The Cure
Sydney Entertainment Centre
Friday August 10

When Elvis Costello famously said that writing about music is like dancing about architecture, I thought he just really hated journalists that day. Which is understandable. But no! He merely meant to negate our entire profession with one enviable sentence! And in truth he was right. All I could think through three plus glorious hours with the Cure was, there is no way I'll ever be able to describe this in the review. But I can try.

The sound of the Cure is the truly sublime – the melancholy ache in your bones at the end of three hours, which leaves you certain of the endlessly heartbreaking, but none the less beautiful crap you are going to put yourself through in the quest to feel right. (How am I doing here? Emo enough?) These songs are so immediately sad on the one hand, and unbeatably life affirming on the other. I don't know the last time music made me feel that alive.

Perhaps it was to do with the deafening volumes at which everything from 'Pictures of You' to 'Friday I'm in Love' (Yes, on a FRIDAY! Brilliant!) was pumped through the Entertainment Centre PA. A good five tracks off Wish, 'Hot Hot Hot', 'Why Can't I Be You?', 'Fascination Street', 'A letter to Elise', 'A Forest', 'Disintegration', 'Let's Go To Bed', 'Never Enough', 'Plainsong' – do you want me to list the whole 34 song setlist? No. Just let me say that they closed with 'Boys Don't Cry' and the collective elation of the place made it pretty much the greatest moment of my life.

The highlight of an evening of practically consecutive highlights, had to be the final encore, which, opening with 'Close To Me' had every person in their seat up and dancing til the end and singing along until their throats bled. I'd never seen the Cure before, and hearing that Robert Smith's voice has only improved with age and grown in power was the cherry on the sundae of awesome that was hearing those arena sized songs live.

I'm sorry if you missed this show. I'd say that they'll be back again, but I don't know if that's true. Though Robert Smith, smiling beatifically through his lipsick smear, did wave to us all goodnight saying, "See you again."