My First Listen Through: The Cure Live 1979-2022

Been nearly two months since I've updated this thread, but I've been listening to 1984 shows throughout. Most recently I've been listening to a real gem, 1984 05 15 - Paris - Zenith (France) show (also called the 'Birdmad Smile' bootleg) that introduces The Lovecats. "This is a very trippy part of the evening now. ... recorded this song in Paris we decided we'd try and play it tonight. Anyway, it might go horribly wrong and probably will ... this is called the Lovecats". So whimsical and odd, even for mid-eighties Cure, the crowd seemed to like it very much.

Fairly standard setlist from The Top, although nice to near Charlotte Sometimes played as an "old (mumble) song" as Robert says. Also "an old country-western song called a Hundred Years". It's interesting that b-side Happy the Man was standard in this tour's setlist, something Robert used to unwind to? I prefer the instrumental demo of this song (part of the Deluxe reissue, on sale now!)

Sounds like the opening notes of The Caterpillar were cut, although the crowd was ready to hear it from the applause. Perhaps it was already a single by this point? Too lazy to look up. Hardcore fans get Forever to close the show, must have been great live.

this is a project that will take you several months.. or maybe years to complete, i remember around 20 years ago when i started collecting recordings, my intention was to listen to every one of them, from start to finish one at a time.... i never did it because the quality on some of them is just unlisteneable in my opinion, so after giving up on that i decided to only listen to either soundboard recordings, or audience ones with great quality.

The only exception was the Dream Tour, i listened to every one of those shows 3 years ago, one everyday... man, the encores on that tour were fantastic.

I put 'inaudibles' into their own folder, it saves time.

I'm kinda done with the 1984 folder, I listen to that on my laptop, and I've moved onto 1985 on my 5-speaker Logitech setup on my desktop PC. A Cure for every room in the house!

Listening to 1984 05 18 - Nice. How nice to open the show with Play for Today. This is the O.T. version, so it's missing the real opener of Shake Dog Shake. Imagine telling '84 fans that Robert would be opening with Shake Dog Shake through 2014 as well. Amazing!

Like hearing the stuff from The Top live, largely because Robert made the whole album himself, so the band is really playing something they had no input on. They're like "What is this stuff?"

The first time I heard Dressing Up was on the live charity Paris CD. I thought it was magical and weird, it still is all these years later.

In the liner notes to the Deluxe Edition of The Top, Robert said that he felt The Top was terrible, as it had no input from anyone and was just him talking to himself. But I don't see how The Empty World could have been improved, it sounds like a demented Nutcracker Suite as it is.

Piggy in the Mirror should have been a single, it's been performed well since inception. For someone who didn't want a pop image, Robert sure was reluctant to release dark material as singles. Maybe he thought The Walk covered that ground, who knows.

Wrapping things up, Birdmad Girl sounds better than the album.
 

Yesterday and today I'm listening to consecutive shows, 09.10.1984 and 10.10.1984 in Melbourne at the Palais Theatre (Australia). Sounds like two different tapers, but that could just be the location.

The first night had very muddled sound, but enjoyable as usual from this tour. The 21 song setlist seems a bit short to today's audience, but it's of some of the best material.

---------------

I think it's a different taper on the 10th, the sound is far shaper with a deeper range. But fate has a cruel trick to play on the taper, and all those who listen thereafter: He's next to a group of screaming teenage girls who see a friend of theirs named "Lauren", and keep shrieking to get her attention to the irritation of the people around them. After a few songs of this, you can hear Aussies telling them to shut up! Funny stuff.

If you pay good money for your ticket, you don't go to a show to hear inconsiderate boobs holding loud conversations, you are there to hear the band. Funny how that never changes no matter where you go. They finally shut up about Lauren during Primary, but continue their obnoxious conversation. How frustrating it must have been for the taper, to have such a good location, and still...

I like the setlist a bit more on this second show, we get Primary and In Your House in addition to the generic 1984 set. I imagine the band got tired of playing largely the same set every night.

One of the girls screams "Let's Go to Bed!!!", and I guess they're right up to the stage because Robert responds "This is for everyone that's asking for it-- Charlotte Sometimes." :-)

A particularly good Wailing Wall on this show, love the slow buildup.

Just before The Walk, the obnoxious girls twice yell for Let's Go to Bed. If only they knew this gets played every show at this point, anyway. (It's on the second encore, though probably not due to their efforts.)

Obnoxious girls shout for LGTB before The Caterpillar.

There's a few notes of Fire in Cairo before Play for Today.

As if by telepathy, the girls now scream for Fire in Cairo. I'm actually pleased their request is ignored.

The second encore is a huge batch of songs, opening with Happy the Man. Nice and peaceful. This was 30 years ago, so these screaming girls are now grandmothers if they're still with us. I wonder if they have fond memories of the show, or if they think of The Cure at all.

Robert makes some remarks thanking those who were there for the soundtrack ("About half the audience"), by way of introduction for Let's Go to Bed. This was, of course, the reason most of the audience was there because of this single. I hope they heard a lot more of The Cure that they liked beyond the pop single that brought them there.

Probably the nicest thing about this song retrospective is that I'm enjoying live tracks I didn't think much of before. Every performance of Forever seems different, for example. And I'm listening to Give Me It each time instead of skipping it. Plus, there's the chance to hear the band through the years. As we continue...

If you think about it, it was the first album track from them. Maybe it's like going "full circle"?