This was a tough one for me. On the one hand, there are two excellent bands, including one of my favorite bands of all time. On the other hand, you have a sound mix that drowned out the performance with way too much bass or pushed the levels past the redline, obscuring intricacies and frequencies. In other words, I could tell that Slowdive and Drab Majesty were delivering incredible performances; I just wish I could’ve actually heard them in all of their splendor. Drab Majesty really tore it up on songs like “Dot in the Sky” and I loved the 12-string guitar and flanged drums on “The Skin and the Glove.” As for Slowdive, the maxed out mix was actually a plus during “She Calls.” One of my favorite Slowdive songs, it’s absolutely overwhelming live, especially when combined with the intense light show. And I couldn’t help but grin when the crowd started dancing during “Alison” and “When the Sun Hits.” There was a palpable sense of joy in the Truman, one further enhanced by Rachel Goswell’s beatific smile.
My Cultural Diet
The Cure were absolutely phenomenal. They played a pretty eclectic set with the usual hits (“A Forest,” “Lovesong,” “Pictures of You,” “Just Like Heaven”) as well as some deep cuts (“At Night,” “If Only Tonight We Could Sleep,” “Kyoto Song,” “Prayers for Rain”) and even a song from Wild Mood Swings (“Want”). They played 5 – 6 new songs, too, all of which were great and have me really excited for the new album (whenever Robert decides to release it). My favorite song of the evening, however, was “A Night Like This.” (I wish I would’ve recorded some video of it but I was too busy dancing and singing along.) We missed the first 2 – 3 songs from opening act The Twilight Sad because the venue took forever to get people in, but what we did see was phenomenal. I love their wall of sound mixed with a thicker-than-thick Scottish brogue, especially when they played my favorite song of theirs (“VTr”). All in all, a pretty perfect evening. I was afraid we’d get rained on because of the recent weather, but aside from a few sprinkles, the weather was great. Also, the crowd was a fun mix of goths (old and young), punks, Renaissance fair attendees, rivetheads, families, and middle-class suburbanites like ourselves. And we all sang along, at the top of our lungs, to “Friday I’m in Love.” I feel so fortunate and grateful to have been there.