Denver Riot Fest not cancelled!

From Riot Fest on Facebook: "Due to circumstances beyond our control and despite lots of support for Riot Fest & Sideshow in Byers, May Farms is no longer available to host Riot Fest. A nearby alternate location will be announced early next week. We know this sucks, we're as disappointed as you are, but if you could be a little patient with us, we'll have more information ASAP. All tickets will be honored at the new location. Riot Fest in Denver is NOT cancelled, the show will go on, and rock n roll never dies."

"We have a backup up plan, just need to take care of a few things. We are literally on the way to the airport to head to Denver right now."

"Dates will be the same." 

Update (07/12/14): The rumor going around, and it seems to be based solely on info posted by Bandsintown, has them moving to Boulder. This is NOT confirmed and you should not alter your plans at all until Riot Fest makes their official announcement.

As Riot Fest says, "You saw some info about Riot Fest on an app? An app that we have nothing to do with? Yeah, I would totally trust that." So, yeah, I don't think it's going to Boulder.

Denver Riot Fest permit denied

Okay, forget the festival. How about a solo show at Red Rocks? Or even invite some of the other bands to play a mini Curiosa Festival?

Riot Fest denied permit for 3-day music event in Byers in Arapahoe County by John Aguilar of The Denver Post

The curtain officially closed Friday on the Riot Fest show in Byers, with Arapahoe County announcing that it will not issue a temporary-use permit for the three-day music extravaganza.

Riot Fest, which features well known rock and punk acts such as Primus, The Cure, Wu-Tang Clan and Slayer, was scheduled for Sept. 19-21 at May Farms in Byers. It made its first appearance in the state last year, also at May Farms.

The festival was expected to attract 17,000 people a day to Byers, a town of just over 1,000 residents located about 40 miles east of Denver.

It's not clear how organizers of the festival will deal with the thousands of fans who have purchased tickets to Riot Fest or whether they will try to find an alternate location in the state.

Organizers had been awaiting word on a special use permit from Arapahoe County after a public hearing on July 1 where residents voiced concerns about the three-day music festival — primarily revolving around noise, traffic and drug use.

"The decision to deny is based upon traffic impacts and public safety concerns that would adversely impact surrounding property owners," stated a release posted on the county's website Friday.

Riot Fest organizer Max Wagner told The Denver Post in June that he was "confident that we're going to get to a place where the commissioners, the local community leaders are happy."

The county commissioners were considering two issues.

The first was the temporary-use permit. The commissioners also are mulling whether to grant a use by special review amendment, allowing May Farms to expand its agritainment operations to an additional 195 acres north of Interstate 70 to accommodate large events like Riot Fest.

Riot Fest has two other shows scheduled to take place — in Chicago and Toronto during the two weekends leading up to the Colorado dates. (Thanks @slicingeyeballs)

Other articles about this: Diffuser / Brooklyn Vegan / Aurora Sentinel / Consequence of Sound / Westword / Colorado Springs Independent / 9 News / KWGN / CBS 4 Denver / Denver Channel 

Reeves plays Nashville on July 18th

Facebook event page.

A Reeves and Jason jam today?

Had a great time today jamming w. @reevesgabrels @tonygreybass, Ian Smith, trumpet and Cure drummer Jason Cooper. pic.twitter.com/nEOnktYpQ5
— Gary Husband (@GHusband) July 9, 2014

That's great! Now how about "jamming" with Robert, Simon, and Roger, and creating some new Cure songs? Or is hoping we might one day hear new Cure material the dream of mad men/women? :)

Toronto Riot Fest daily schedule

Riot Fest will be posting the daily schedule for Toronto this morning, July 9th, at 8 AM eastern. Single day passes will also go on sale at that time.

Update (07/09/14): The Cure will play on Saturday, September 6th. Single day passes are on sale now. $95 for regular, $150 for VIP.

Preview of Reeves' 'Fantastic Guitars'

'Fantastic Guitars' by @reevesgabrels & @BillNelsonMusic title track is in preview at http://t.co/aRZj54zxdA & album releases later in July.
— reeves gabrels (@reevesgabrels) July 9, 2014

Glasgow 1984 on Dutch TV this week

(Thanks Marco)

The Cure - Live at The Barrowland Ballroom, Glasgow, 1984

The Dutch public broadcasting channel NPO Cultura will be broadcasting The Barrowland Ballroom, Glasgow, 1984 concert over the coming week.

A legendary concert, recorded in 1984, from one of the defining groups of the 80’s: The Cure.
Recorded at The Barrowland Ballroom, Glasgow, Scotland in 1984. The band plays, amongst others, the hits ‘Primary’, The Caterpillar’ and – naturally – an extended version of the massive Top 2000 hit ‘A Forest’. This concert has never before been broadcast in its entirety on Dutch television.

The concert will be broadcast on the following days and at the following times:

Saturday 5 July 21:30 uur
Sunday 6 July 18:30 hrs & 23:30 hrs
Monday 7 July 14:40 hrs
Tuesday 8 July 02:32 uur & 16:00 uur
Wednesday 9 July 12:55 hrs
Thursday 10 July 06:46 hrs

(Thanks Richard)

Reeves & Bill Nelson's album launch on July 7th

Photo credit: Martin Bostock

Bill Nelson & Reeves Gabrels launch their new album 'Fantastic Guitars' and discuss their artistic collaboration in conversation with Tom Wilcox in London.

Launch and Talk: Curzon Soho, Screen 1, London W1
Monday 7th July 2014, 4pm-6pm

Reeves Gabrels, long-time artistic partner of David Bowie and The Cure’s current lead guitarist, and Bill Nelson, the musical innovator and legendary force behind Be Bop Deluxe present the results of their joint musical genius in an album which draws a complex picture of layers and sonics. The musicians will be discussing their prolific careers, the events which led them to join forces, and the creative processes behind the collaboration.

Tickets £15. Available from WeGotTickets at:
http://www.wegottickets.com/event/279928

The launch and conversation will be held at the Curzon Soho cinema, 99 Shaftesbury Avenue, London, W1D 5DY
Tube: Leicester Square, Piccadilly Circus
Overground: Charing Cross

‘Fantastic Guitars’ by Reeves Gabrels & Bill Nelson is released on the Sonoluxe label on 7th July 2014.

Trouble for Riot Fest Denver?

From The Denver Post:

Riot Fest permit decision expected within 10 days for event in Byers

By John Aguilar

With Riot Fest scheduled in Byers less than three months away, it's not known what might happen to the three-day punk and rock festival — and the thousands of fans who plan to attend — should Arapahoe County deny a permit for the show.

County commissioners on Tuesday night listened to several hours of comments from residents of Byers, an agricultural community 40 miles east of Denver, many of whom said traffic problems, drug use and noise levels arising from last year's Riot Fest made it an unwelcome event this year.

The county must decide whether to issue festival organizers a temporary use permit, without which the Sept. 19-21 show at May Farms can't go on.

An Arapahoe County spokeswoman said Wednesday that a decision probably will be made by the zoning division within 10 days.

Uncut's Ultimate Music Guide out May 15th

Coming May 15th, the Uncut Ultimate Music Guide focusing on The Cure. (Thanks Perfect.Murder)

Update (05/13/14): Uncut has posted a bit of a preview. If you can't find it in stores, you can order a copy at uncut.co.uk/store or download digitally at uncut.co.uk/digital-edition.
(Thanks @aequatomnecinis and Hugh)

Update (05/16/14): Posted some photos from it here. (Thanks Perfect.Murder)

Update (07/01/14): From Uncut on Twitter - "American readers... The Cure: Ultimate Music Guide goes on sale in east coast book stores today!"

Mogwai's 'CODY' influenced by '17 Seconds'

Stuart Braithwaite tells Uncut that Mogwai's 'Come On Die Young' was influenced by 'Seventeen Seconds'.

Uncut: At the time, Mogwai had developed a reputation as a loud band. But CODY is largely a thing of quiet restraint. Was this a matter of conscious intent – to go against what was expected of you?

Stuart: I think we wanted to show that there was more to our music than radical dynamic shifts, and definitely had that in mind. A lot of very minimal records like Seventeen Seconds by The Cure and Spiderland by Slint were influencing us at the time too. I think it's aged reasonably well. We tend to avoid doing anything gimmicky on our records, which hopefully helps them from sounding too time-specific. As far as our catalogue I think it has its own place. I still like all the songs and I'm pretty proud that such a bleak record made it into the charts – especially as records actually still sold back then. (Thanks Benj)

Chicago Riot Fest ticket update

3 day VIP passes are sold out. GA 3 day passes are still available, but are said to be close to selling out, and are now $190. Single day passes are still expected to go on sale towards the end of July, when the daily schedule is announced.

Support The Cold & Lovely

From Roger on Facebook: "Ok you like great music right? You want to hear new bands and support up and coming artists. You don't believe in stealing music do you? So BUY SOME! They need $500 to meet their goal which is basically nothing. Please support one of my favourite bands...http://www.pledgemusic.com/artists/thecoldandlovely/"

They've met their goal now, but you can still support them. 

Also, they've recently covered 'Lullaby' for Studio Delux, after playing it with Roger & Reeves back in January.

Ian McCulloch is NOT a Robert Smith fan

Well this is unfortunate. From the July issue of Record Collector. (Thanks Lars)

Excellent BottleRock photos & article

An article and some excellent photos from William Soragna have been posted at Freakshow magazine. (Thanks Bill)

50 Iconic Albums That Defined 1984

Guitar World says that 'The Top' is one of 50 Iconic Albums That Defined 1984. (Thanks Greg)

100 Best Glastonbury Performances Ever

The Cure's 1986 set comes in at #8 on The Telegraph's list of the 100 Best Glastonbury Performances Ever.

"Headlining Saturday night, The Cure played a blinder, featuring three encores, and an unplanned but spectacular thunderstorm which broke early in the set so their green laser show played amongst the raindrops." (Thanks @wouterdeboeck)

The Cure support Music Without Barriers

Photo from Attitude is Everything.

From NME:

The Cure, Alt-J, Franz Ferdinand support campaign to improve gig access for disabled fans

Music Without Barriers aims to get venues and festivals to sign up to a best practice charter.

The Cure, Alt-J, Franz Ferdinand and Toy are among a host of artists who have signed up to a campaign to help improve gig access for deaf and disabled music fans.

The online Music Without Barriers campaign is led by charity Attitude is Everything, which works to improve Deaf and disabled people’s access to live music. It wants to encourage more UK venues and festivals to join the 90-plus who have signed up to the charity’s Charter of Best Practice.

The Charter of Best Practice encourages event producers to go beyond their basic legal requirements to ensure disabled access, and promote four key principles – that improving access to gigs and festivals doesn't have to be expensive; that there is a strong business case for improving access; that it's vital deaf and disabled fans have access to information before events; and to lose the assumption that all disabled people are wheelchair users.

Mystery Jets' Blaine Harrison, an Attitude is Everything patron said in a statement: "The work Attitude is Everything do is close to my heart, because I strongly feel that everyone should be able to experience live music. Whether it’s watching a friend’s band at a local venue or watching Radiohead from the disabled platform at Glastonbury, gigs should be accessible to everyone. I would like to see more venues taking stock of what they can do to accommodate a more diverse audience. It is also really important that as many artists as possible get involved to show their support to this great campaign. The barriers are there to be broken down."

Artists who have already signed up to the campaign include Alt-J, Slow Club, The Cure’s Robert Smith, Anna Calvi, Enter Shikari, Franz Ferdinand’s Alex Kapranos, Jimi Goodwin, Frank Turner, Toy, Tom Odell, Summer Camp, Darren Hayman, The Wytches, Stealing Sheep, and Slowdive’s Rachel Goswell. (Thanks Aaron)

More articles about this: RTT News, Diffuser, ContactMusic, Gigwise.

Reeves picks 10 essential guitar albums

Music Radar has an article where Reeves Gabrels picks what he thinks are the 10 most essential guitar albums.

Update (06/23/14): Here's Part 2 of Reeves' 10 essential guitar albums list.

New Cure ink

Lorna from Glasgow's Lullaby tattoo. Thanks Moggieboy.

Added some new tattoos to the photo gallery - Billie C,  Andrea, Jeff K, and 2 for Lorna from Glasgow,