The Cure at Le Bataclan (Paris Nov. 6th, 1996)

The Cure at Le Bataclan in Paris (Nov. 6th, 1996 complete show)

From Sven (Curevideo): "Complex plan..aehhh plan complex"

16 years ago I attended my first The Cure club gig at the "le bataclan" in Paris. I still remember the call of my friend, telling me that there will be a "special" show in the city, which had hosted  a great concert in the Palais d`Omnissports just 2-3 weeks ago. Without any hesitation we decided to get there again by car, which is quite a distance from Northern Germany. Arriving there was pretty surreal: By luck it took us only 5min!! to get tickets for the show - thanks to the help of some special friends:) After that we then went to the backstage entrance listening to the soundcheck. A truly moving moment with lots of chicken skin as the band rehearsed "Funeral Party" and "Hanging Garden".  Songs I haven´t heard before live.

Needless to say that the gig itself was a very special one. However next to the unusual venue, fan(t)a(s)tic Cure fans ("Roberrrrt, Roberrrt. Roberrrt") and many rare songs played there the gig had also its downs :It was incredible hot in there with water running down the walls. Indeed the humidity destroyed the video camera of my friend attending the show with me. Thank goodness he was somehow able to capture that special show, which you now can watch on youtube.
The conditions in the venue apparently also had an impact on the band - especially Robert, getting tired, or nearly exhausted to the end of the show. A friend of mine told me that there was not enough water served to the band.
However, despite that it was a unique experience and definitely worth the trip. Hope you enjoy the videos?" (Thanks Sven)

PLAYLIST: The Cure

The staff at Spectrum Culture pick the best Cure songs, but they can only pick 1 song per album. (Thanks Eric)

Crystal Castles' new album inspired by Robert

Ethan Kath from Crystal Castles tells KOvideo how Robert partially inspired them on their new album. (Thanks David)

Cure on French radio tonight

One hour of The Cure at Roskilde 2012 and a 100% Cure playlist tonight on the LLP radio show on Le Mouv' at 22:00. Listen online here. (Thanks @guillaumegrivaz)

Reflections London...one year later

Charlie at Impressions of Sounds posted a couple of new videos from the 'Reflections' London show - 'At Night', 'In Your House', and one of my favorites from those shows, 'Other Voices'.
(Thanks Perfect.Murder)

Interview with Gary Biddles

Missed this last year, but our old friend DJ Scribbles did an interview with Gary Biddles (Cure roadie/Fools Dance/Presence). (Thanks Joy)

Cure People - Marc Smith

Cure People - Marc Smith
The first in a series of interviews with die-hard Cure fans from Scott Witter's Cure People project. (Thanks Scott)

When winger Robert had no Cure for defeat

The Crawley Observer has this photo (Robert in back, on the left) and story of young Robert's time with the Wasps football team. (Thanks Monghi)

Robert picks 'Low' as Greatest Record Ever

Robert picked David Bowie's 'Low' as the Greatest Record Ever Made. From NME:
“David Bowie’s 'Low'. I bought it on cassette and the same day I went to a garden centre with my mum. I’d ordered it from the local record shop, and Paul, who was in the band, and is my brother-in-law, had dropped it through the letterbox. It’s like one of those weird days. I walked home from school, there was the cassette and we had a cassette player in the car. I went with her to a garden centre, and I listened to 'Low' while she went and did whatever mums do in garden centres, and I was like utterly, my whole perception of sound was changed. Just how something could sound completely different, like 'Breaking Glass', everything on there in fact, 'Sound And Vision', everything on there, everything I heard was astonishing, really astonishing. When I put it on now the sound, dunk dunk, everything is just fucking genius! There are other albums that I love much more, like viscerally much more, like 'Axis: Bold As Love', or 'Five Leaves Left', albums that I can cry to, but 'Low' was the album that had a huge impact on me, just how I saw sound. No other album has done that to me.” (Thanks Jorge)

Porl painting on ebay

"Just wanted to let you know there is a painting from Porl Thompson up on ebay. It recently sold at auction for 260 GBP and is now up for 2000 GBP." (Thanks Leo)

Reeves Gabrels interview

Not much talk of his time on the SummerCure tour (what little there is starts at the 22 minute mark, and a clip of 'Wrong Number' from Les Eurockeennes 2012 at 40 minutes in), but here's a new interview with Reeves. (Thanks thesmudge)

Tim Pope's 'Elephunts'

From Tim Pope on Twitter: "Elephunts... I like elephunts... 'phunts"... the B-side recorded with The Cure & Tim Pope. NEW VIDEO!!! See it here."

"This is one of the finest recordings of The Cure and a career highlight for Tim Pope.
It's the catchy B-side to the "I Want To Be a Tree" 45. Love the crackles and scratches from the original vinyl. I played all keyboards on this one, and sang; Robert Smith made noises; Porl Thompson played freaky echo guitar and sax; Andy Anderson played drums. Chris Parry was in the producer's chair. Recorded at Olympic Studios, Barnes." (Thanks Jenny)

Cure in Martin House Hospice auction

From Facebook: "Some of the biggest names in music donate to charity auction for Martin House Children's Hospice. Bidding commences after the festival."
(Thanks @AaronLaw92)

Update (Oct. 4th): The Cure have donated a signed Leeds setlist and vinyl to the auction. Bidding starts on Oct. 5th. More info here, here and here. (Thanks David)

Here's the link to the auction, which runs until Oct. 12th.

Secret 7" update

The prizes are finally on their way! Here's the update from @Secret7s: "We had some trouble matching The Cure winners' address to their design, but 95% will be in tomorrow's post! The other 5% should have an email asking for help matching. Robert used a very fancy silver pen for his signature. :)"

Would love to see a photo of your prize when you get it.

Update: Here's the signed sleeves for Zach 1 - 2,  Erin 1 - 2,  Steve, @cookiepusher, @guillaumegrivaz 1 - 2 - 3, Gilles, Ville, @835_, and @Marsworld 1 - 2.

Cure at Roskilde 2012 on PureFM Sunday

One hour of The Cure at Roskilde 2012 will air on Belgian radio station PureFM on Sunday night (Sept. 30th) at 23:00.
(Thanks Eric)

Songs broadcast: The End of the World, Lovesong, Push, Inbetween Days, Just Like Heaven, From the Edge of the Deep Green Sea, Trust, Want, Shake Dog Shake, The Hungry Ghost, Wrong Number.

MP3 / FLAC 1 - 2 - 3 - 4 (Thanks Andreas)

Cure at Southside 2012 on EinsPlus Sunday

German tv station EinsPlus (available on Astra 19,2e) will air 45 minutes of The Cure at Southside Festival on Sept. 30th from 23.45pm-0.30am. (Thanks Dennis)

Update: Songs broadcast tonight - High, The End of the World, Lovesong, Push, Inbetween Days, Just Like Heaven, A Forest*, Primary*, The Hungry Ghost*, Wrong Number*
*=new, weren't a part of the live webcast
(Thanks Charlotte Sometimes)

Up on DIME / MP4 1 - 2 - 3 - 4 - 5 / MP3 / FLAC 1 - 2 - 3
(Thanks Charlotte Sometimes & Andreas)

Cure tribute party in Toulouse Sept. 29th

"A BIG CURE TRIBUTE PARTY is organized at "CONNEXION LIVE" in TOULOUSE, in south of FRANCE, on saturday 29th of september : 9 bands will cover songs from THE CURE (T Teen, Abberline, The deserteurs, Clone Clowns, Face B, The Ruby Cube, Fancy Dress Contest, My Imaginery Loves, Alone with Everybody)...my band FANCY DRESS CONTEST will cover PICTURES OF YOU...then 2 DJ's (MR BARNES + DJ POPISSIMO) will mix 80' songs...it will be a BIG CURE TRIBUTE PARTY, Up to 500 persons are expected. More info here. (Thanks Sebastien)

Cure party in Cologne, Germany Sept. 29th

A NIGHT LIKE THIS- THE CURE PARTY!
Saturday, 29/09/12
@blue shell, Luxemburgerstr. 32, cologne, germany
doors 23:00, entrance fee 5 euro.
Facebook event page (Thanks Mike)

Love and Other Tragedies

From Roger on Facebook: "Some news for December, yes I know its June but you have to plan ahead. Julia Kent and I will be releasing an album together called Love and Other Tragedies. It consists of our versions of classical love stories each in three movements.

We will be performing the album in its entirety in London, New York and Paris in December with hopefully members from her all cello group Rasputina.

We will of course film at least one of the performances... The album will be released in December at the same time as the performances in vinyl and digital download only.

I think Julia is the single most talented musician I have ever worked with and I am very very proud of our work together, its truly an honour to play with her." (Thanks Johan)

Update (Sept. 5th): From Roger on Facebook - "Love and Other Tragedies" is finished! I finished writing it yesterday and have sent the new pieces to Julia to record in NYC. Im just listening to the 3 tracks we have recorded already and its so so beautiful. We are talking about playing shows in December. But you'd better bring tissues hahaha its very very sad..."

Update (Sept. 28th): From Roger on Facebook - "For many reasons the release of Love and Other Tragedies has been put back until February 14th next year. Good news is Jo Quail will be playing with Julia Kent and I at the release show with two other guest cellists. There will only be one show and that will be in London at the end of February, hopefully at St Leonards.... See you there!"

Original 35mm prints of In Orange & more found

Forgot to post this last month. From Tim Pope's website:
"Great news, look what I just found in the storage place! Original 35mm prints, all... many others, too... I was one of the few directors ever to work on 35mm film through to the end stages. Most people, even then, worked on video. So, all these years later, they cannot show their films as intended, due to changes in format and digital decay. Can you imagine Close To Me on a big screen??? Or Inbetween Days? Or The Cure In Orange? And others? It's possible! !" (Thanks Alan)

Maybe Tim hasn't heard that the Alamo Drafthouse Ritz has shown 'In Orange' in 35mm three times recently. And 92YTribeca has shown it at least once. No need to imagine, Tim. :) But a more widespread release would be very welcome! As would a Blu-ray release.