all their videos and bought all their albums. I wrote "I heart Robert Smith" on my sprial notebooks during Geometry class. I loved his make-up, the way he made that little scream and then hopped around on stage. I hoped that I could somehow get rid of his wife Mary, so that I could someday marry him myself.

I still like the Cure a lot, although it looks like I'll be marrying Aaron instead of Robert Smith, which is ok with me. (And probably with Mary, too.) I think we'll have to play a few Cure songs at the wedding - nothing off "Pornography", though. We don't want to scare the children. Maybe "Just like Heaven" - just like they played the very first time I saw them. That would be nice.