I could have done without that!

We had to goth it out a bit. Unfortunately, I did not get a picture of all 4 of us, because I didn't want Tara and Jeff to think I was a dork.

I think I could have gone my whole life without seeing Porl's nipples. And once I saw them through his mesh shirt, I could not take my eyes away. Although to be fair, his new look is the best one he's had ever, so kudos to him.

Robert Smith made my heart skip a beat, still, even 17 years after I first saw them in concert, 18 and a half years after I first fell in love. Simon looked so young that Jeff thought he was a new bassist and I had to convince him it was good old Simon Gallup, the 2nd longest running member of the Cure. They were amazing, I could not believe that they had the energy to get up there and do that with such enthusiasm when they are all nearly 50.

It was a marathon concert. 3 hours and 15 minutes. Yep, 3 hours and 15 minutes! They barely took a break other than the 5 or so minutes between their two encores. I was starting to think that they were just going to play all night. It was steamy and crowded in the audience, I think all of us barely made it through, but it was worth it. What a fantastic concert, and I could see every facial expression, every weird eye movement and hand motion, every bit of smudged lipstick on Robert pretty much the whole time. (Sarah, man, it totally sucked you weren't there, we could have squealed together!) There was a section, at 2 hours in, at the end of the "real" concert and during the first encore, where I was totally ready to go. They were playing the real noodlers and some really really old stuff that I barely know, and we were all dying of thirst. We almost did leave, but we were all SO glad we stayed for the second encore, which included 3 Imaginary Boys, Jumping Someone Else's Train, Grinding Halt (which I figured would be the ending song), 10:15 on a Saturday Night, Boys Don't Cry (which I also figured would be the last song), Fire in Cairo, and Killing an Arab (where he changed the lyrics to "Killing Another"). It was non-stop, I've never experienced an encore that long. Man, some of my favorites, where he just wails and you really see the guitar Gods that they are. They really need some Cure on Rock Band, pronto.

During the crappy opening band (65 Days of Static; if you like trancey stuff, you might love it), I went and got Tim and I beers and ran into someone I went to high school with. It was bizaare because he knew my full name (Julie and my maiden name), and I was stuck there like, "dude, I know I know you but not where from!" I correctly guessed high school and he kindly volunteered his name while we were hugging. I totally remembered him, but he looks very different. He apparently manages a bunch of Darque Tans and he offered to "hook me up". I was like, dude, I'm at a Cure concert, I don't use Darque Tan! That cracked the girl in front of us up. He was really sweet, bought Tim and I both beers (well, he was buying me one, but I mentioned I was buying one to take back to my husband and he picked that one up too), and I gave him my phone number. He and his girlfriend have a 8 month old, so I thought we might catch up and connect on the parent level. It was weird, though, because he's all tan and buff now and he was just normal in high school. We ran in different crowds, although we knew each other from 5th grade on, so I have no clue what we'd talk about. But I felt so bad about not knowing his name right off the bat I felt like I had to make up for that. He did tell me that a mutual friend passed away, which made me very sad, but he didn't know how she died.

So it was sort of a bizaare night, to say the least.