As it got closer to last Sunday I started wondering whether we should have purchased Lollapalooza tickets after all. I even went so far as to check ticket prices on StubHub and Craigslist. There were plenty of tickets to be had for face value and above. $200 to see my favorite band? Yay or nay?
I ended up deciding against it. I just couldn’t bring myself to spend $200 to attend a packed festival (attendance was a record-breaking 300,000 people) on a Sunday night even though Joe had Monday off from work. Picturing having to locate parking and navigate through a sea of people seemed daunting. I felt a bit sad, but then I learned that they planned to stream the concert live (well, turns out it was aired with a 15 minute delay, but still not too shabby). So I set my alarm for 8 PM, since the webcast was scheduled to start at 8:15 PM, and went about my day.
Once 8:00 PM rolled around I was on my computer and loading the website. Actually, I tested it earlier as well and discovered a new-to-me artist called Steve Aoki that I plan to learn more about since I loved his sound. Anyway, I was blown away by the video and sound quality of the webcast: it was phenomenal! Not only that, but they aired The Cure’s act in its entirety. Wow, I was not expecting that! I had a good time reading Twitter updates live during the show, as well as chatting in the comments of my favorite Cure fan site. And I’m so so glad we didn’t actually go because I had better seats at home! And while I think they sounded quite good (although for the love of god, please stop playing Wrong Number at shows, it sounds terrible), they did nearly all pop music for the entire two hours. We got Disintegration and One Hundred Years but that was about it for the deeper stuff. Sorry, but I don’t count Plainsong since they often use it as a dramatic way to open a show.
What I hold against Robert, however, is that he pulled A Forest (as well as Bananafishbones and Hot Hot Hot) from the set-list, which he has seemingly done to Chicago fans since 2000. Seriously, every time they tour, A Forest is played at the majority of shows. Then they come to Chicago, I get all excited thinking they will play it, and they don’t. WTF!??! Don’t they know that’s my favorite Cure song of all time? Don’t they care? I’m starting to feel like it’s some personal slight against Chicago. Damn you Robert Smith!
In case you missed it, here’s the show in its entirety.
Setlist: Plainsong, Pictures of You, Lullaby, High, The End of the World, Lovesong, Inbetween Days, Just Like Heaven, From the Edge of the Deep Green Sea, The Walk, Mint Car, Friday I’m In Love, Doing the Unstuck, Trust, Want, Fascination Street, The Hungry Ghost, Wrong Number, One Hundred Years, Disintegration
Encore: The Lovecats, The Caterpillar, Close To Me, Let’s Go To Bed, Why Can’t I Be You?, Boys Don’t Cry.