Porl's Gibson Blues King L-00 on ebay

"There is another item from the recent Porl Thompson auction up on ebay. This guitar sold at auction for 900,- GBP not so long ago. It is now up for 1295,- GBP." (Thanks Leo)

Robert interview with the Irish Times

The Irish Times have an interview with Robert. (Thanks Monghi)

How to watch The Cure at Reading on BBC3

As you know, BBC3 will be broadcasting the first hour of The Cure's set at Reading on Friday at 21:00. Problem is, if you're outside of the UK, you can't watch it online. So you will need a proxy/VPN. While there are other ways, the simplest way to set one up seems to be by downloading and installing Tunnel Bear. Have heard it worked very well during the London Olympics, and would expect it to be just as good for the Reading coverage, though there are no guarantees. This will be my first time trying it, so we'll see what happens.

If you want to try it, just go here, download the version that's right for you, install it, switch it on, set it for UK, go to the BBC Reading website, and try watching something that is live. You only have 500MB of free data, but do the Twitter promo and you can get an additional 1GB. That should be enough if you just want to watch The Cure's set on Friday.

After the 1st hour, The Cure's set is supposed to continue on the Red Button channel, though the BBC page doesn't mention this, only Radio Times. Then you can go back to BBC3 for highlights at 23:30.(Thanks to @rob_sheridan for the tip on this)

Update: "also expat shield works on the bbc" (Thanks Gary)

1993 Robert interview at The Guardian

The Guardian (via Rock's Backpages) have posted this Robert interview from 1993, in the run-up to this weekend's festival shows. (Thanks Alastair)

New Robert interview in this week's NME

 




Click here or here for larger image. (Thanks Hugh)

Cure at Reading on BBC3

"Radio Times lists two sections of The Cure's set at reading next Friday. It says BBC 3 will show an hour from 2100 bst (1600 eastern) and then more from 2330 bst combined with the Maccabees. But it suggests the whole of the show might be available on the red button!!" (Thanks Andy)

Full text from the Radio Times: "After the bonanza of Olympic coverage, the BBC returns its interactive service to what it now does second-best: providing extended coverage of music festivals. So while you can catch the first hour of an exhaustive set by Reading headliners the Cure on BBC3 from 9pm, press red at 10 to continue enjoying the pop goths’ triumphant return to a festival they haven’t played since 1979. If you’re a satellite or cable viewer, you’ll also be able to choose between bands on the main three stages.

BBC3 has lively Swedes the Hives and inexplicably popular US plodders Paramore at 8pm, plus more from the Cure at 11.30pm, and the Maccabees."

If anyone has any tips on recording from the Red Button, please let us know. :)

Update (Aug. 22nd, 2012): The BBC has put up a page with all of the various channel info here.

London Cure fan meetup

"Dear Cure fans from all around the world,

It's a great pleasure to invite you to a Cure Drink to celebrate the SummerCure gigs in Reading and Leeds.The event will take place on the 23rd of August from 7 pm to... who knows ?! @ :

The World's End
174 Camden High Street, Camden Town, London NW1 0NE

Just outside of the Tube station 'Camden Town' on Northern Line (black on maps, in every direction northbound and southbound). It's close to the amazing Camden Lock Market and Stables Market (New Rock shoes, punk/goth/alternative clothes and records, oldies, furniture...).

Feel free to spread the information widely. If you need to contact me, here's mobile phone # : 0033 6 62 11 28 82 ; and my email address : fargierdavid(at)yahoo(dot)fr .

See you there !

david after the rain / après la pluie / nach dem regen / despues de la lluvia / depois da chuva"

The Cure at Reading 1979

From @matt37797: "In honour of this weekend, uploaded The Cure at Reading Rock 1979 to YouTube. Audio recording with stills from the event (images from ukrockfestivals.com). This is a bad quality audience recording of The Cure at Reading Rock festival 1979, but the only one in existence! Probably done with a cassette player while sat in the field!"

Billy Corgan talks about The Cure

Billy Corgan talks about his life on BBC 6 Music. Talks about the Cure at 15:20 & they play Inbetween Days and 56:40 & they play Primary. (Thanks Benj)

Reading Festival Guide for Cure fans

From Warren: "I've put together a quick Reading Festival Guide for Cure fans. It's a work in progress. Tweet me on @waswasere if you're in town or have more questions."

Reading boss on securing The Cure

From NME: "The organiser of the Reading And Leeds Festivals has spoken about this year's event and how pleased he is to have secured The Cure and Foo Fighters as his headliners.

Speaking to NME in a video which you can see at the top of the page (Note: which in typical NME fashion, is actually at the bottom of the page), Melvin Benn has promised that The Cure will be "a real treat" and has said he regards securing them as a real coup.

Asked about booking Robert Smith and co, Benn said: "We're really pleased that we got The Cure to play. Robert Smith is not somebody who just wants to play for the sake of playing; it has to be the right time to play. They're a hugely important band to what has been British rock and roll music. It'll be a real treat."

Set times for Reading & Leeds

At Reading, The Cure starts at 21:00 and should play at least until 23:30 (Warren wants to remind the band that Reading is licensed for music until midnight :) ). At Leeds, they start at 20:30 and should play until 23:00.  (Thanks Jaime and Warren)

Robert interview on FM4 today

"Today there is gonna be a report about the frequency festival on radio fm4, in the show "connected" and they have a interview with Robert. The show is 15:00 - 19:00, no idea, when exactly the interview will be broadcast." (Thanks Bianca)

Update: Well that wasn't much. Just more about how he doesn't think the band shouldn't do big tours anymore, but he still loves singing, and still wants to do shows. Listen to it here. (Thanks W)

The Cure at Frequency Festival 2012

Setlist: Tape/Open, High, The End of the World, Lovesong, Sleep When I'm Dead, Push, Inbetween Days, Just Like Heaven, Bananafishbones, Pictures of You, Lullaby, The Caterpillar, The Walk, Friday I'm in Love, Doing the Unstuck, Trust, From the Edge of the Deep Green Sea, Play For Today, A Forest, Primary, Want, The Hungry Ghost, Wrong Number, One Hundred Years, End

Encore: The Lovecats, Close To Me, Let's Go To Bed, Why Can't I Be You?, Boys Don't Cry.

Huge thank you to Jorg for the setlist & reports, and to Olivier for the same. It would not be a Cure tour without at least one show update from Olivier. :)

Video: Open / High / The End of the World / Lovesong 1 - 2 - 3 / Sleep When I'm Dead / Push 1 - 2 / Inbetween Days 1 - 2 / Just Like Heaven 1 - 2 / Bananafishbones / Pictures of You 1 - 2 - 3 - 4 / Lullaby 1 - 2 / The Caterpillar / The Walk 1 - 2 / Friday I'm in Love 1 - 2 - 3 - 4 / Doing the Unstuck / Trust 1 - 2 / From the Edge of the Deep Green Sea 1 - 2 / Play For Today / A Forest 1 - 2 - 3 / Primary 1 - 2 / Want 1 - 2 / The Hungry Ghost 1 - 2 - 3 / Wrong Number 1 - 2 / One Hundred Years / End 1 - 2 / The Lovecats 1 - 2 / Close To Me 1 - 2 / Let's Go To Bed / Why Can't I Be You? 1 - 2 / Boys Don't Cry 1 - 2 - 3

Photos: Marsworld / Luca / Fran Fiorini / Olivier / Balati (1 - 2 - 3) / Christopher Johnson / Gabor (1 - 2 - 3 - 4)

Reviews: Vienna Online (with a brief interview) (English) / Webnoviny (English) / Kleine Zeitung (English) / derStandard (English) / Nachrichten (English) / FM4 (English) / NOE ORF (English)

Dream Tour necklace for sale

"I have a Dream Tour rose pendant necklace for sale on E-Bay if anyone is interested. As of now, it is the least expensive one listed." (Thanks -R-)

Anyone get their Secret 7" prize?

From Ville: "I am one of the secret 7" winners that the Cure picked. I still haven't got my copy of the record and i'm not getting any answer from the authors, i was wondering have you heard anyone has gotten their copies? I wonder what's the delay?"

Well that was quick. Here's a reply straight from @Secret7s: "They won't have yet, they will do soon. They should be back from Robert any day now."

The Cure and the Story of the Alternative 80s

New magazine special out on Aug. 17th. You can pre-order it here. (Thanks Andy)

Update (Aug. 17th, 2012): Out today. Perfect.Murder says "130 pages, 7 on The Cure. The rest is too gothic for my liking." :) He also sends some photos of the Cure article.

Cure in Glasgow 84 on Austrian TV

"Austrian television ORFIII shows Cure live in Barrowlands 1984 tomorrow 04:55-05:55 am in their Day Of Rock special."
(Thanks Andreas)

Cure Albums From Worst to Best

Stereogum has posted their countdown of Cure albums from worst to best. (Thanks @DebiDelGrande and @thequeenofsiam)

Here's their list: #13 - 'Wild Mood Swings', #12 - 'The Cure', #11 - '4:13 Dream', #10 - 'Bloodflowers', #9 - 'The Top', #8 - 'Seventeen Seconds', #7 - 'Three Imaginary Boys', #6 - 'Wish', #5 - 'Faith', #4 - 'The Head on the Door', #3 - 'Kiss Me, Kiss Me, Kiss Me', #2 - 'Pornography', and...

#1 - 'Disintegration': "You feel everything Smith feels -- the vague dissatisfaction of searching for a perfect moment that doesn't even exist -- but it doesn't matter because you can't help but move. Life may not live up to our expectations, but albums like this make it worth living. Nothing compares to Disintegration, and nothing ever will."

NME's Most Exciting Live Acts Ever poll

Think The Cure are one of the Most Exciting Live Acts Ever? If so, vote for them here. (Thanks @AaronLaw92)
Update: The Cure came in at #15.

And 'Friday I'm in Love' is #3 on their 50 Most Uplifting Songs Ever list. (Thanks Pom)