My First Listen Through: The Cure Live 1979-2022

Given the short time in recent months, I could only read the whole thread tonight, that precious words, in the middle of ideas, thoughts & memoirs I see much knowledge, I'll try a bit here too, I close my night wondering how not love this thread!

I'm going into the weekend with a double feature on the 1986 06 21 - Pilton - Worthy Farm (England) ‘Glastonbury Festival'. The first is a 12-track BBC version. He opens with the fourth track Primary, which is a lie to start with in understanding The Cure as they actually opened the show with Shake Dog Shake, Play for Today, and the Kyoto Song. Those are optional, right? Well, I guess 60 minutes of the band is a good introduction if you've never heard them.

Might as well talk about my introduction to the band. From 1987-1990, I was familiar with The Cure from their constant promotion on American MTV. I think the first videos of theirs I paid attention to were Just Like Heaven and Why Can't I Be You? VJ Adam Curry was thrilled at their wacky antics for the Why video, I was less impressed. Just Like Heaven had a better effect on me.

But it wasn't until I watched something called "Friday Night Videos" on NBC that made me a fan. At the time, NBC would run every video by a band as their feature for late night on Fridays. So I got to watch a bunch of videos which must have been pulled from The Cure's video compilations. I became a fan of their Staring at the Sea setlist, and went out to the store and bought Mixed Up and Staring at the Sea to get acquainted.

It's difficult to comprehend the power of these two albums, and their longevity in my mind. The other acts I had CDs of at the time were Bananarama's Greatest Hits, and ZZ Top's Afterburner. I haven't played either in decades. Yet I can still quote lyrics from these two Cure albums. They're a part of me, with a far stronger connection than albums like Disintegration or Wish. That's a long time to be a fan, even if they have skewed my appreciation of the band. Because of those collections, I think of Deluxe editions of the early Cure albums as new releases, like Join the Dots. So it's all jumbled in my head.

So I hope this Glastonbury hour had a similar happy effect on BBC listeners who might have been bored that night and kept this on while doing something else. And some kind of light went off in their head and they looked at the radio and thought "I might like to hear an album or two of that".

The FM broadcast actually chose a thoughtful chunk of selections to end with Let's Go to Bed. I say thoughtful because they stopped just short of Give Me It. I really think you have to be in Robert Smith's head for a few years as a listener before hearing something like that or Forever. Next up, the full bootle- uh, I mean, audience recording version. Robert acknowledges this when he says "Yeah this is pure pop as well, this is called The Walk".

Oh, I really love hearing The Kyoto Song and Inbetween Days as soundboards... I'm such an elitist. Not having to deal with varying tape speeds and people talking about their mundane lives, so nice!

Sinking just kind of wafted me away to a cloud, which I'm pretty sure would make Robert sick. That's not what he founded The Cure for! Oh well, it's a relaxing way to move into Thursday evening, such a lush track.

I listened the band by first time in 1986.

Aha, I knew there was a fellow Mixed Up fan lurking here. Note how the CD for Staring at the Sea had the "bonus track" of A Night Like This. Yeah, bonus nothing. Essential!!

Listening to the end of 08.08.1986 Frejus - Arenes de Frejus (France). Probably the most shocking mood turnabout for a Cure show ever.

The band ends the show with a sad rendition of the little played track Faith. That would be the end of the show.



Then Robert announces they're completely changing the mood around, and launches into the prototype for Why Can't I Be You? (It's not on youtube, sorry). Aside from the dodgy lyrics, the song is pretty rocking at this point. I can picture the whole crowd dancing.

I think what would have shocked this French audience the most is how The Cure might have seemed like a greatest hits act, about to fade into obscurity like the rest of the new age stuff from the early eighties. By inviting all band members to equally contribute to Kiss Me Kiss Me Kiss Me, Robert ensured that The Cure would continue in totally new directions. And yes, those new directions would take them to the Number One pop spot worldwide that he so totally dreaded. But for the rest of us, this is a happy transition into the late eighties sound!