The Cure, 17th of October 2016, Hamburg - by far the longest concert I have ever been to

The Cure is a british rock band formed in 1976, as Malice, in Crawley, UK. The formation of the Band has changed a lot over the past few years, with Robert Smith (vocalist, guitarist and songwriter) as the only constant member of the Band. Their first album, Three Imaginary Boys, was released in the late 1970's. They turned out to be one of the first alternative bands to have chart and commercial success before the whole alternative rock scene had become mainstream. Several movies have used their songs (like Boys Don't Cry) as title songs and by now they are one of the most successfull alternative rock bands to exist. 

On the 17th of October I got to see them in the Barclaycard Arena in Hamburg, together with 16.000 other people and a friend of mine. We had bought our tickets in January of this year and awaited this day more than anything, even though our seats were way upstairs. 

It was a pretty cold day in Hamburg when The Cure came here to perform the longest concert I have ever seen. I was waiting outside the venue for my friend who still had my ticket. He arrived about 15 minutes later than I did, with his mom who had also been planning on going to the concert, but did not have a ticket, so she spontaneously got one at the venues office. 

While my friends mom bought a ticket, we already went inside the venue, as it was freezing outside and we could not wait any longer to get in. 

After our bags, jackets and tickets had been checked at the entrance we walked up the stairs to the second floor, where our seats were. The walk there felt like forever, as it is a pretty big venue, but we eventually found our places and went upstairs to sit down and wait. A few minutes later we saw my friends mom who had randomly gotten a ticket really close to where we were sitting. She came upstairs and we had a short talk before she went down to her seat and sat down. My friend and I continued talking until the lights went out at 7:30pm, like it was supposed to.

People between all ages went to the concert and it could not have been any more different, but when the lights went out everyone seemed to be as excited as the stranger next to them. 

The screens lit up and white, shining letters said "The Twilight Sad" - the name of the support act. The Twilight Sad is a british Band as well, consiting of three members. The music goes kind of into the indi-rock / post-rock genre and they really fit into the role of the support act for The Cure as their music was a little similar. They put on a good show and interacted a lot with the crowd, to warm them up for The Cure. When they were done performing, the lights turned on again and the waiting began again. 

Around and hour after The Twilight Sad had started playing, the lights went out again and the main act - The Cure - came on stage. Everyone, no matter how old, cheered and smiled showed up across everyones faces. It appeared to me as if a lot of fans who came to the concert were people who had been listening to The Cure for ages already. Most of them had probably also seen them before, but that must have been years ago - in fact my friends mother saw them 28 years ago the last time. 

The Show started and almost everyone around us got up and sang along to the songs that transmitted some kind of good mood. During the slower and calmer songs, most people sat down again and just enjoyed the song. My friend and I were looking sideways on the stage, two floors under us, but still had a pretty good view on the whole band playing and dancing along. 

You could tell that the Band was giving the best they could and they put on an amazing show, with some of their most famous songs in between, instead of at the end to push the crowd through the show, but also with really emotional and calm songs, so people could just relax and watch the show for a moment, when they are not too busy dancing and singing along. Even on the second floor people were screaming the lyrics along and dancing like there was no tomorrow. The emotions spread through the whole venue, from the stage over to 16.000 people in the pit and on the seats. It was incredible. 

After about 1 1/2 hours of performing the Band left the stage, but came back shortly after for the "encore", like I thought, but apparently they just took a short break to play another hour spreading emotions and giving everything they could. It felt like a never ending show, like this concert would go on forever along with the joy and freedom I felt during the whole show. Sitting there forever would not have bothered me, but after another hour of performing, they left the stage again and this time really only came back for the encore, which lastet about 15 minutes. The Cure performed almost three hours in total when they left the stage after the encore, what made this concert to the longest I have ever been to. 

The show ended and my friend, his mom and I left the venue together all in shock about how good the show was and how long it lastet. We could not believe what we had just witnessed and felt, it was an overwhelming feeling, that lastet even until I left my friends car, when they dropped me off at home. 

I gotta say that spending so much money on this concert has been one of the best things I have ever done. Not only have I witnessed one of the most popular alternative rock bands perform - I also have had an amazing evening, seen something I have never seen before of a band with band members this age and experienced the longest concert I will probably ever experience in my whole life.