40 Live - CURÆTION-25 + Anniversary

Happy Friday. It's sure been a long, sad week. 

Here's something from my inbox: 

New York, NY (August 8th, 2019) — Less than a year before their induction into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame, The Cure celebrated their 40th anniversary. On October 18th 2019, Eagle Vision will present two special performances in which they commemorated this milestone, when 40 LIVE - CURÆTION-25 + ANNIVERSARY is released in a Limited Edition Deluxe Box (2Blu-ray+4CD, or 2DVD+4CD, each with 40-page book), on Limited Edition Hardbook 2Blu-ray or 2DVD (each with 16 page book), and standalone digital formats.

The first film -- CURÆTION-25: From There To Here | From Here To There – was captured on the tenth and final night of the 25th Meltdown Festival (curated by lead singer Robert Smith) at London’s Royal Festival Hall in June 2018. Presented in HD with 5.1 surround sound, Smith, Simon Gallup, Jason Cooper, Roger O’Donnell, and Reeves Gabrels performed a song from each of their 13 studio albums in chronological order, displaying the evolution of The Cure’s music live on stage. At the core of the set, they broke the cycle with some new, unreleased songs – offering a glimpse into the band’s future – before retracing their steps with another song from each album, ending with “Boys Don’t Cry.”

Released in theaters globally only last week, ANNIVERSARY: 1978-2018 Live In Hyde Park London features the band’s acclaimed 29-song, 135-minute anniversary concert. Filmed in one of London’s Royal Parks to a crowd of 65,000 fans, The Curepresented a four-decade deep set on July 7, 2018, including “Just Like Heaven,” “Lovesong,” “High,” and “The End Of The World.” Adding to the experience, the band is back-dropped by giant screens displaying footage that complements the unique moods and emotive song writing that established The Cure as pioneers of alternative rock. The result is a concert that Rolling Stone expressed shows the “unique power in The Cure’s live performance.”

Directed by Tim Pope – the long-time collaborator behind many of The Cure’smusic videos and their award-winning 1986 film In Orange – Anniversary is chronicled in 4K with a 5.1 surround sound mix by Robert Smith and Paul Corkett. Pope states “I went to rehearsals in a very cramped studio just the day before the show… I knew as the set list unfolded that the only way to show people The Real Cure was to capture not only the grand, epic dimension of their stage show, but also the close, intimate side of this band simply making music together.”

“This really was the perfect way to celebrate 40 years of the band,” Smithexclaimed. “It was a fabulous day none of us will ever forget!”

THE CURE: 40 LIVE - CURÆTION-25 + ANNIVERSARY limited edition Deluxe Box includes gatefold 2x Blu-ray/DVD and 4x CDs, covering both concerts with nearly 9 hours of content, plus a 40 page hardback book. The limited edition Hardbook includes 2x Blu-rays/DVDs and 16 page booklet. CURÆTION-25 and ANNIVERSARYare available as standalone concerts on Digital.

Comments

[Bkallday]

Awesome and interesting info, Allyson. Not really my genre but somehow i started listening to the Cure waaaay back when, and their music was actually exactly the different style that i occasionally needed. You can't bang your head or listen to rap all the time, so sometimes i needed something different. Robert Smith & the rest of the boys did just that for me. I may check this out but my favorite cd of theirs is probably Disintegration, with 17 seconds or Pornography right up there. Also saw them in concert back then and they sounded great live and put on a great show. Like Lep, they much deserved their HOF honor earlier this year. Long live The Cure!

[Basileus]

I’ve liked all three songs I’ve heard from them.

[Basileus]

Sorry, four. I know and like four

[Metalboy!]

In 1979, I went to see The Dickies”, who I dubbed “The World’s Fastest Band”, headline at The Bayou, the legendary and, unfortunately, long defunct Washington D.C. club in Georgetown.

The Dickies, who are still together, despite losing their fearless leader, Chuck Wagon, to heroin decades ago, are faster than The Ramones and known for their hilarious high speed covers of Black Sabbath’s “Paranoid”, The Moody Blues’ “Nights In White Satin” and Led Zeppelin’s “Communication Breakdown”, among many others aside from their killer and equally ridiculous originals.

If you haven’t ever heard them, I strongly recommend checking out YouTube for their early promo videos which got heavy airplay on MTV when it first debuted.

So, I’m standing in line with my friends and about 100 people behind us (we liked to get there early) waiting for the doors to open, when the girl in the ticket booth startlingly announced over loud speaker:

“Unfortunately, The Dickies will not be playing tonight as Leonard Graves Phillips, the lead singer, broke his leg last night while performing in Philadelphia. You can get a full refund or stay to see the opening band, The Cure, and get half your money back.”

Remember, this was 1979, and pretty much the only way you would find out about shows was listening to the radio, in this case, for me, WGTB, Georgetown University’s college radio station I just commented on under Allyson’s recent post about radio. Often, the DJs would never mention opening acts so I had no idea The Cure were the opener.

But I did know who they were because I discovered them when I bought two of their first few import 45’s, “Killing An Arab” and “Boy’s Don’t Cry”, from my local record store, the long gone Record Town in Glen Burnie, a store frequented by Dave Grohl when he would visit his aunt who lived behind the mall (Thanks, Chuck, a former commenter on BBG!, for the anecdote).

Needless to say, I got my 4 bucks back and went in. Since no one had really heard of them at the time, most people got their refund and skipped the show.

And I wound up standing front and center at the edge of the stage, POINT BLANK, listening and watching one of my all time favorite concerts with 8 other people.

To quote BK, “Long Live The Cure”!