Friday, April 4, 2008

Cure beat Devo, lose to The Clash

The Cure have beaten Devo in the final round of the 80's bracket in FM94/9's March Music Madness. They now move on to the Final 4 and will take on The Clash, winners of the 70's bracket. That match will start on saturday (April 5th) at 11am pacific, noon mountain, 1pm central and 2pm eastern.
Update: The Clash have beaten The Cure.

New Cure/Amnesty ticket auction

The Cure and Amnesty International are once again auctioning off tickets and passes for the North American 4Tour. This time it will be for Austin, Phoenix and San Jose. The auction will begin tonight at 9pm eastern.

Thursday, April 3, 2008

Real album news from Rolling Stone

From the new issue of Rolling Stone #1050 4/17/08:

The Cure Title TBD 6/3
With thirty-three songs recorded for the Cure's thirteenth album, the band is still figuring out which tracks to submit to the label.

"There's some very, very downbeat seven-minute songs and some very upbeat ones," singer Robert Smith says. "One voice is saying, 'Put out the most commercial-sounding CD and draw people into the Cure world again.' There's another voice saying, 'Fuck that, let's just put out the doom and gloom.'"

At least one tune will almost definitely make the
cut: "Sleep When I'm Dead," a recently unearthed demo from 1985's The Head On The Door. "It sounds genuinely 1980's," Smith says. "I don't think that's a bad thing. It's part of our heritage."

(Thanks to Dayna @ A Foolish Arrangement)

MTV Winter on MTV Gold

"MTV Gold (channel 705, SKY Italy) is broadcasting a one hour edit of the MTV Winter gig in Valencia last month. They already aired it a few times in the last days, but I only discovered it yesterday. It will be on again on sunday at 9 pm and again at the end of the month. There is also a 30-minute segment on saturday at 10.30 pm, probably a further shortened version of the same show. Anyway, the full schedule for april is online."
(Thanks Pietro)

Wednesday, April 2, 2008

Close Encounters in France - Part Deux

Derek met Robert in Marseille, then ran into Robert and Porl outside a club in Paris.

Cure party in Moscow

"Russian Cure Fan Club "CloseToCure" and True La La Project present annual festival party Curemania Vol. 4 dedicated to Robert Smith's Birthday.
The event will take place in Moscow, on 25th of April, 2008, in Strangel Club. Address: Moscow, Ryazansky prospect, House 2-B, first floor of shopping mall "Odon". Doors open 20:00 - 6:00. Bands: Alliteration Kit, Voronezh, Motrawannasleep, Moscow, The Quinsy, St. Petersburg and Volens Nolens.
Djs Insecure, Hypnotize, Ormfdmrush and True LaLa will set our hearts on fire by their wonderful mix of the Cure songs, post punk, new wave and 80's music. Play the music loud!".


(Thanks Olga)

Tuesday, April 1, 2008

April Fools Day post (yes, it's a joke)

This was the "every 4 years" COF April Fools joke. 1 item MIGHT be true, but needs verification . The rest of the article is false (as far as I know!).

Got a call late tonight from an old friend and 100% reliable source that I haven't heard from in a long time. He/She had just had a very interesting discussion with a member of the band and knew that I would want to hear this. Anyway, here's the current plan for the coming months:


North American tour will be much like the European Tour, but about 30 minutes shorter. The band felt the 3 hour shows were a bit much, so will try 2 and a half hours. The good news is that the shows will be less pop, with some real surprises being added to the set. There will also be a rotation of 6 songs from the new album.

Lol has been invited to some of the California shows. And not just as a guest....hmmm.

Expect 3-5 "secret shows" during the NA tour. No publicity AT ALL. They are being called Sneak Attack Shows. That will be your only clue about them. Check the local papers and street flyers. NYC and LA clubs are confirmed, but expect a couple in "unique places" in "unique cities". And one other thing, be sure to go to the bathroom, get a drink or just hang around an hour after the show. You might just find something very interesting. NIN fans will understand.

The band is booked for the Jimmy Kimmel show and Late Night with Conan O'Brien.

Album is 99.13% confirmed to be titled 'Thirteen', with 13 forming the T and E. It's a Porl/Parched Art design. Cover design is said to be brilliant. The band/Robert are not pictured on it.

Album release will be after the completion of the NA Tour, possibly end of June, but more likely in early to mid July (yes, in 2008, smart asses).

The album is really going to surprise people (in a good way). Maybe a bit too upbeat for some, but the dark stuff is better than anything they've done before. And guess what? There's some keyboards and piano on a few songs! Robert plays both.

Album will be released in at least 4 formats:
Single cd (the Geffen mix) with DVD bonus
Double CD box set (the Robert mix) with DVD and Book bonus
Vinyl box set (8 LPs and Book bonus)
Download only version of the Robert mix with additional tracks (demos, scratch tracks, remixes, live).


European Festivals are being added as we speak. Expect at least 10 festival shows. Maybe a few non-festivals too, as the European tour sold VERY well. And the setlists WILL be different from the 4Tour.

South America MIGHT be added after the European festivals, though it looks unlikely right now.

Expect even bigger plans for 2009. Isn't there a very special anniversary next year? The band may be even busier than in '08. The release schedule DEFINITELY will be.

There's much more, but it's getting late/early. If I get permission, I might put up the recording of the call.

Thanks so much to my old friend (lets call him/her April Phoolz) for providing all of this great info.

Again, this was the 2008 April Fool's joke. See you again in 2012!

Monday, March 31, 2008

Cure place 5 songs in Top 80 of the 80's

"Last saturday, the listeners of our best Belgian radio station STUDIO BRUSSEL, voted their 80 best 80's songs. The Cure are with the most songs (5!) in the list! With A Forest at a great #1!
1. The Cure - A Forest
16. The Cure - Boys don't cry
26. The Cure - Just like heaven
43. The Cure - Lullaby
56. The Cure - Close to me
You can re-listen it in 6 parts at: http://www.stubru.be/node/53066"
(Thanks Roel)

Tim Pope updates

Tim has posted a new update on his website and says there IS talk of him working on an interesting project, but he'll let Robert announce it when he wants to. And his meeting with Robert has been delayed.