Saturday, July 21, 2012

Fun with numbers

I mentioned this on Twitter, but never posted it here. A fun way to track what the Cure have been playing on the SummerCure Tour, and where, and from which albums, is here at Setlist.fm. 48 different songs have been played. 16 have been played at every show. 5 have only been played once. The only album to not have a song from it played? Bloodflowers. :(
For most of you, this is probably the most boring thing in the world. But to us number nerds and setlist geeks, this is fascinating stuff. :)

20 comments:

  1. just to many albums, to many songs! :)

    (They're saving Bloodflowers for the States) :) :) :

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  2. interesting stats. Apart from Last day of summer, I think Bloodflowers is not as good as previous albums.

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  3. I like the stats. I actually have a google spreadsheet of every song I've heard the Cure play live. (Despite that, I actually have an active social life!)

    Two songs I'd love to hear, but aren't currently in play, are Maybe Someday, and Before Three... but I would never complain about hearing any of these current sets. They are wonderfully diverse.

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  4. Robert probably thinks that no Bloodflowers-Song is catchy and popular enough for this Festivals. But considering that "End of the World" (beurk) was played at every show, they really could have added at least "Maybe someday" from time to time.

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  5. I love that website. Very odd that they usually ignore bloodflowers and almost ignore all of WMS, which is sad to me because I love both of those albums. I didn't become a fan of the cure until bloodflowers came out, and since that was my first album of theirs it's the one that really made me love them so maybe I look at the album in a different way than most.

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  6. I also have a spreadheet with every set list on it. Rome added 2 new songs & I think I'm on 143 different songs. Reflections gave me a major boost.

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  7. Instead of painstakingly maintaining a spreadsheet, you could just create an account on setlist.fm, find and mark all of the shows you've been to (the "I was there" button) and then under your personal stats, you can see exactly which songs you've seen live and how often.

    Setlist.fm is an awesome site if you like browsing through statistics.

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    1. I agree 100% with this! And not just for The Cure, but for all bands. Sign up and help update any shows that you've been to, or that you go to in the future.

      Though creating personal spreadsheets and databases can be lots of fun, too. :)

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    2. Sure, but personally I'd rather focus on the what (i.e. finding the answers to all the burning questions you've been wanting to ask) than on the how (i.e. creating a bloody spreadsheet).

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  8. I think Bloodflowers was probably the solo album by Robert Smith. I must say it is rather soporific and does not really belong in a festival set.
    Personally this is the album that I like least with The Cure (2004).

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    1. In that recent 24heures interview, Robert did say it was like a solo album, but the same with Pornography and Disintegration.

      If you were to keep only one of your disks?

      "I have a particular fondness for the trilogy Pornography, Disintegration and Bloodflowers. These are solo albums, somehow, very accurate photographs of me three times in my life."

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  9. We love minutiae about The Cure, a part of our passion, setlists, collecting records and statistics... :)

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  10. Thanks, I reviewed all my concerts I went too. Two shows stuck out, 1997, Shoreline and the San Jose State event in Dec 97. I guess I saw Reeves Gabrels play but I don't remember him playing. :)

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  11. Awesome!! I was just thinking about something like this while in Rome. Thanks!

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  12. Are you kidding? This is just the kind of stuff I want to see posted .

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  13. Another impressive figure ? About 686,000 ttendees on SummerCure festivals so far. An average of 46,000 per date.

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  14. Ok that site is indeed amazing and FUN thanks for the link - I like to see which songs I have seen very fun! :)Not sure I like the TV shows being added to the grand total - but i guess they are PLAYING :) they missed one Jay Leno 10/1997....

    I was using http://www.crazycreator.de/curefd/ to keep track - thanks CRAIG for all that you do. Your tireless dedication; During a storm storm, while traveling, in the middle of the night, ect, ect, it is so appreciated! thanks so much - You have done so much for us cure fans over the years!!! a BIG THANK YOU! :) xoxo

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  15. Thanks for the tip re: Setlist.fm, didn't know about that. Call me old-fashioned but I find there's something romantic about lo-tech ways (a diary, an Excel spreadsheet) of keeping track of all the songs heard at Cure shows. I like to add notes about the technical aspects. Over the years the dynamics of who does what onstage have evolved a lot, and a song you've heard before can be entirely new after a line-up change - Plainsong during the 4tour vs what it is when keyboards are used. I know, nerdy.

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