The Cure- 1st December 2022 3Arena

First time seeing the The Cure. They never interested me back in the day but I thought I’d give them a whirl and I really enjoyed it.

The sound and visuals were great. 2.5 hour setlists are not the norm unless you go and see Springsteen. Personally, I was more interested in the deep cuts and new songs rather than the singles. I don’t need to hear Boys Don’t Cry again.

As a lifelong David Bowie fan, it was good to see Reeves Gabrels onstage again. However while he used to tear it up as Bowie’s lead guitarist, he never gets out of 1st gear playing with The Cure.

I did expect a more fanatical crowd, similiar to Depeche Mode’s fanbase, but that wasn’t the case. People in the balcony coming in an hour into the set and the constant trips to the bar was a serious problem where I was sitting.

A Forrest is an iconic song live. Other standouts were Shake Dog Shake and Lullaby. Chuffed to have seen them and I would definitely go again.

Next up, Placebo on Sunday 🤘😎🤘

Heads up, Placebo is on Monday and not Sunday!

Noted! Thanks.

the queue was at entrance 2

I had Fontaines on Wed and the Cure last night. Wish it was the other way around now. Fontaines were intense as hell, last night was great but a lot more low key. Don't get me wrong - I know we're not going to get a circle of death at a Cure gig. I'd love a Friday night hit of Fontaines without the burden of work the following morning. You have me temped now. I know I'm going to be snooping around toutless for the afternoon.

I hope you enjoy tonight. I saw Fontaines in Iveagh garden, and it was good. But in Vicar St, it's up to a whole new level. Wear a t-shirt. It was packed to the rafters and twas very sweaty!!!!!!!!!

What a fantastic gig, the build up, atmosphere and aesthetics of the first part were immense, it was a creative show rather than a straight up gig and they carried it off perfectly. The second set was great fun and a nice way to top off the night. Last time I saw them almost 20 years ago they didn't want to play the pop hits, so it nice to experience that. The playing and Roberts voice were great. Stand out moment for me was when they played Burn, incredible live song, visuals were perfect and happy they focused on the drummer, very powerful song.

The only complaint I have is a portion of the crowd... They played rainfall for 20 minutes before they came on, building an atmosphere and a tone, there were a huge amount of unoccupied seats around up... Then as soon as the music started people came up from the bar with their drinks and caused mayhem... A family of five came up right in front of us and faffed around for 5 minutes trying to figure out their seats and having the chats... Really pissed me off... People getting up to go to the bar every few minutes and a decent amount of people left after the first set, presumably pissed off that they didn't hear enough of the hits.

Apart from that the show was outstanding, I loved it... Like I said, it was a curated spectical and I had a great time...

Overall I loved it. Had a great night. Just so happy to see them, Robert was so good, and the band is great. The visuals and sound were fantastic. I really enjoyed the set list, but would probably prefer a couple of the big hits interspersed earlier on and just leave 3 big ones to finish. No Lovecats which I wasn't too sad about, but I would have loved them to play Fascination Street. Really enjoyed Pictures of You, Lullaby, A Forest, Want, and Charlotte Sometimes.

That was my first gig in The Point for a decade and my first time seated in 20 years. Never sitting again. It was so frustrating, lack of atmosphere until the hits, and endless trips to bar. Two girls on my row went out over a dozen times, absolute muppets. The seat itself was grand at the back of Block J, with a fairly good view. There was huge disruption from latecomers too for the first 20 minutes - wasn't sure if that was just normal.

I enjoyed The Twilight Sad - had never heard of them before.

I'm considering buying a Placebo ticket for Monday now. I'm a huge fan but would prefer to see them in The Olympia or similar. I'm surprised they're playing such a big venue at this stage.

They'll play with the upper seating tapered off, similar to their last time here. I agree they're definitely more of an Olympia band who are taking a bit of an atmosphere dip here though in exchange for the extra sales.

You might want to get very familiar with the new album and not be counting on too many hits being played, I'll say that much! Keep an eye on their socials as well because tonight's gig in Newcastle they've cancelled.

It won't sell out anyway.

For Placebo - over half of the setlist is from the new album. Not ideal, but it is a very good album. But its too many tunes from an album that has been out for less than a year IMO.

If you wait until Monday late afternoon, you'll pick up a ticket for €20.

I enjoyed it despite not being in the humour beforehand. A marathon set in an arena was really turning me off the closer i got to the gig. For the first few songs i feared i'd made a big mistake but from the first new song onwards (which i thought was very good and the volume noticeably increased for) i was grand. Shake Dog Shake, Hanging Garden and Push particular highlights for me. I didn't recognise Charlotte Sometimes until he actually uttered the words in the song. I do kinda feel the gig would be better served by having all those big hits spread throughout the set though. In fairness, I can see both points of the argument. If there's one song i'd love to hear above all others it would be World War. Would also love The Snakepit and Like Cockatoos. As alluded to elsewhere the visuals, sound and Robert's voice were all very good. Chatting kept to a minimum where i was stood but one dude was going overboard with his camera. Unfortunately he was about 5 rows ahead of me, otherwise i'd have had words. Overall, a decent, solid, enjoyable gig.

However, that was my 7th time seeing them in 30 years and i'm not sure i'd go again. No reflection on the band or last night, i just feel i've probably seen them enough now and unless they played an all-dayer with a few good support acts again a la Malahide i just don't think i'd bother.

That was my third time in that venue in 11 years and i'd be happy never to return. I honestly don't know how folks go to loads of arena/stadium shows. Give me a few hundred people in a small room any day of the week/month/year.

I find as I get older my anxiety with arena shows just gets worse and worse. Especially in that venue. It can be so terse squeezed in there with everyone around you guarding their spot and sucking in the air for an eternity before the bands come on. Smaller shows are definitely where it's at. The luxury of being able to go to the loo, come back and still more or less be front of stage? Can't bate it.

I find outdoors fine as well even in large crowds. Especially at metal gigs where the pits everywhere okay a certain freedom of movement you wouldn't otherwise have.