“You came all the way from the United States to see this show?”, asked a surprised fan who was waiting in line with me several hours before the gates opened.  Yes, I came all the way to Scotland to see The Cure.  This is not the first time I’ve traveled to Europe for this band (it’s the third, in fact).  However, I am not alone in my crazy travel excursions based solely around seeing a performance by my favorite band.  While waiting in line, I chatted with several fans who traveled from the States.  One fan came from Australia (and had me beat in distance!).  The Cure has devoted fans, and I’m proud to be a part of this fan base.  

This Cure performance was a special one.  It was the first time that the band had played in Scotland since 1992.  I was still in high school at that time and had already attended a handful of Cure shows at that point.  Scotland had to wait 27 years to see the Cure perform and many local fans, who I chatted with at the show, were seeing The Cure for the first time!  I felt a little guilty sharing that this was like my 25th time seeing them live.  Although, every show I have attended has been wonderful and I never leave a Cure show disappointed.  I knew that tonight would not be any different. 

Glasgow Summer Sessions took place in Bellahouston Park, just south of Glasgow, in a cute city suburb neighborhood.  The line up consisted of not only The Cure, but included several of my favorite bands – The Joy Formidable, The Twilight Sad, and Mogwai.  Both The Twilight Sad and Mogwai have been supporting acts for The Cure in the past and represent Glasgow, as both bands call this city their home.  The Joy Formidable are from Wales and are in my top 5 favorite bands to see live.  The show kicked off just after 4:30 PM and the audience was treated to over 6 hours of incredible music. 

As Scotland would have it, rain was in the forecast.  It rained over night and into the day on Friday.  However, just a few hours before the show began, the clouds parted, blue skies appeared, and the sun emerged.  Although, at that point, the rain had been successful at making the entire park a mud pit.  Luckily, the event organizers had placed covering on the pit area which provided some solid ground close to the stage. Getting in and out of the venue was a bit more difficult!  Fortunately many in attendance were wearing appropriate shoes!  

Ritzy Bryan, lead singer of The Joy Formidable bounded on stage wearing a cheerful blue-green dress.  She greeted the crowd enthusiastically (as always), and they kicked into a short set to open up the full night of music.  The band only had time to perform 5 songs.  They performed two songs from their 2018 release, Aaarth: “Y Blues Eira” and “Caught on a Breeze”.  The remaining three songs were the fan favorites, “I Don’t Want to See You Like This”, “The Greatest Light Is the Greatest Shade”, and then they ending with their classic closure song, “Whirring”.  Ritzy apologized for being all smiles.  She stated, “We’ve known about this show for months and now that it’s finally here, I can’t stop smiling!  We are very happy to be here.  You couldn’t ask for a better line-up!”  

Taking the stage next was Glasgow’s own, The Twilight Sad.  James Graham thanked the audience several times for coming early to hear their set.  The band performed 8 songs.  The first 5 songs of their set came from their latest album, It Won/t Be Like This All the Time, which was released in January of this year. The highlight of their set was a very emotional performance of Frightened Rabbit’s, “Keep Yourself Warm” which ended with James in tears and many audience members as well.

Prior to closing out their set, James said, “If you would have told 18 year old James that he’d be playing before Mogwai and The Cure, he wouldn’t believe you!  In fact, he’d probably tell you to fuck off!  Thank you to Robert!  He’s done so much for us”.  The Twilight Sad closed out their set with a song from 2007, “And She Would Darken the Memory”.  

Mogwai was up next.  At this time the clouds started to gather and the crowd pulled on rain coats and ponchos in preparation for the inevitable rain.  Another band from Glasgow, Mogwai formed in the late 90’s. Known for their drastic musical dynamics, guitars, and loud performances, Mogwai’s 8-song set was outstanding. They performed 3 songs from their 2018 album, Every Country’s Sun, opening with the first two:  “Crossing the Road Material” and “Party in the Dark” and then midway through their set they performed “Old Poisons”.  Mogwai made sure to thank their long-time fans by performing a b-side song from 1996, “Ithica 27ø9”. 

Finally, towards the end of their set, the rain swept across the park, enhancing the mood for, “Remurdered”.  It was the only time it rained that evening and it stopped before the song concluded. Mogwai ended their set with a dynamic 10 minute performance of the fan favorite, “Mogwai Fear Satan” from their debut album. 

The sun had set and the skies were slowly getting dark by the time The Cure took the stage promptly at 8:30 PM.  At this point, the park was packed and eager fans around me cheered loudly for Robert.  Chimes rang out from the speakers and Robert walked on stage to the classic opener, “Plainsong”, the opening song on their more popular album, Disintegration. Robert took advantage of this song’s two and a half minute musical introduction to pace the stage and greet the audience with smiles and grateful bows.  It was during this moment when it truly hit me – I was in Scotland, seeing a band who hadn’t performed there in almost 30 years with fans from all over the world.  I cried legit tears.  It was a magical moment and solid support for why I never hesitate to see The Cure perform live whenever I can.  

For anyone who has seen The Cure perform regularly, the setlist was pretty standard.  They performed a variety of hits from throughout their catalog including “Pictures of You”, “From the Edge of the Deep Green Sea”, and “A Night Like This”.  This was a darker set and that is just what I wanted.  I do enjoy the more pop songs such as “High” and “Friday I’m in Love”; however, my favorite ones to see The Cure perform live are the more heavily guitar filled songs such as “Burn”, “Fascination Street” and “A Forest”. The ending of The Cure’s main set was perfection.  Following “Shake Dog Shake”, they performed “39”, the last song from the band’s album Bloodflowers. Despite the number of times I have seen The Cure perform, that was the first time hearing this song performed live.  

They ended the main set with a very emotionally charged version of “Disintegration”.  Following a brief moment off-stage, the band returned and Robert took the mic saying, “Some nights when I do Disintegration, I’m just like…. Ahhhhh…. And tonight was one of those nights.  Now I’m going to turn into someone different entirely!”  The 7-song encore lifted spirits and got the crowd dancing to songs such as “Why Can’t I Be You” and “Close to Me”.  The Cure wrapped up the evening with their traditional last song, “Boys Don’t Cry”.  Just before Robert left the stage, he thanked the audience and said, “Today was a fucking fantastic day… one of my best days of this summer.”  Then when he was almost off the stage, he playfully ran back to the mic and shouted out, “See you again!” 

And with that, it was over… 27 songs, 2 hours and 15 minutes and no regrets.  My friends and I made our way back to the little apartment we rented just outside of Bellahouston Park listening to everyone talk about how great the show was!  

The Cure will be performing with a similar line up – but adding The Pixies, Throwing Muses, and The Deftones – in California at the end of August.  I have entertained the thought of going; however, I loved my Scotland experience and am going to keep that one to memory.  Hopefully we will get a U.S. tour next year and I’ll be able to look forward to more memories made with The Cure!  

Special thanks to Mauro Melis for the use of his fantastic photos from this show! I did not photograph this show. I only took video and a few full stage photos with my cell phone. Mauro is also a fellow Cure fan and travels to see The Cure. He is an outstanding photographer and has photographed The Cure many times! You can check out all of his photos from this performance by clicking here!