- He mentioned again that Polydor had finally agreed to do the b-sides release and that they would probably do some shows around that next year. I'm not sure if he just meant playing some shows in general or actual shows where they played b-sides. That would be amazing!

- He mentioned the 3 shows in Nov. again, but wouldn't say more because it would ruin the surprise. It's what they are doing at the shows that will make them special.

- He also said that sometime after Christmas, they would like do a show with every member of The Cure, sort of a complete history of the band. I think he mentioned recording it for a dvd release as well, but I may have heard that wrong, since they are recording the Nov. shows for dvd. Maybe they'll do both?

(Thanks Paul)

"I went to the Camp Bisco 3 music festival over the past weekend, an annual festival headlining the Disco Biscuits (my other favorite band). I've always wanted to hear the Biscuits cover "a forest", well....they didn't, but one of the other acts, Lake Trout, did cover it. I was fairly pleased with the cover. But that's not all....Alex Paterson from the Orb spun a remix of let's go to bed during his late night set after the biscuits were done (about 3 am). I was fairly unimpressed with Alex Paterson by the way."

(Thanks Roger)

"Just to let everyone know that "Right Lane" will be playing more of The Cure songs at the next show. The show will be Friday September 13th in Gatesville Texas at "The Pool Zone" south highway 36. Very nice club and all ages welcome."

(Thanks Sabrina)

"Once again, some technical info on The Cure's lighting rig. And some big face shots of Robert.

http://www.martin.dk/casestory/casestory.asp?id=538"

(Thanks Joe)

"On wednesday, in the JDM (MCM channel), there was a short report on groups from the 80s (U2, The Cure, Simple Minds). The speaker was full of admiration for The Cure. "

(Thanks Frederic)

"Turned on Mtv this morning and they were talking about hairstyles at the past VMA's (tonight is the 2002 show). A quick pic of Robert Smith from the Disintegration era was flashed on the screen. Later in the day - I'm not sure what Mtv was showing - they were playing "Yesterday's Gone" for about five seconds or so during a segment."

Update: The show that had 'Yesterday's Gone' was Road Rules: Campus Crawl.

(Thanks Rust and Glitter)

(Thanks José)

1 - Nirvana - Heart Shaped Box

2 - Radiohead - Creep

3 - Stone Roses - I Am The Resurrection

4 - THE CURE - LULLABY

5 - Foo Fighters - Everlong

(Thanks Benj)

(Thanks Alex)

"It's of no real concern to anything, but here is an interesting piece of trivia in follow up to Leo's e-mail about Chinese Bloodflowers. The Chinese name given to the Cure, when literally translated into English, means 'Band of Therapy'! And much more bizarrely, Bloodflowers translates as 'Flower of the School'! This is a Chinese expression used to describe the most good-looking girl in a school (if it's a boy it's 'Grass of the School'). So maybe Robert speaks Chinese and in fact Bloodflowers is a dedication to Mary...? Who knows! On the CD itself it describes the album as part of the 'Best English Series'. However, I have never seen this version in Hong Kong and as most of the Cure's CDs here come from Europe or the US, I am pretty sure it's a bootleg. But an attractive one, nonetheless!"

(Thanks Paul)

"Last saturday, TVE - channel 7 in Brazil - aired a one hour Cure special. Nothing new...just clips from all eras and FTEDGS live, taken from SHOW."

(Thanks Antonio)

"I'm not sure if this has already made your news page, but the other night I was watching VH1 classic during a "We are the 80s" block at about 2 am, and it finished with a live version of "A Forest" from the Wish tour (I'm assuming...Perry was on keyboards). Sadly it didn't say where it was from...the caption at the beginning and the end simply read "The Cure, A Forest, Elektra Records". I think it was about 10 minutes long...it was a nice surprise before I fell asleep."

(Thanks Devin)

Interview with Robert, backstage at the Zillo festival, July 13, 2002:

?: Can you please introduce yourself (for the Video CD)?

Robert: "Hello, this is Robert, singer in The Cure at the Zillo festival!"

?: Can you give us your impressions of the Zillo festival over the years?

Robert: "The Zillo festival occupies a particular position for The Cure, because it's traditionally been one of the die-hard kinda festivals. We know that we can play songs here that we couldn't play at any other festival, because we know that the audience comprises a lot of hardcore Cure fans. It's generally one of the best festivals we play and I hope I haven't jinxed it by saying that now (laughs)."

?: You mentioned that you like festival because you get to meet people you usually wouldn't get to meet. Anyone in particular that you hope to meet tonight or have met over at your recent festival shows?

Robert: "I've met Orbital the other night. They were on at 2am in the morning. We stayed behind and watched them. That was nice. Who else was there? Oh, Primal Scream! The Banshees' old guitar roadie looks after them now... and Wayne's (Hussey) here tonight! Today is actually the first time that I haven't spoken to anyone yet and it's unlikely that I will, because we go as as soon as we come off stage, as we do another one [a festival show] tomorrow. But it's true: By the end of the summer, through the course of the 13 shows we're playing, I will have met a number of people that otherwise I wouldn't have met. Although usually nothing materially comes of it, it kinda reinforces my idea that there are other people that are really good and that are nice people. Otherwise the only appreciation of people is through this, through interviews, but people are very different when they haven't got a mike in their hands. For me it's really the only chance to talk to people who do the same thing as I do and we go straight into a conversation and even though I'd never met Orbital before, we started talking instantly as if we'd known each other for years, because you know you only got one hour and there's so much to talk about! It's that that I like, but having said all that and like I said to you before [in our interview back in May] I particularly have liked the shows's we've been playing so far, because we've been a bit braver at these festivals. We've played a lot of obscure songs which we normally don't do at festivals and (big smile) tonight is a particularly weird set. I hope we haven't misjudged the audience."

?: You played a show in a rain storm in Italy recently...

Robert: "Well, I must admit, it wasn't just a rain storm, it was like Noah's ArK on stage. It was pretty astounding. It's the first time in all these years that I've been doing it that a promoter has come on stage and said to me: 'If you want to pull the show, you can!' It's usually the other way round [ you say]: 'We can't play, we will be electrocuted.'... but the audience was so wet and they were so cold... to see us ... and we were wet and cold but we were playing... it's like: to walk off and just leave them there.... it's not in my heart to do that! So we just moved everything back and we played in a place about this big [about 8x10 ft.], standing next to each other. It was surreal. I've never done anything like that before. The pedal boards were full of water, everything stopped working. Eventually we just plugged into one amp each. It just took me back to... y'know playing in a pub when you're young - you play whatever happens. And it [the Italian festival] made me think that I still got that inside of me. It's not that I'm young anymore, but I think if people are prepared to stand there and watch us, we should be prepared to play! Obviously it was slightly more dangerous but since I'm such a godfearing man, I knew it'd be alright (laughs)."

?: Did you find that experience very inspiring? That you actually can take a step back and things will still work?

Robert: "Yeah, but I think the most inspiring thing was the reaction of the audience. It was a fantastic show. I mean we had to stop for 15 minutes, five or six songs into the set, I think, which normally you wouldn't recover, but we went back on and picked it up, just because the audience was straight back on .. it's knowning that the people we're playing to have got that in them as well. I don't think Bryan Adams' crowd would've stood in the rain hoping he's gonna come back! (laughs) There's that kind of communication you get at festivals. When you go out on stage you have to believe that only half of the audience likes you and the other half hates you. We always have to have that because, um, sometimes it's true (big smile)... it's makes you feel a bit harder, so if somebody throws a bottle, it doesn't matter because that's one of the 50% who hate you and they are idiots. As it turns out, for the four or five shows festivals we played so far, the audience as a whole responded and that's without playing 'Just Like Heaven' or 'Lullaby'. Somebody said that we're playing these festivals because I get fed up with reality and there's a grain of truth in that. The experience that I have playing these festivals is so diferent to what I do in my normal life... if I didn't do them I'd look back and regret it."

?: In May you mentioned that that you didn't quite know what to make of the new material and that the band was puzzled by your "new direction" as well. So what's the current status of the new album after the rehearsals?

Robert: "Current status is: We got about 40 songs and I have to choose which 10 are gonna make the next Cure album. I've got a month [to do that]... it all changed today though, funnily enough, because I thought we were gonna start recording in October, but we got an offer today, this afternoon, to do something in October, which is a really interesting, um, THING! Something unlike we've ever done before. We've just talked about it and I'm very tempted to put recording back a month to do it. Because it's an event that we'd film and that probably would comprise a DVD and we only got one DVD out there. It's something we could do on our own [presumably he means without a record company, since the Cure are not under contract to anybody right now] and it would be a very special one-off event. If we don't do it in October we'll probably do something... the official 25th anniversary of The Cure is next May, I think and Universal are putting together a box set, at last they've agreed to a box set of all the b-sides, rarities and stuff so we may do both [in May]. What I'm hoping to put together for next May is getting all the ex-members of The Cure together on stage and do a big 'history of The Cure night', but it's quite an ambitious project, it might not happen... it'd be good if it did, though!"

Interview taken from "Zillo Festival 2002 VCD", which comes with the September issue of Zillo. The VCD also features a full length version of "Disnitegration" live from the festival and can be ordered online at http://www.zillo.de.

(Thanks Carsten)

"I read on "Canal satelite" magazine that the channel "MCM" will diffuse 1h00 from the show of the Cure at Carhaix in France (Vieilles Charrues Festival, July 20th, 2002)!!!! What a wonderfull surprise !!!!! It will be diffused on MCM, September 25th at 00h45 (France Hour) !!!!"

(Thanks Sebastien)

1. Will Porl be attending the premiere? As of right now, Porl hasn't made a decision about that. The gallery is certainly hoping he attends, but it is not required.

2. Will any of Porl's work be for sale at the exhibit? Yes! He will his artwork for sale, along with autographed CD's, catalogues and (maybe) some prints.

For those of you who are wondering what I'm talking about, Porl Thompson will be having an exhibition of his artwork entitled 100% Sky at the Homer Watson Gallery in Kitchener, Ontario, Canada. The exhibit will run from September 15 - November 10 (opening reception: Sunday, September 15, 2002 from 1 - 4pm). For more information, please visit the Homer Watson website and the Porl Thompson website.

(Thanks Jen)

"My sister went to China and bought me a version of bloodflowers, i think its a bootleg but its nice to see, if you want to have a look http://www.instantaccess.nl/final.htm"

(Thanks Leo)

"Searching the internet one night I found a site for Esprit International Limited (eil.com). It's a record store in England that deals with hard to find items and other collectibles. Well, I searched the Cure and found this http://eil.com/shop/moreinfo.asp?catalogid=213373. It's a unique collection for any Simon fan. The only problem is there is no way to prove that he owned the items or even wore them."

(Thanks Amy)

"Just mentioning something that caught me by surprise yesterday as I was inside a video retail store. I don't know if there are any Mystery Science Theater 3000 fans out there (I'm not one in particular) but the store was playing a MST movie. Anyway, I was standing there watching and there was a distraught looking man with short messy hair and dark shadows around his eyes on the screen. One of the MST characters then commented that, "He looks like Robert Smith of the Cure." Then another says, "He looks like he needs the cure." "

(Thanks Iammykl)

"I was watching MTV earlier on tonight and with the VMA's on this week, they're going through the archives and of course they showed a few seconds of The Cure performing Just Like Heaven from LA in 1989. Depeche Mode's 1988 appearance was also shown."

(Thanks Paul)

"Just a quick note to say that in director Todd Solandz's (Happiness, Welcome to the Dollhouse) new movie, Storytelling (Selma Blair, John Goodman), there is a small Cure reference. In one scene about half-way through the film, in Selma Blair's character's room a Boys Don't Cry poster can be seen through the relection of her mirror. Little things like that always bring a smile to my face! :) "

(Thanks Lindsay)

"From the Christmas issue (Dec 20-Jan 2) of Melody Maker:

Interview with producer Ross Robinson - when asked about his dream producing job, who would it be?

"Oh, The Cure. No question. They´re always in the back of my mind. Robert Smith´s vocal lines and melody lines with the guitars - they´re always there. You can hear them all over the first Korn record, they´re everywhere!"

And on picked up production tricks from them:

"Mic delays and stuff like that - just amazing. And I learned how to put melody in. Coming from the metal world, I´d be straight linear, like this (holds arms together straight out in front of him), but having that as one of my main influences, there´s always been cool flowing melodies over things that pull your heart when you hear it and you feel it go, "Kuff!" and it opens something up. It´s just a major influence. Snare patterns! You hear Cure snare patterns all over records I do (laughs). If I walked in and saw Cure road cases where I was recording, that´s when I would stop. I´d be thinking, `With The Cure, I can be done with this [job] now.´ That would be it. Finished."

So Ross, I guess we can expect that retirement announcement early next year, right? : )

(Thanks to Liza for the article and to Robbertc for reminding me that it was in the news archive)

"I've just bought the Sonic Seducer magazine (German magazine). It includes a video-CD with a great live track of 100 Years at Woodstage festival and a long interview of Robert. The video CD is great."

I'll have it up in on the audio/video page as soon as I can get it.

(Thanks Frederic)

Found this on Digiguide from Saturday 31st August on BBC1 (UK):

And no, I'm not joking. For those unfamiliar with him, he is best known for his work with bands such as Korn, Limp Bizkit, Slipknot, Machine Head, Vanilla Ice, Soul Fly, Cold, Glassjaw, Amen, At The Drive-In and Vex Red. For more of his credits, check out his profile at Artist Direct.

Here's his biography from All Music Guide:

"One of the most successful hard rock producers of the late '90s was unquestionably Ross Robinson. Robinson began as a thrash metal guitarist (he was a member of a band that included future Machine Head drummer Dave McClain), but picked up a thing or two from the studios where his band recorded demos. It wasn't long before Robinson was well-versed enough with the recording studio that he received his first credit, as an assistant engineer for W.A.S.P.'s ambitious 1993 concept album, The Crimson Idol. Almost immediately afterward, Robinson received his big break, when he hooked up with an up-and-coming alt-metal band by the name of Korn. The union between Robinson and Korn would last for a pair of hit albums -- the quintet's self-titled 1994 debut and 1996's Life Is Peachy -- which put both the band and producer at the top of the '90s metal heap.

Robinson then signed on to produce the debut by a rap-metal band that Korn had taken under their wing, Limp Bizkit, resulting in the massive-hit debut, 1997's Three Dollar Bill Y'All. Not only did the release turn Limp Bizkit into overnight sensations, but it opened the floodgates for the whole rap-metal movement of the late '90s. Becoming one of rock's most in-demand producers, Robinson continued to produce others, including Machine Head, Sepultura (including their landmark release Roots), Soulfly, Amen, Cold, Glassjaw, At the Drive In, and even Vanilla Ice's rap-metal makeover/comeback album, Hard to Swallow. It wasn't long before Robinson helped discover another unknown band that would go on to become one of metal's most popular acts, the masked eight-man band Slipknot. He produced their two massive albums, 1999's self-titled debut and 2001's Iowa. Robinson also runs his own record label imprint, I Am Recordings, which is distributed by such renowned labels as Roadrunner and Virgin. ~ Greg Prato, All Music Guide"

Personally, I think this is a very bold & exciting move by the band. Sure I was surprised by it and a bit upset at first. I mean Limp Bizkit?! Korn?! Slipknot?! Ugh! But it's not like The Cure are going to jump the nu-metal train all of a sudden and become one of those types of bands. And Robert has said numerous times that the new album would be "almost hard rock", whatever that means, so why not get one of the best when it comes to that sort of sound?

But who cares what I think, what do YOU think about this? I'll be setting up the feedback page again for your responses, as I'm sure this is going to cause quite a lot of discussion and debate out there. So send in your thoughts and I'll be posting them soon.

"For any of you who are interested in cover songs, I stumbled across a cover of 'The Drowning Man' by a band called 'Misery Loves Co." In my opinion it is actually really good. Very similar to The Cure's representation of the song, although a little heavier throughout.

Another cover I came across was 'Killing An Arab' by a band called 'This Vale Of Tears'. It sounds very synth, almost techno, but not bad... until they start singing."

(Thanks Nando)

"So, basically, you have to vote the best 10 albums of all time. In the first places there is a lot of crap, and the first Cure album is Disintegration # 46 (?????), so let´s go to put The Cure in the place that deserves.The website is http://voteworld.net/"

(Thanks Maria)

(Thanks Warholy)

"Basically I am a sad Nottingham Forest fc football club fan.

I am also a Cure fan.

The club have recently been having a vote to change the Mull of Kintyre as the intro music as the players come onto the pitch. They need a new song. Now this is football so only the blindingly obvious works (except Mull of Kintyre, I don't understand that one) but it used to be Robin Hood and his merry men??!?

I have therefore recommended, A Forest as the lead out track. The club and the band have several common features. Both hit the headlines 25 years ago. Forests plight has depressed the faithful recently (I know, I know, I'm talking about perceptions here) and although now unfounded Forest, the club looked to be splitting up last year. Not world shattering events I know but enough for me to press the issue.

Anyway if anyone is interested - email the Forest site at webmaster@nottinghamforestfc.co.uk and request "A Forest" for intro music. It'd get airplay in front of 22,000 people once a fortnight!"

(Thanks Rob)

"There is a book out called the "The Mojo Collection" which supposedly lists "the greatest albums of all time." I ran across it in a Barnes and Noble bookstore a few days ago. While flipping through it I was surprised to find that "Pornography" was included in the greatest albums list. A full page was devoted to the album. The commentary was spiced up with parts of old interviews with Robert on the making of the album. The editor of the book was Jim Irving; it's pretty new, a 2002 publication I believe. "

(Thanks Timbus75)

"Usually I am not very interested in curespotting, but today I have seen something interesting I would like to share with all of you. First of all I would like to state that in Spain it has always been quite common to listen to Cure music as background music for many kind of TV events (Sports reports, news, etc). A most remarkably example of that is the use of "The Kiss" as the intro music for a news program in the last 80s. Today, in the local television (owned by the town councyl) of the city of Barcelona (BTV), they have been playing lots of Cure music. The programation of this channel usually consists in very short programs with interviews, remarks on city events, music shows, local news. Today, between each of these short programs, they have been playing some 30 seconds videos with images of a beach and the people in it (very nicely photographed, it looked very similiar to the photographs in the cover art of Galore). The backgorund music for theses 30 seconds videos were Cure songs. I have seen Friday I'm in Love, Just Like Heaven, Push, Cut Here and some others I don't remember. A nice present for cure lovers, well done BTV!"

(Thanks Sergio)

"So i was watching Road Rules last night on MTV and they had to vote someone off. Well anyway after that they played Yesterday's Gone. I couldn't believe my ears. Go MTV with musical style for once.:)

(Thanks Nykol and Aran)

"On Lamacq Live, monday evening on BBC Radio One, there was an hour long interview of the four members of Coldplay. Every member had to pick one song of his choice and they aired , at the begining of the interview , A Forest. It was Chris' choice (the singer). Here is what he said when explaining his choice. ( You can find the part where they talk about the cure here: http://www.bbc.co.uk/radio1/alt/stevelamacq/interviews/coldplay_20020812.shtml

Have you been a Cure fan for a long time or is this something that's come from going back and rediscovering music from the punk and post punk era?

Chris : Well when all this stuff, this (The Forest by The Cure) and the Bunnymen came out we were all about 4 or 5 years old and we were more interested in Button Moon. Now we are rediscovering it 20 years later. We keep bumping into all these bands that we have just got into. Me and Johnny have started getting into all the 80s stuff, and then we spent a long time trying to steal the drum sound from this for a b-side of ours.

He was talking about the drum sound of A Forest ;-)

It was really great to hear The Cure on the BBC. They usually avoid this band. And also another news. A reporter from the bbc made a report of the benicassim festival, and talked about the bands,etc... And when Steve Lamacq asked him what concert he had enjoyed the most, he said The Cure. So great news from the bbc :-)"

(Thanks Olivier)

"Today 1pm, on canal+ Belgium, on “Burger Quiz” (a funny quiz show), there was a question about the first hit of the cure in 1978: the 4 answers to this question were A-Killing an Arab, B-Killing a Jewish, C-Killing me softly, D-Killing a racist…"

(Thanks Fab4Fab)

"There is a two page interview with Robert in the August issue of the Mexican magazine Circulo Mix Up.The interview took place on Feb. 21st in Hammersmith, London (Olympic Studios).

Topics to mention:

-The new Cure record would be very heavy and with a lot of guitars

-He would sign with an Independent label

-Robert paid all the expenses for the bonus Acoustic Hits CD

-There are plans for a South American tour next year

The other people in the photos are the winners of that MTV Latino contest from last Dec.

(Thanks Luis)

"This week's NME (Queens of the Stone Age on cover) not only fails to mention the Hyde Park show, but they actually have reviews of the Sex Pistol's show from the same day and Paul Weller's show from the Route of Kings. What a load of crap! They do however mention The Cure in an article on Coldplay singer, Chris Martin's receding hair line. They offer up some alternative hairstyles, the number 6 being:

"Goth"- "Was Chris listening to The Cure during the making of the new album? Having heard it, we strongly suspect that it wasn't just Echo And The Bunnymen that were doing it for Chris. So how about a big, back-combed goth number?"

(Thanks John)

"The "openair"- special on "Viva Swizz" is a three part interview with Robert. Each part starts with some seconds of live recording from the Ministry of Rock- Festival in Frauenfeld. Then they show Robert being interviewed while the music continues in the background. The three songs from Frauenfeld are Plainsong, Shake Dog Shake and The Figurehead. Between these interview sections they aired three official videos: Close To Me, Just Say Yes and Cut Here, amongst some other non-Cure videos. The major news of the interview might be that, according to Robert's own words, the next release will be a Cure Album, not his solo recordings. Some other points: Robert said that after the release of Galore the band really wanted to split because they had lots of conflicts. Looking back, he thinks that the low point of the Cure's live were the festival shows of 1997/98 when he was drunk all the time. The only reason why he was doing the shows was because he wanted to be on stage. But he liked to do one final album. Recording it changed the bands mood and he was very pleased with the result, Bloodflowers. In 1999, when Robert turned 40, he thought about what to do for the next 10 years. After all, he decided that he really likes to be in a band instead of going solo or doing something else. Right now, he can't think about anything else than going on with The Cure (Yeah!!!) "

(Thanks Greg)

Zillo ( 200 votes) - 45%

Rome (169 votes) - 38%

Conegliano (73 votes) - 17%

Very close, but the surprising Zillo set wins out over the longer Rome set. Zillo is officially awarded the Best Setlist 2002 cup. : )

The new poll is up, and asks which Cure album you would most like to hear live in its entirety. And to those asking why Bloodflowers isn't listed, they just played all of those songs on the Dream Tour, so I figured I'd leave it out (only have 10 slots available anyway, so something had to be left out). Oh, and to the person that voted for Seventeen Seconds 200 times, I have reset it to where it was last night. There really isn't any point to multiple votes, as there are no prizes for the winning album. : ) So please, just one vote per person, ok? Thanks.

"Last Friday I was in this night club in Los Angeles called Lush. It was 80's night and this cover band called fast times band (like the 80's movie) was playing a bunch of 80's songs, including the cure. In fact the drummer introduced himself as robert smith (he wore all black and had crazy hair and actually sang). They played “boys don’t cry” and “just like heaven” they were pretty good."

(Thanks Anthony)

"Just thought I would let you know that The Dandy Warhols mentioned hanging out with Robert in Greece on their site. It is in the "Rockwave cancelled" story. http://www.dandywarhols.com/news.html "

(Thanks John)

"The latest CD by Schneider TM, entitled "Zoomer" has a song called "Reality Check" on it which appears to contain a reference to Robert & Co. The line is "a tree is a forest like the one from the cure". Of course, since the lyrics are all in lowercase, it might be just some strange allegorical reference to a remedy containing a forest, but somehow I doubt it..."

(Thanks cHriSsIe)

"one hour ago I phoned the german promoter (Karsten Jahnke Konzertdirektion) if there will be a german show in october. They where quite surprised how I knew about a possible CURE show. They told me that there are negotiations but nothing has been signed yet. They refused to tell more and asked to call back at the end of the month. Then they will know if it will happen or not."

Well of course he knew about it, he reads COF. ; )

(Thanks Sascha)

"On Saturday I was watching MuchMusic USA, my new favorite cable station <laugh>. And we were watching Soundtrack to Your Life. They had on Linkin Park, and the lead guitarist was talking about how much of his life and work had been influenced by the Smiths, Depeche Mode, and of course, The Cure. They were playing Points of Authority in the background, cutting to the Cut Here video. The lead singer then came on and said how his music was inspired by the likes of Cure and DM as well. It was pretty amazing.

I liked Linkin Park okay, but could never really figure out why, as I typically don't like any of those types of bands."

(Thanks Jen)

"I have interesting news for people living in switzerland: the music-tv-channel "viva swizz" has a show called "openair" and next week will be the cure week:-) they will air an interview with robert & concert-images... everything recorded at the ministry of rock in frauenfeld!!! they will air the special a few times during next week:

tuesday 13. august 18h, 22h

wednesday 14.august 12.30h

monday 19.august 01.00h

tuesday 20.august 12.30h

(central european time, of course....)

www.viva-swizz.ch "

(Thanks Koyldo)

"While checking the net for something completely different, I found this page about Steve Goulding (the drummer during the Let's go to bed recordings) http://home.t-online.de/home/Norbert.Knape/steve.htm "

(Thanks Dennis)

"Last night I spent quite a boring time with german TV switching the channels again and again because there was nothing worth staying with at all. But then suddenly I stopped for a short while. I had just switched the german sports channel (DSF) and there was a programme called Die Automacher (the caremakers) in wich they introduced and compared three brandnew cares of different manufacturers. As I am not interested in cars I forgot wich types they promoted but the point wich made me wake up from my lethargy and get up from the couch was the backround song: Purple Haze -one of my favourite Cure- songs! What a surprise to hear this song on TV! I can't imagine it has been played on german TV ever before. Anyway, listening to this for two minutes saved this lost night for me a bit."

(Thanks Heiko)

"Just to update you on the "Close to Me" cover on Australian radio; the band is called 'Bagsmen' and indeed used to be called the Hive. I heard it this morning on Triple R and wasn't that impressed. Some elements are good, like the female vocal, but what on earth is that rap in the middle for?"

(Thanks Mickael)

"The other day I walked into the video shop and they were playing a cover of Boys Don't Cry. I'd never heard it before, it sounded a bit like a ska version. I asked who's CD it was and the bloke said it was a band called Real Big Fish. Has anyone heard it?

Also, I have to sadly reinforce what was said about the British press not reviewing the Hyde Park gig..... I usually don't buy the papers, but I bought quite a few of them on the week after the concert, hoping I would find something about The Cure....... but there was absolutely nothing...... and I think nothing was said on TV either, at least I haven't seen anything."

(Thanks Angelica)

"monday , at my favorite german radio programe "zuendfunk" on radio "bayern 2", they played OBJECT , full length , during a small report about the "chaos tage in münchen" (rebel days from punks in munich).the dj mentioned it as the cure in punky days. maybe the rarest radio airplay from a cure song ever. and i guess fans won`t play it often as well......"

(Thanks Thomas)

"So I'm at work..calling another company for a request...they put me on hold and BAM..Friday I'm in Love comes on. Seems a popular song. Thought I would pass it along."

(Thanks Lauchlin)

"The Cure will open a spectacular file....

"We don't have new album, but we make festival appearence for good reason"-says Robert Smith, The Cure's leader, before he stepped to the stage for 30 thousand people. "After our last album's tour we wanted to split up, but just at the end of this tour we began to joy it. This festival-appearance line is just this feeling's 'lead-out', and then we begin a new file in the band's history: we marry together ' for my solo lp's wanted atmospherical, electronic songs ' with the ' Cure's new discovered hard-rock sound', and we are planning for all these a spectacular show. "

Here in Hungary the popular band's 43 years old frontman is gossipping of strange events:"in may of next year we are planning a large-scale 'fun' for the band's 25th anniversary, and we will invite also all the members who joined the Cure in the past. Also Lol Tolhurst!!!! " Hm, this is real strange, because Tolhurst contended with Mr. Smith for reason of money, even, at the highlight of 'i am angry at you' Mr. Smith demanded at the recording of 'shiver and shake' Tolhurst standing before Smith to be able to sing with the real 'hate-feeling.' But this time, he /Robert/ sung with face, transfigurated with joy. And the sound was really rock-styled ."

Also, there's an excellent colour photo of Robert singing and playing guitar on the Budapest gig, with the text: 'Robert Smith even though 43, sang tousled and with make up."

(Thanks Cureme)

"I waited until today for NME's publication to confirm my worst fears. There was NO review in any british publication of the hyde park show. Normally the broadsheets - Guardian, Telegraph, Independent, Times - might carry something but nothing. Likewise the London Evening Standard, the main London newspaper had no review whatsoever. Add that to NME's lack of words just sums up perfectly the British media's value of the Cure. Sad, isn't it?"

(Thanks Hugh)

"On Australian radio station JJJ I recently heard a cover version of "Close to Me" by an Australian group with a female vocalist. I didn't catch the name of the band, they did say the band used to be called "The Hive." It was quite good, but strangely included a rap by a male rapper in the middle with new lyrics."

Anyone know who this band is?

(Thanks Michelle)

"In the new AUSTRALIAN edition of Rolling Stone. issue 604 September 2002. page 60. The Cure made it to "The Most Influential Albums 1972 - 2002 List" with their outstanding album Pornography."

(Thanks Krystel)

"MTV Europe has a show called Alternative Nation and on the 6th of August they played the unplugged version of Just Like Heaven."

(Thanks Peter)

"Only drop a line to tell you the reaction of the Spanish press to the Cure Benicassim International Festival (F.I.B) appearance. I have seen the three of the most important papers in Sp. And all of them show lines in their front pages, and all of them in a positive way. One of the journalists said something very important to understand the Cure situation, i think. He tells that when the F.I.B announced Cure concert months ago a lot of people were disappointed; ("Rock dinosaurs, old fashioned band, blah, blah.."). But when the Band was on the way to the stage the journalist saw a image "never seen before in the F.I.B backstage"; an amazing number of musicians, backstage workers, electrics, etc.. standing to see Robert on the way to the stage. Very expressive admiration faces (is important to say that bands like Cranberries, Pulp, Suede, Chemical Brothers.... and many more have played there other years too.)

The reaction of the papers was the same; "great concert with the darkest side of The Cure", "two hours of legend and lessons of how to beoin a stage", " a risky setlist with the less known songs"

In the news program of Saturday noon TVE1 (the main public channel in Spain) showed a few images of the concert (last part of "watching me fall") and said that The Cure played last night in front of 30.000 people. No mention of F.I.B, only the Cure concert (curious!!!!!).

In the press conference Smith said that there will be a new album in 2003 and maybe he will give away his solo album as a gift with it (cross your fingers!!!!!)."

(Thanks Jorge)

"There are 2 new Cure-related records out now - European releases only. The first is a 12" record with brand new remixes of The Walk on one side and A Forest on the other. Decent remixes that are apparently very big in English clubs right now.

The other is a 12" record from "Dub Maverick vs. The Cure" with 3 mixes of Let's Go to Bed on it - quite good. I work at a record store and we were able to order them through some of our overseas distributors. I don't know how available they are in stores, though - I don't think very available at all. "

Rome (300 votes) - 52%

Hyde Park (152 votes) - 27%

Vieilles Charrues (87 votes) - 15%

Paleo (40 votes) - 7%

Much closer this week, but still a decisive win for Rome. I'm not doing a poll for week 4, since the sets were the same for all of the shows. Instead, vote for the best overall setlist from the 3 previous winners in this week's poll.

Radio Sfera - Post Tour Radio Night - Results

So, your favorite setlist is:

(Thanks Darek)

"On the Benicasim 2002 compilation there's a cover of M, it's an awful version with dance bass and voice. It's real fun as it's so bad, well, I think..."

(Thanks Tonton)

"This past Fri night, Henry Rollins was on a spoken word TV program ~ he made a reference to England's rainy weather & said that if the weather ever changed, 'The guy from The Cure would be out of a job.' "

(Thanks Joey)

"To play the video, go to the botton of the text and click on the picture after Roberts name. http://sudoeste.clix.pt/reporter/reporter/73526.html "

And if you want to download it, here's the link: http://pcp.clix.pt/playlists/festivais-cure2.asx   

Notice that Robert once again mentions the POSSIBILITY of more shows in Oct. I'm hearing it could be 3 shows, instead of just one as was originally thought, IF they happen. But if you're not in Europe, you better plan on travelling once again.

(Thanks JJ, Claudio and Birdmadboy)

"This web page was talking about all the other bands that played at Benicassin this year and the last band Tha Cure:

"...and the time to go back to the 80's, dress in black, and paint our eyes has finally come. The Cure appeared in the FIB's principal scenary with the intention to give a concert to ther fans; to their real ones. And they really did it. One after another they were cautiously choosing the songs from their wide repertoire with the only intention of enjoy playing their music and make enjoy more than 30,000 people.

"Out of this world", "Watching me Fall", "Open", "Plainsong", "Want", "Trust", "Shake Dog Shake", "100 Years", "The Kiss", "Siamese Twins", "Three Imaginary Boys", "M", "Bloodflowers", "Play for today" (how beautiful was to see benicassim singing all along this one), and "A forest" to end the concert, because the real concert finished with "A Forest". 2 unforgettable hours

A second encore brought "In Between Days", "Just Like Heaven", and "Boys Don't Cry", but that was just a little present from The Cure for the ones that didn't understand and didn't enjoy the real Cures..."

(Thanks Ivan)

"Cure got a little mention about the Benicassim show.

http://www.nme.com/news/102547.htm

The Cure's guitar-heavy set featured classics - mainly saved for the encore - including 'Three Imaginary Boys', 'A Forest' and 'Shake Dog Shake' but the main body of the set was centred on material from the last decade including a smattering from 1992 album 'Wish'.

The Cure have been a perrenial favourite on the continent and this bill finds them joining a trio of headliners also including Radiohead's last date of their current European tour and the Chemical Brothers.

Sophie McKean of Falkirk, Scotland told NME.COM:"I've been a Cure fan for 18 years and I came especially to see them - I wouldn't have been surprised if they'd sounded alot ropier. We could have done with the hits a bit sooner- it is a festival after all - but they played beautifully. It sounds like they've been listening to Mogwai and My Bloody Valentine."

"A brief review of the Cure at Benicassim and photos on the main page www.nme.com

Unsure how long they'll stay up for. Click the Suede Benicassim photo and work back to Robert photos."

(Thanks Jason and Steve)

"I was in Birmingham for a few days last week and was waking through Martineu Place in the city centre and there were two guys with acoustic guitars playing for about 20 minutes and one song was Friday I'm In Love. Later I saw a band in the Old Railway that covered Boys Don't Cry then at Eddie's on Friday they played an Industrial cover of Lovesong."

(Thanks Glynis)

"On the anniversary program 15 Years of MTV Europe they stated that Lullaby was the most played video on MTV in 1989 !"

(Thanks Dudley)

"For a very groovy rendition of Lovecats, and a nice game to play too, go to: http://b3ta.com/hecatorshecat/ "

(Thanks James)

Audio - http://casiopea.emisiondigital.com/especiales/fib02/thecure/audio.asf (19MB)

Video - http://casiopea.emisiondigital.com/especiales/fib02/thecure/video.asf (92MB)

(Thanks Curro and Fernando)

"I was listening to the broadcast in Radio 3 and they stopped at 4am (local time), so they only broadcasted until the end of 'Play for Today'. We missed 'A Forest' and the 2nd encore. A pity. Maybe they'll broadcast that part tomorrow or some day...."

(Thanks Fernando)

Anyway, it's a very late show tonight, with The Cure going on at 1:50 am. So if you're in the US and want to try and catch the webcast (if it happens), it should start around 7:50pm eastern, 6:50pm central, 5:50pm mountain and 4:50pm pacific.

Update:

"Emissiondigital: In the upper left hand corner of the homepage is a section "ESCUCHA EN DIRECTO" (Listen Now). Under that are the various stages of the festival. The Cure are playing the 'Escenario Verde' (Green Stage), the first listing under ESCUCHA EN DIRECTO. If they (the festival) choose to broadcast The Cure's set, there ought to be links for either audio, video, or both next the the name (Escenario Verde). I've had no prblems with the streams. In fact the video looks beautiful. It's a full 24 frames/sec, very smooth, non-pixelated. Of course, I am at work using a University-operated network (super-fast connection). You may have had probelms because the festival just got underway, and they started streaming late. (Sin Comenzar means it [what is to be streamed] hasn't started yet).

From what I can find, Radio 3 isn't streaming anything. All I found was information about listening on regular radio in Spain."

(Thanks Steve)

"Yesterday night (Aug. 1st) tv2 of Hungary broadcast a couple of minute report on The Cure, including a short interview with Robert. Apart from the usual questions, there was one asking about a new album. Robert was nice saying that during the last tour he pretty much finished writing another album (that we already knew) and he hoped for releasing it some time next year (this, too). He said he had felt such a big demand and expectations from his solo cd that he had decided to offer it for free next to the brand new Cure album to be released in 2003. If people will like the solo cd, they will keep it, if not, they can throw it away (said it with a :-) ). Answering the question seeking for a confirmation on the new album (Q: So there will be a new album?), he said he hoped so and that there were discussions presently in the band as to how they should do it, how "they should work" (to me it meant whether to do it or not) but he added with smiling " I can be very persuasive if I want to", so that was a positive expression to describe the stage they are at. All in all it seems to me he actually wants a new cd. The whole image of Robert was so positive with lots of smile, it was good to see. It was also fun to hear the tv called The Cure "superstars"."

(Thanks Janos)

"The Cure was mentioned in the hungarian daily newpaper called magyar hírlap and it is a rewiew about the gig of sziget festival .

also, the regional newspaper called 'Vas nepe' mentioned the cure : "The legendary british the Cure gave a memorable concert on the first day of sziget festival...' there was also a picture photo of Robert .

The Cure were also mentioned on the 31st July's 'mai nap' newspaper (sorry for the late news giving) as one of the 'big names' on the Sziget festival. The Cure has also a photo from the era 2000."

(Thanks Cureme)

"On a Polish Curesite www.thecure.pl->Forum->Ogolne there is an interesting story of a Polish student who met in Brighton a friend of Matthieu's girlfriend. She helped him to meet the former Cure, who turned out to be a very nice, very friendly person who said many warm words about The Cure and Robert, eg. when asked if Robert is a dictator answered 'I wouldn't call him a dictator, Robert is just a guy who has his own vision how to play and how to manage the group and it's obvious he's doing this just great'. Matthieu is a tall (190cm) bleached blond guy, who works now in a photography business and play in his own band.

I will translate the whole story as soon as come home (in a few days) as now I'm in Budapest, in an internet cafe with a loud, horrible music and it's hard to think."

(Thanks Tais)

"Perhaps ppl in southamerica should know about the cure tribute made by Jorge Gonzales, leader of the chilean rock band "Los Prisioneros", on their recent southamerican tour, well at the end of Corazones, Jorge plays the bass parts of the end of 10 15 on saturday night, very nice and emotive for the cure fans that went to the show, who reacted euphoric after that demonstration of great musical taste!!!!!!"

(Thanks Ytalo)

"Ok the UK football league starts again in 2 weeks. Last year 12 of us had a great football legue going and were trying to fight it out tooth and nail till the end...with Perry Bamonte UTD taking the trophy... So get over to the following link and get signed up with a team..then use the info below to join the Curefans football forum league....its just for fun !!! but if you're really good you might win a car...

http://uk.premiership.fantasysports.yahoo.com/

BTW to american people if you dont know who the players are...just pick loads of West Ham players...they're gonna do it this season... : )

Group ID#: 4596

Your Yahoo! ID: gary_ash

Team Name: The Cureheads

Group Name: Footballing Curefans

Group Password: robert "

(Thanks Gary)

"As most of us do, I try to collect a couple of shows from each tour – nothing quite like having a piece of the Cure live – in an ongoing effort to capture a bit of each stage of the band’s development. I recently stared using the Further Network. www.furthurnet.com basically works with access to computers of everyone logged in to download live shows. The caveat is that the bands listed on the site must approve of taping or liberating bootlegs. Much to my surprise, the Cure is on the fixed list of artists (interesting because in order to put a band on the site, you must submit proof that they abide to the taping policy). Viewing the various searches, you find liberated bootlegs that are available on MP3 and SHN."

(Thanks Chris)

"While I usually detest file-sharing programs, I recently ran across one with a rather unique spin. It seems the people at http://www.furthurnet.com have set up a service for fans of many different groups to LEGALLY trade recordings of shows, mostly by limiting the artists available to those whom allow recording, and by only allowing live recordings by third parties (no official releases).

Here's a quote from the main page:

*snip snip*

"What is it? The FurthurNet software is currently in beta testing. The Furthur Network is the first and only 100% non-commercial peer-to-peer network of legal live music created by fans for fans! We have no paid programmers, developers or designers, nor do we accept any advertising or compensation. We are developing the FurthurNet Softwareand the Furthur Network to allow fans and tapers a place to spread good live music to music loving fans in any digitally connected portion of the world.

What kind of Music can be found? Any musician that allows the non-commercial taping and trading of their live performances are fair-game for the Furthur Network. This would include bands like the Grateful Dead, Phish, String Cheese Incident, Widespread Panic, Phil and Friends and many other up and coming and many other well known bands. A complete list of Allowable Bands can be found in the Drop Down on the FurthurNet Software's Search page."

Since the Cure have a fairly liberal taping policy, they've been added to the service. I've managed to grab a few shows (mostly from the early 80's and 90's) of VERY good quality, and thought I'd pass along the info in hopes that others may wish to share as well.

Potential users be warned: this program is bandwith intensive: files are usually in high quality (+/-192kbps) mp3 or SHN format, so downloads range from 50 megs to over 800; needless to say, dial up users need not apply...

Hope this helps some of you start/continue your collections..."

(Thanks Malfeis)

"I don't know if anyone else has noticed this but Robert is listed in the Internet Movie Data Base as appearing in the 1980 movie, 'The Offenders', alongside Lydia Lunch amongst others.Has anyone actually seen this movie? It must be pretty obscure as there is very little information about it. By the way,it is Robert Smith of the Cure, not an actor with the same name!"

(Thanks Matt B)

"From a SACTO Confidential interview with Cino Moreno (The Deftones):

What song best represents the soundtrack of your life?

Chino: "Disintegration" by The Cure. "

(Thanks Leo)

"Was watching 15 years MTV Europe and was hoping for a piece of The Cure when they were showing Ray Cokes programme X-Ray Vision and Most Wanted and Yup they showed a piece of it when Ray Cokes played along with The Cure at his show, was so flashback to great times. makes you want to have those days back."

(Thanks Sjauke)

"The Cure were mentioned in a commercial tv channell 'tv2' today at 18.10, in the program called: 'AKTIV'. There was a half minute shot from the Sziget appearance, during which the band played boys don't cry, and then there was a shot of Robert talking about the band and his plans, that 'his dream is to make songs-soundtracks for films'. "

(Thanks Cureme)

"A friend of mine called ticketline Portugal today and they said that The Cure concert would start at 10 pm. Although the official festival site mentions 1 am, I suggest all the fans not being there after 10, just in case."

(Thanks Claudio)

"Robert said they play at the festivals because they really want to, not 'cause they're selling a record. They decided it would be nice to do it. Being younger he thought they'll always be playing without the idea of selling a product. So the songs they'll play (in France) are very much oriented towards the type of crowd they expect to play for. The songs are chosen from the whole history of the band and there is no emphasis on any one album.

Strangely they've been criticised after the first concert of this summer in Athens. The criticism came from a kind of rock oriented radio station that said they were playing too much 'obscure' songs. But for the cure fans it was probably the best show they've ever seen. Before, when they did festivals, they always played hits and were criticised by fans. Now they play for the fans and are criticised by the media. But he prefers the fans to be enthusiastic because there is some exchange(sharing) with them.

The bands they've met this summer appreciated them, even if they didn't really like the music of the cure. Most of the bands admired the cure for still being there, so there was a certain respect. Robert's first festival was 'Reading' in '78 in England. He has always been attracted by other bands for their sensibility and the music they play.

Someone shortly said the next album would come out next fall but I think it was a misunderstanding...

(Thanks Tanguy)

"Just to let you know, you can vote for Lullaby on the xfm.co.uk site in their all time top 104.

And the reason so many seats were empty at Hyde Park is that you could go where you wanted. We had seat tickets and stood about 30 yards from the front. The organisation was so poor, but I was told by Stargreen Ticket Office that it was sold out."

(Thanks Benjy C)

"I went to the Hyde Park show, and as I'm sure you've heard, it was wonderful. I just wanted to comment on what someone (I think it was David) said about the show not being sold out: in Hyde Park, the cheaper tickets are in front of the stage, standing, and the more expensive tickets are seated, really far from the stage. The majority of the people who had seated tickets went to the standing area for the entire show, (as I did) so as to be able to see something other than ants on stage and the Cure on video. Although the show wasn't entirely sold out, I was told by a ticket agent that it was very nearly sold out. "

(Thanks Soli (despayre))

"The show was obviously not sold out at all. Some resellers like Stargreen may have sold all their tickets, but tickets were still available at the box office of the arena (at rear) some minutes before the show began. Many "black market" ticket resellers had no other choice but to sell theirs for a lower price than the official one. After the show, the poster "Tickets on sale" had not even been removed from the box office window. As regards the crowd, I've seen twelve Cure gigs before that one, and the audience in front of the stage at Hyde Park was clearly the least dense I've experienced since my first Cure concert back in 1987, especially in festivals. And no, it wasn't a problem AT ALL ! The audience was one of the best possible audiences, attentive and reactive, probably the complete opposite of the massive and stupid crowd at Vieilles Charrues one week before ! Too many people at concerts are rarely a good thing... So thanks to The Cure and this particularly nice audience for having made this night a memorable event."

(Thanks to David at Plainsong)

"This morning I watched TV to see the news before I left the house. Just before the news a short report about the Sziget Festival the day before was broadcasted with general information about it. At the end, my hopes came true, The Cure was shown a few seconds playing FTEOADGS. It was a lovely surprise for the day."

(Thanks Markus)

"Just to update you re Hyde Park gig being broadcast on UK tv...

Subject: Roadies

Date: Wed, 31 Jul 2002 15:45:40 +0100

From: UKHorizons <UKHorizons@main.bbc.co.uk>

Hi Rich,

Thanks for your email.

I can confirm that we are currently shooting a second of Roadies and it looks likely that the Cure gig will be featured, but I cannot say for sure yet whether it will definitely be in the series.

Hope that helps, if you need to know more please feel free to email.

Many thanks

Simon Cox

UK Horizons http://www.ukhorizons.tv/"

(Thanks Rich)

"According to the Benicassim Festival's website (http://www.fiberfib.com/), the 26,000 three-day passes that were put on sale have now sold out. Only one-day passes are still available."

(Thanks Fab G)

"Had someone noticed this detail ? At Paleo in Nyon, Robert had problem with his 6 string bass BUT in London he didn't have it on stage and played only with the guitar (eg. Bloodflowers). Interesting isn’t it ?

Yesterday when I was at the Heathrow aeroport , I met all the band ‘cose they were on the way to Hungary. They all were very friendly and take time to talk, nice..."

(Thanks Jean-Christophe B.)