The Cure in Lima: the beautiful and disturbed joy of old gothic children | CHRONICLE

It’s interesting to meet a band again 10 years later. Not 9 or 11. 10 years later. Because it is the right period, the round decade that allows comparisons to be made, to evaluate the time that has passed, to make perhaps subjective or arbitrary balances, but balances nonetheless. How has The Cure that we saw at the National Stadium in April 2013, and that we saw again last night, at the San Marcos Stadium, changed?

Or perhaps it is better to ask ourselves, how have we changed? Because, to begin with, last Wednesday’s concert had much less audience than the previous one. The San Marcos field was large for the number of tickets sold, and the stands showed gaps that were obvious. We could say that it has to do with a generational issue (those under 30 were scarce), but also with the reality of a country that in 10 years has lost much of its concert fiber: with a pandemic and an economic recession through, the impact It is felt in shows like this.

It is clear, then, that we have changed, a lot. And it’s true that The Cure too. Of the 41 songs they played in 2013, they increased to 29 in this second presentation in Lima. The difference is considerable, but we must not err on the side of greed: for a band to execute almost 30 songs in 2 and a half hours of inexhaustible delivery It’s still a huge show. And that’s what Robert Smith and company offered.

With British punctuality, they climbed onto the stage at 8:30 at night, preceded by a stormy atmosphere that could be heard over the San Marcos speakers. Smith appeared looking as always, looking at his audience with a dissociated but sweet expression. As if he were the same ‘dark’ and disturbed boy from four decades ago.

The concert started with “Alone”, one of the band’s most recent songs: a declaration of principles of a group that refuses to live solely on nostalgia for the past. They would continue with “Pictures of You” and “High”, much more friendly to the public. And so the night would go on, with well-defined sections: some loaded with recognizable hits, and others more dedicated to new songs or lesser-known gems from their discography.

The sequence made up of “Push”, “In Between Days” and “Just Like Heaven”, for example, moved just enough to an audience that was not necessarily very lively (you shouldn’t ask for too much enthusiasm from these old gothic children either). And the final round of the show was more energetic, which brought hits without losing such as “Lullaby”, “The Walk”, “Friday I’m in Love”, “Close to Me”, “Why Can’t I Be You?” and “Boys Don’t Cry”, the one in charge of closing the night in style.

Other strong points: the emotional “Lovesong” and the intense “Fascination Street”, the tandem between “Play for Today” and “A Forest”, or the miniset composed of “Plainsong” and “Disintegration”, taken from what is perhaps the best of his studio albums. Even more interesting was the inclusion of some songs that they had not presented in their previous visit to Peru: the very dark beauty of “At Night”, “Shake Dog Shake” with its peculiar agitation, or the splendid “Kyoto Song”, not very common in their concertsand therefore a privileged gift for the most loyal Lima fans.

There is nothing to object about Smith’s voice: impeccable and clear as a moonlit night. And although the physical bustle has not had mercy on him, it is also true that, in front of the eyes of those of us who grew up admiring him with introverted tenderness, Bursts of his fresh and disheveled youth still appear: in a certain angle of her face wrapped in smoke, in some tilted gesture transfigured by eyeliner and lipstick.

This concert was also made of those fleeting moments. The second and most likely last of a band that taught us to be happy in isolation and darkness.