(Thanks Anna, Charlie, Olivier, Mickael)

Ireland - debuts at #2 in the Irish Rock Chart.

Italy - jumps 17 spots to #8 on the album chart.

Finland - drops 6 spots to #21 in it's 2nd week on the Finnish album chart.

Canada - debuts at #1 on the Canadian National Top 50 Alternative Albums chart.

(Thanks Tony, Malex, Antti, Terry)

(Thanks Mike)

Catalog number: cure2 LC06444

tracks: radio edit 4.44 / album version 6.43

cd comes in a slim jewel case, the sleeve is grey/black with white letterings with a blur image of the band swirling in the background,the cd has the same image on it.

(Thanks Michael)

(Thanks Tomek)

(Thanks Solpadeine)

"I wanted to let you know that i stumbled on an article about the cure in the march 2000 issue of NYLON magazine. theres a black and white pic of robert smith, and just some talk about robert smith, bloodflowers, the cure's "staying power," etc... "

(Thanks Jenny)

"New article about the last Cure album 'Bloodflowers' in Menos 25, spanish newspaper for young people (nº58)."

(Thanks Alex)

"3rd march 2000 at 9.30 pm in OUPEYE (near Liège) "Le club des jeunes" (st André school, king Albert street). The band will play songs from bloodflowers and some rare cure stuff... A tour in Germany and switzerland is annouced for the band. April in Germany and October in Switzerland."

(Thanks Vincent)

I want to apologize again for the lack of news updates over the last few days, but things should be back to normal this week (at least until Saturday).

(Thanks Armin)

(Thanks Rodolphexxx)

(Thanks Kevin)

U.K. - Plummets from 14th to 53rd in it's 2nd week on the chart / #12 on the Virgin UK chart.

U.S. - debuts at #2 on Billboard's Top Internet Album Sales chart / #1 at Tower Records in Irvine,Ca. / #3 on Tower Records online Top 1000.

Czech Republic - debuted at #7 on the official Czech Top40 chart.

Europe - debuts at #1 on the Tower Records Europe Top 75 chart.

Canada - in Vancouver, Canada, the Georgia Straight lists Bloodflowers as debuting at #8. This chart is based on the sales of all major music stores in the city.

(Thanks Nicole, Andrzej, Tommy, Morgan, Casey, Simon)

(Thanks Stephan and Peter)

(Thanks Yannick)

UK - The 6th Cure Drink will all take place on friday march 10th 2000 in the upstairs room at the princess louise pub in high holborn, central london starting at 7pm. nearest tube is holborn (central and piccadilly lines). the pub is opposite south place on the corner of high holborn and newton street. bring who you like, the more the merrier!!

Czech Republic - on Friday 3rd March will be in Lucerna Bar Club the concert of the bands NOC and THE CURE revival (that plays the songs of the cure...) http://noc.musichall.cz/english http://noc.musichall.cz (in czech language)

(Thanks Hugh andAndrzej)

I would just like you to know that Mel C (from a certain girlgroup) was wearing a Cure t-shirt when she performed her new single on the swedish tv-show "Sen kväll med Luuk". The print on the shirt was from the prayer tour so it wasn´t really new, I think. She´s always said that she is the most 'alternative' of the Spice girls but she has always dropped names such as Manic street preachers, Blur, Supergrass and the awful Stereophonics.

(Thanks Rickard)

There's a very popular "talkshow" (with a twist) here in Sweden called "Sen Kväll Med Luuk" (Late Night With Luuk). Last night, the special guest was Mel C from the Spice Girls. What was interesting was that she wore a Cure shirt (or vest or whatever it's called in English). Luuk asked her if she had any special reason for wearing it, and she answered that she just liked the shirt. Then Luuk asked her if she liked the band, and she answered "They're okay...". Thought that was pretty funny, that's all.

(Thanks Henrik)

Last thursday Mel C (from spice girls) were guest at Kristian Luuk (a talkshow in sweden) wearing a cure t-shirt... The comments on the T-shoirt was..

Kristian Luuk: I see you wearing a cure t-shirt do you like them?

Mel C:i like the T-shirt

K L: But do you like The Cure

Mel C: they are OK..

(Thanks Jerk)

Hi, i live in london, and watching BBC1 today, on blue peter (a show on BBC1), they had an article, and in the background inbetween days was being played. It seems cure spottings are becoming much more frequent here in the UK, which is cool!

(Thanks Andy)

Today i watched the soccer match from the German Bundesliga Leverkusen vs.Berlin on the pay tv channel "Premiere World".They showed a 7 minutes introduction of the Leverkusen coach with interviews. I was totally surprised that they used "Last day of summer" and "39" for background music!

(Thanks Nico)

Just wanted to let everyone know that updates will probably be erratic over the next few days,since the Mardi Gras season starts tonight here in New Orleans. Not only will we be busy running to all of the parades, but Nadine & I will be riding in the Krewe of Aladdin parade tomorrow (Feb. 26th), so you can imagine how hectic everything has been over the last few days. Anyway, I expect to do an update later tonight after the Chicago show, but wil not be able to update again until late Sat. night.

And if any of you reading this are in town for the parades, come out to Aladdin on Saturday afternoon and look for us. We will be on float #18 - "Aladdin travels to Arabia", 1st 2 people at the very top of the float, right hand (passenger) side. Be sure to wear a Cure t-shirt or hold up something Cure-related if you want the really nice beads. : )   Happy Mardi Gras!

(Tanks Sean)

This is from the Maybe Someday download site at CDNow -

Order your copy of Bloodflowers TODAY, and we'll send you an email which contains a link to a digital music download of the single "Spilt Milk" -- never before released in the U.S.

(Thanks Matt)

France - #1 in the French FNAC stores / #4 in French Virgin stores.

Germany - debuts in the official album chart at #5 / #17 on radio station rsh chart.

Denmark - debuts in the official charts at #2.

(Thanks Gregory, Julien, Martin, Dennis)

There's a new interview with Robert by Chicago Tribune/Metromix rock critic Greg Kot:

Q101's only giving away tix during Robert Chase and Sludge's shows (approx. 10am-6pm?).

Not only are Q101 and RollingStone doing webcasts of the show, but XRT is also broadcasting the show live starting at 8:30pm (93.1FM).

(Thanks Ramona)

"By now you know XRT VIP's have the inside track on free tickets to the best concerts and events. XRT VIP's have won tickets to see BECK, CSNY, POI DOG PONDERING, STEELY DAN in New York City and MELISSA ETHERIDGE'S Private Performance. Here's another chance to win!

THE CURE is performing a special XRT Show at the intimate Vic Theater tomorrow night. Their surprise Chicago concert, announced Wednesday at Noon, sold out in a matter of minutes, but XRT has 5 pairs of FREE tickets to the show plus passes to the pre-show soundcheck (scheduled for late afternoon)!

If you'd like to attend, just send an e-mail to vipcontests@wxrt.com. Include your name, address, day and night phone number, and birthdate. Please include "The Cure" in the message. You must be 18 years or older to win. HURRY! The deadline for entry is Friday morning at 10am. Winners will be notified by telephone shortly thereafter.

Only XRT VIP's know how to qualify for this exciting concert event by one of modern rock's seminal bands. See, membership really does have its privileges! If you know someone that would like to become an XRT VIP, tell them to visit the XRT website at http://www.wxrt.com

Even if you don't win, you can still enjoy our latest ON XRT CONCERT EXCLUSIVE: THE CURE LIVE FROM THE VIC THEATRE, FRIDAY at 8:30pm.

(Thanks Jerre)

(Thanks Dennis)

Belgium - debuts on the Top Album charts at #1!

Italy - debuts on the "Top of the music"FIMI chart at #25.

Sweden - debuts at #5.

(Thanks Malex, Axel, Henrik)

Gossip on the Cure, Van Halen, Kid Rock

Feb 22, 2000, 12:20 pm PT

The Cure's Robert Smith cleared up the rumors that Bloodflowers would be the group's last record, during an interview on Los Angeles radio station KROQ. The singer had made a comment a month or so ago saying something to the effect that Bloodflowers could be their last record. But, Smith says that what he meant by that was that he's so proud of the album that it would be a good album to end their career on, but that's not necessarily what he's planning to do. He also said that the Cure will likely play the Los Angeles area again in late May -- either the Greek Theater or Irvine Meadows. More U.S. dates are expected around that time as well.

(Thanks Jason)

(Thanks Davide)

"TMC2 has broadcasted the special called "File" with an interview to Robert. He talked, amongst all the other things about having written the plot for a film, that he doesn't want to be the director (because he doesn't like to tell other people how to move or what to say) or an actor in it: he just wrote the story and he is trying to finish it. He said that the first idea he had about it was a very dark and romantic ending, and that then he's been working backwards to build up a story and that the solo album he's thinking about is basically the soundtrack to this film. He's been thinking about this thing for ten years - every time he watches a film and thinks "I can do better!" - and now he has done it finally.

Other stuff he's been talking about: Bloodflowers, the solo project, the unexpected success of Kiss me...; how much he loves being in Paris because he knows how to move in the city and ... where to get drunk and because he has a lot of friends there; how long he's been using make up; how he would like to work with music through the net, just to avoid being involved with the music industry.

In the end they talked about tennis ... The journalist said he was sure that Robert had a passion for tennis boots, he smiled and sayed "tennis boots? this sounds new to me..." then robert said that jason is a very keen tennis player and have influenced him to play it again and that four out of five in the band are good players: when they play all together, roger is the umpire, sitting there and "just says OUT!" (robert here makes a very funny nasty face and a strange voice) ... "but that's his nature" he added. "

(Thanks David)

(Thanks Simon)

(Thanks Simon)

(Thanks Stephan)

(Thanks Antti)

(Thanks Dennis)

(Thanks Jerk)

(Thanks Jerk)

Germany - On 28.04.00 Oberhausen Arena Concert ; A Oberhausen Meeting with German Online Fans , Webmasters .... , see at my homepage http://www.uyea.de (in german language) The Name at the Home of the Page is " Treffen der Online Fans in Oberhausen"

Italy - a reminder that this friday night (the 25th) there will be a cure night in Treviso, at the New Age club. there will be 2 bands: mine, Arkham (cure influenced) and Easy Cure (italian cover band), plus 2 djs: me, Marco, and Pierre, providing new wave, goth and alternative sounds. the night starts at 22.30. for more information: tel/fax 0422841052, www.arcitv.org/musica/musicaframe.htm e-mail gabvian@tin.it .

Also, MARCH 11th AT ALCATRAZ IN MILAN (ITALY) WILL BE THE NATIONAL CONVENTION OF " ONE HUNDRED YEARS ITALIAN FAN CLUB" AND IN THIS OCCASION EASY CURE ( THE OFFICIAL COVER BAND IN ITALY) WILL PLAY A CONCERT WITH OLD CLASSIC & NEW SONGS FROM BLOODFLOWERS

Belgium - There will be a Cure party in Brussels at the "Flanagans" on the 10th march.

Russia - 27/02/2000 the 1st Russian Cure Fan club “CloseToCure” (www.closetocure.csi.ru) and The Undeground Club “Black Elephant” (http://www.freetime.md/slon/) presents The Cure Party in Moldova, Chusinau.

78A, 31st August St., Chusinau, Moldova / phone +3732234715

The Cure video show, “Bloodflowers” listening party, other Cure-related events.

Feedback Lilia (l_tsap@hotmail.com)

(Thanks Alexandre, Uyea, Marco, Goshmar and Disintegrator, Luca)

"I just wanted to say that after the suspense of cure tickets going on sale, they way things turned out was beautiful. after reading the horror stories of l.a and some of the other cities, im glad to inform that this is going to be a fan based show. the line at the vic was incredible. the first come first serve basis was magnificent, and the number of available tickets was great. i had such a great time waiting in line. i saw friends i have not seen in 2 years, i met lots of cool people. the highlight for me was of course getting tickets, but just as cool, people that already got their tickets waited to the side and cheered everyone else on as they got their tickets. lots of cheering, lots of hugging, it was insane! i am so proud to be a cure fan and even prouder of the fact that cure fans are the best fans in the world!!! props to the vic for handling the situation at hand with ease. everything went smoothly and orderly. i have so much respect for the staff that were handling security and the ticket clerks. they were magnificent."

(Thanks KNK)

"I must say after reading all the horror stories about the ticket sales in San Fran, L.A, Atlanta and New York, I was really happy with Chicago. Despite all the anxiety about when tickets were going on sale, the majority of ticket holders were all Cure fans. Since tickets were only sold at 4 locations the lines were huge. I got to the Vic at noon and was the 53rd person in line. By 2pm the line was around the block and by 7pm there had to be close to 900 people in line. The Vic didn't do a lottery. As soon as you got in line you were given a ticket and a number on your hand corresponding to your place in line.If you didn't have the either you were sent to the back of the line. Tower records did have lotteries which were done at 6:15. My sister, who was number 200 at Tower, was able to get tickets as well,so I am assuming that out of the possible 1400 tickets they could sell 80% had to have gone to people waiting in lines."

(Thanks DJSPYB)

"Although they kept us in suspense longer here, things went more happily for most. I got to the Vic box office at 12:30, and was the 66th person in line, I finally ( and thankfully) got tickets at 7:30. The line was huge, I don't think I've ever seen anything quite like it, so clearly some won't get tickets, but the staff said, there was about 1200 tickets and the two radio stations had only set aside about 100. So, really much better than LA Ny and Atlanta."

(Thanks Ali)

(Thanks Terry)

"the march issue of the german Rolling Stone comes with Robert on the cover. It features a six page article about The Cure, a review of the promo show in Hamburg and an excellent review of Bloodflowers. The article is quite good, although there isn´t anything really new in it. Robert says, that if you listen to "Pornography", "Disintegration" and "Bloodflowers" one after the other you could figure out certain musical and lyrical contexts - it´s like his way out of the big black hole. He also says that he is sure that the gigs of the upcoming Dream Tour will be the best ones they ever did - even better than the "Pornography" ones. They rehearsed for weeks and Robert says that the band sounds fantastic right now. He also says that he is not sure about the end of The Cure, but he started recording some bad stuff in an Eno-style."

(Thanks Martin)

(Thanks Nicole)

(Thanks Manny)

(Thanks Nicole)

(Thanks Keith)

US - according to Soundscan, the album sold 70,953 copies in it's first week and will debut on the Billboard Top 200 chart at #16. In comparison, WMS entered at #12 with sales of 74,000, Wish entered at #2, Mixed up at #14, Disintegration at #45 (before slowly climbing to #12 and staying in the chart for 55 weeks!)

UK - debuts on the UK Albums chart at #14. In comparison, WMS entered at #9, Wish at #1, Disintegration at #3.

Finland - debuts on the Finnish album charts at #15.

Australia - debuts on the Australian National albums chart at #11.

Spain - debuts on the Spanish Top Albums chart at #18.

Germany - #2 on WOM salecharts and #4 on Zillo's readercharts.

Norway - debuts on the Norwegian sales chart at #5.

(Thanks Dan, Otto, Eclipse, David Martinez, Simon)

(Thanks John)

"The high school news channel Channel 1, used maybe someday to fade out on the other day, and today looped the beginning of where the birds always sing through a good 4 minute or so story."

(Thanks Matt)

(Thanks Susan)

(Thanks Brian)

"Just want to mention a Curespotting, that I am myself responsible for. I am the artist on the monthly comic: "The Dreaming", from Vertigo, DC Comics. Being a big Curefan, I have put in a little hidden adverticement for Bloodflowers in the february issue of The Dreaming, # 47. In a couple of panels there is a poster on a wall reading: The Cure, Bloodflowers. The Dreaming is, by the way, a pretty gothorientated comic filled with a lot of gothimagiary! So check it out if you don't know it already!"

(Thanks Christian)

(Thanks Diego)

"Danish Netstationen have a big theme on The Cure, where you can even win flowers. There's samples, articles and comments on all albums and even a discussion board about The Cure. The adress is www.n.dk/musik , but it's all written in danish, so it's mainly for scandinavian people".

(Thanks Peter)

The Cure Fan Club "Want!" presents

To get more information, take a look at the event page; http://www2.gol.com/users/fusae/cureclub/event_e.html

Fusae, Maki and Tsukamop

* The Cure Fan Club "Want!" *

cure_club@gol.com

http://www2.gol.com/users/fusae/cureclub/want.html

"In one of the interviews, Robert said that The Cure would come to Japan to play this year. And that there's another version of the song "Bloodflowers" made which he discarded after all. It's a longer version with a few lines added to the last part of the song, and comes to a happy conclusion. He called it "a happy version" and has kept it at his home."

(Thanks Fusae)

"CURIOSITY will play live on friday 3th march 2000 in "Le club des jeunes d'oupeye" ( Rue du roi albert - cour de l'école st andré ) (King albert street - St andré school) 9.30 pm

It's a small venue, so don't come late

A german date is announced by the 7th april and a mini tour in switzerland by the end of the year"

(Thanks Vincent)

THE NEW AND IMPROVED PINK PIG: CHANGING TOWARDS PERFECTION

Hello piggies,

It has been a long weekend of balance and deliberations among the Pink Pig Organizing Team. After liters of coffee and many many cookies we are happy to announce the following change (reached by consensus), which will improve a lot the result (this is, the set). Please, read on :)

The change: ----------

We have decided to include Bloodflowers and its outtakes in the same volume as the rest of the songs. This means that there will be only one volume containing the 13 cds and a separate scrapbook.

Why? ----

Because we consider that -given the concept used for the design and presentation of the set- It is essential to have all the material in one volume. By this we mean, the project has a theme that links all the songs submitted by the fans, and having a separate volume with the songs from Bloodflowers will ruin the concept . As you can imagine, we can't provide more information about this matter, as it has to be a surprise for the boys (and the fans as well :). Hope you understand what we're trying to say hereŠ Having the songs from Bloodflowers together with the rest of the songs will allow us to achieve the completion of our original idea to perfection.

The project came out before a definitive release date for Bloodflowers was available, and that's the reason why we organized it in the way we did. But then we had second thoughts, discussed them and believe this is the best thing to do. Besides that fact that the original idea will be fully conceived, the change will also have the following advantages:

- There will be only one volume that will be mailed as a whole.

- Instead of having a second volume comprising Bloodflowers and scrapbook, all the cds will be contained in one volume (which is more practical) and we will be able to make a separate, nicer and bigger scrapbook, with lots of pics and mementos of the making of Pink Pig.

- Both the band and the fans will have access to the complete Pink Pig at the same time

Sooo -------

To achieve what was explained above, we declare officially open the reservation period for the Bloodflowers songs.! :)

Please, read and follow the reservation policy :

- First and most important, nobody who took part in the recording (in any way) of the covers from the first phase of the project can reserve a song. Please don't give it a try, as your mail will be disregarded. If you already have a song in the project, be considerate towards others. We got many e-mails of people that were interested in participating but missed their chance so here is the very last chance of contributing with the most ambitious fan-based project ever! :)

- To make a reservation choose a song from the list bellow and send an e-mail to pinkpig@interar.com.ar with the following info:

Title: name of the song you want to reserve

Body: your name, city and country of residence.

Please, use this address JUST for reservations. If you have questions, comments, etc send them to pinkpigers@yahoo.com

Bloodflowers songs

OUT OF THIS WORLD

WATCHING ME FALL

WHERE THE BIRDS ALWAYS SING

MAYBE SOMEDAY

COMING UP

THE LAST DAY OF SUMMER

THERE IS NO IF...

THE LOUDEST SOUND

39

BLOODFLOWERS

For obvious reasons, the outtakes are not available for reservation. We will shortly post how are we going to deal with that issue.

Please, check the news section of our site for info .. coming very soon

http://usuarios.interar.com.ar/german/pinkpig/website/news.html

- If the requested song is assigned, you will get a confirmation e-mail from us.

Important: please do not start working on a song before getting our confirmation.

- After getting the confirmation mail you have 4 weeks to record and mail the song (please use registered mail) to

PINK PIG R. Bielsa 243 Depto 4 1427 Buenos Aires Argentina

Electronic submissions (mp3) will also be accepted.

- Please do not reserve a song if you're not 100% sure that you'll record it

What happens with the pre orders? ---------------------------------

The idea is to have the new and improved set ready to go by the end of April.

For those of you who have already sent the payment, don't worry: everything is perfect Š you will just have to wait a bit longer.

Those who haven't sent the payment, please hold on and mail it between the last week of March and the first week of April (payments must be here by the end of April)

As we mentioned, there will be only one shipment. In the case that the shipping cost is less than what we have mentioned, we will send the balance owing (US$ cash) together with the set to each of you. We believe that the difference may be compensated by the fact that the scrapbook will be larger but at the time we can't say for sure. One thing is for sure: you won't loose any money. The final cost of shipping will be posted in this section and send via e-mail to all the fans who ordered their set during the first week of May.

We know that it will take a bit longer, but it will be much better this way :) Still, if these changes made you change your mind and deciding against ordering the set, please send an email to pigpreorders@yahoo.com with the number of preorder as title, indicating that you want to cancel it.

Also, considering that the whole thing has been extended, pre ordering will be kept open until March 7th at midnight.

Questions? ----------

Have we puzzled you? Did you miss something? Existential doubts? Please send your question to pinkpigers@yahoo.com

Note: only the questions submitted to this address will be answered.

We are very sorry about this sudden change, but we believe that it will be for the VERY BEST and the result will be just like heaven (or almost ;) Believe us, it will be worth waiting!!

Please, keep checking the News section of our site for further updates

http://usuarios.interar.com.ar/german/pinkpig/website/news.html

Once again, thanks a lot for the support. nothing would have been possible without the collaboration of the coolest fans in the world you guys rock! :)

Love

Flor, German y Juan Jose

This morning KROQ announced that The Cure will be playing the Greek Theatre in L.A. (should be around the end of May / early June).

Please remember that these dates have NOT been confirmed. The US Dream Tour dates will be officially announced very soon.

(Thanks Monica)

The contract has been signed, the show HAS been confirmed and it IS happening.

The Vic Theatre says they will have all of the info tomorrow (Feb. 23rd) at noon.

93.1 XRT and Q101 say they will have an official announcement on Wednesday at noon.

(Thanks Shane, Lo, Dan and Cat)

(Thanks Tormod)

(Thanks Ian, Nicole, Dennis, Fab G.)

"Finnish Top 40 week #7 (www.yle.fi/radiomafia/lista/) was released yesterday and Bloodflowers went straight to the number 15. There was also a competition. They asked when The Cure played at Ruisrock Festival (Turku, Finland). The correct answer was 1985 and I was the first one to tell the correct answer and I won the Bloodflowers album."

(Thanks Aku-Tuomas)

"According to Universal Music - Russia press-release, The Cure with Bloodflowers are #4 in hit-parade of albums for the last week. 70 copies from the largest Moscow music shop "Purple Legion" were gone in one day. Other music shops ordered small number of copies (5-10) and they were gone in one hour."

(Thanks Goshmar and Disintegrator)

(Thanks Steven)

(Thanks thisdream and Andreas)

(Thanks Dennis)

(Thanks Robert)

(Thanks Mark)

"It's a very nice article, and robert says its NOT THE LAST cure album, but there will be also a solo album around 2002? There's also 2 nice picture's -1from T/W festival 1995 -1 from the promoshow in brussels."

(Thanks Mario)

There will not be any updates until tomorrow morning, as Nadine and I are flying to Dallas for the show tonight. We will be back by 9am tomorrow with a full report and I'll catch up with all of the news and reports from this weekend.

(Thanks David Martinez)

"The wait was eternal and it was in that characteristic Southern California February heat, but damn it was worth it. The band played two songs: Maybe Someday and InBetween Days. Because it was for TV they performed both songs twice so it was almost like four songs. The majority of the people there were there solely for them and we made that known. I think the tv crew were honestly surprised about just how loud and enthusiastic we were. Robert seemed sincerely touched by the reception we gave them and said "Maybe we should move here." He was in very good spirits and played with us, waving and making faces. The rest of the band weren't as animated, although Perry did look when we kept calling his name out and he smiled. It was short but they sound great and look to be enjoying themselves. It made us happy to have invested the time and filled us with that "It's good to have them back" feeling. If they continue to enjoy themselves they way they seemed to be today, the tour should be a great one."

(Thanks Emily)

And I know that a lot of fans didn't get in and are upset, but remember what your ticket said:

"Before you get too many emails from angry fans, I wanted to let you know what the situation was. Of course, as you could probably guess based on the number of fans here in LA, there was a huge line outside the studio for the taping today. AS WAS CLEARLY STATED ON THE TICKET, the ticket itself did not guarantee admission. There were a lot of unhappy people there, but they really have no cause to be; everything was spelled out to them ahead of time. The one good thing that MadTV did was let it stay first come first served. I heard a few people up front had been there since 5AM waiting for admisison at 4:30pm!! To be fair, it was rumored that there was a guestlist (partly Cure friends, partly industry reps) that took a fair chunk of the 250 seats. Who knows.

(Thanks Brett)

From yesterday's Orange County register:

"So you didn't get tickets to Saturday night's Cure show. Hey, don't sweat it, the band's coming back. Look for them to play at the tail end of May at Irvine Meadows and June 1 at the Open Air Theatre."

Also, we have unconfirmed dates of May 22nd in New Orleans, May 24th in Dallas (at Starplex), and June for NYC and New Jersey.

(Thanks Brad, Jason and Anthony)

"Today I saw a commercial for Bloodflowers. It was aired on VH1 during The List around 11:30pm. There was live footage of the band playing Maybe Someday, perhaps at the Hard Rock Live taping, I don't know. There was the Cure logo with the line through it on the left side of the screen and at the bottom they had things like, "Featuring: Maybe Someday" and a bit of a review from Alternative Press. Then a Tower Records logo and "In Stores Now".

(Thanks Kelly)

(Thanks Axel)

(Thanks Hidalgo)

(Thanks ZanneBar)

(Thanks Lorenzo)

(Thanks Patrice and Darren)

(Thanks Jeff and Jason)

(Thanks Jennifer)

(Thanks Luis)

"This article http://www.infosel.com/entretenimiento/articulo/026739/ published on Infosel, talks about Bloodflowers sunday midnight sale on one of the Mixup stores in Mexico City. It says that 12 thousand copies were edited for Mexico, from which 500 were sold at this last February the 13th sale, creating a new sales record (wow, only in one store in one night). The store did a contest where they picked up the fan who had the most Robert-like look. About 40 persons appeared dressing at their gothic best. The Mixup store in Monterrey didn't tell me any amount, but they talked about a "lot of people asking/buying the album". This article mentions that the posiblities of The Cure coming again to Mexico this summer increase significantly since Smith has defeated (?) his plane-phobia."

(Thanks Adrian)

"The Cure are currently featured on their main site, with a picture of the "Bloodflowers" cover, their description of the album. They're currently selling it with a discount, now 123 kr. On the album site you can also listen to snippets from "Watching Me Fall", "The Last Day Of Summer" and "Bloodflowers" and the songlist is featured.

Here's a link to the boxman site: http://www.boxman.no

I've translated their description: ---------------

The Cure rise after the bad reception of "Wild Mood Swings". According to the group, this is to be the last chapter in a dark trilogy consisting of "Pornography", "Disintegration", and now "Bloodflowers". Robert claims that "Watching Me Fall" is the best thing he has ever written. We can't fully agree with him there, but the song is strong. As usual, the album has to be listened to a while. There's quite a while since Cure wrote a song that gets to you at once. As good old "Lovecats", or "Friday I'm In Love" did. Still... it's good to have them back."

(Thanks Tormod)

"I was in school today and during the Channel-One broadcastas they broke for a commercial break, they played about 10 seconds of Maybe Someday."

(Thanks Halo)

And before you go (for those who read the morning update), I've added 2 new reports from Virgin last night:

I just got back from the autograph session at the Virgin Megastore in San Francisco and I thought that you might like to hear about it.

The line was HUGE. We (my girlfriend and I) were in the first third of the line and we waited about 5 hours before we actually got their signatures. There was a "No Photographs" rule, but we brought a camera anyway, which was good. They changed the rule to "No posing with the band, just take photos while you are in line."

While waiting on the second floor to meet the band, they went to the third floor to take a 5 minute bathroom (toilet ;-)) break. When Robert walked by he just kept staring at us with a nervous look while chewing his nails, I think they were painted black. Then, as he ascended the escalator, he just stared down at us all like a deer caught in headlights. Simon was behind him but he was looking away from us at the other escalator. Meanwhile, I was having camera problems, ugh :(, and girls were screaming their heads off.

When the Cure walked back, I continued to have camera problems.

A couple minutes later, Jason went upstairs. A few people were clicking their cameras and others were saying, "Is he in the band?"

When we were close to the tables where the Cure were, a security guard told me that I would not be able to take pictures while at the tables because of the flash. So, when I got up there I just turned the flash off.

Perry was first for giving autographs. The guy in front of us said something to Perry and Perry gave him a sip out of his cup containing some sort of dark liquid, then Perry told him, "That's enough for you, you're too young for this," while taking his cup back to his side of the table. Then, when my girlfriend, Kristin, was getting Perry's autograph I called Kristin's name and both Perry and Kristin looked at me. Perry saw the camera and smiled. When I got his autograph, I took another picture and he leaned back and smiled for me, very cool. he then said with concern, "The flash did not go off." I said, "That's because I did not want to hurt your eyes." "That's very considerate of you," he replied while smiling. When I asked him if they had been able to enjoy San Francisco, he said no because they just got off the plane about 2 hours ago. (That would make it about 6 to 6:30 p.m.).

Jason was second. I asked him if he needed a drum technician because I would love to work with him because I think he is great. He replied with a humble chuckle. In between fans, the band would doodle on the red tablecloth. The person behind me asked Jason if he was bored because he was scribbling on the tablecloth and he said, "No, just getting inspiration." Perry then leaned over and drew a space ship based on a triangle design and we all laughed. Jason also posed for me.

Roger was third. By this time, another security guard told me to stop taking pictures. So, I held the camera low and I hope I aimed straight. I told Roger that during a piano part in "Out Of This World" (I then began to describe it and I think he actually knew what I was trying to refer to) there is a small section that sounds just like a part in Beethoven's "Fur Elise" and that I thought it was brilliant. He lifted his head, leaned back, and gave a loud, hearty laugh. He then said, "I didn't play that part." "Oh," I said, "will you be playing it tomorrow night?" He nodded his head in a positive reply. I then said, "Well, that's what's important," and we both laughed. (But, does that mean that Robert played the keyboard part on OOTW?)

Simon was fourth. And here too, I hope I aimed straight. The security guard that yelled at me about the camera was starting to yell at Kristin for taking too long, sheeesh. Simon was in good spirits but he seemed really out-of-it, tired. Kristin had taken the centerfold of the Wild Mood Swings tour program out to have the band sign. It is the picture that has them all in black, sitting down, and surrounded by white with Jason on the left, then Simon, Robert, Perry, and Roger on the right. The reason why Kristin was taking so long with Simon was because he just kept holding the centerfold and staring at it. Then, he signed it and just put it down in front of himself. Kristin had to reach over and take it (seems funny, now). Simon then started to draw on the tablecloth and did not even notice that I had put my postcard in front of him. I got yelled at by that dumb security guard again for going too slow. So, I pushed my postcard closer to him. Simon finally noticed and very sincerely said, "Oh, sorry man." I said, "That's okay," and we both smiled.

Guess who was fifth. To Kristin's absolute ecstasy, and my surprise because she is the shy type, she asked Robert if he would shake her hand and she put it in front of him. He smiled and shook her hand! Then, when he saw what she had for him to sign, he took it, stared at it, and said, "This was in our heyday, when we looked good." When I got to Robert, I started to take more pictures, but I missed the handshake because I was still trying to work out what was going on with Simon. I told Robert that I loved the album and it's all I've been listening to and he simply thanked me. We then were hurried off by, well, you know.

Afterwards, we were so excited and filled with adrenaline that we were both shaking. Kristin's face was a bit red and my ears were burning. We did not want to leave. We wanted to be with the band forever. We wanted to get back in line but the security cut off and threw away everyone's wristbands that had gone through. :(

Then, Kristin and I kept thinking about what we wish we would have said. But nonetheless, the experience was wonderful. The band was very kind. They were awesome.

(thanks Chris)

I got to the Virgin Mega Store at a brush past 6pm, and due to a very devoted friend who had been many hours waiting in line for us, we were amung the first 20 people in line. Around 7:15 they starting letting people in in groups of 30 or so. From there, we were ushered up to the 2nd floor were I saw the band making their way to the aigning area from accross the floor. The wait was very nice, since it gaves us all more time just to stand there staring at the band.

Perry was the first in the row. He was very friendly, and quite articulate. Though, a very soft speaker.

Jason seemed very bored, and it was a bit sad since no one really seemed that interested that he was there. Though he said he loved doing signings when I asked him if he was tired after the flight.

Roger was probably the most friendly. He was shaking hands, and making pretty good quick conversation.

Simon was equally conversational and asking me questions of all things like how old I was. He said that I only looked 14, though in a "man, I used to be that young" sorta way.

Mr. Smith was last, and very charming. He wasn't wearing his make up, though you could see a hint of eyeliner, and lipstick that he hadn't washed out all the way. I asked him about Belle and Sebastain(a band), and he said he like them, then asked me if it was true if one of the members had just left. I told him it was just a false rumor, and he responded with something to the effect of, ' I'm not really good with what's rumors and what's not. '

Irony is a funny thing. The people at the Virgin Mega Store decided to blast Bloodflowers, and bacause of this I couldn't hear half of what Perry and Robert were saying. Oh well, nonetheless a very fun 6 or so minutes.

(Thanks John)

Showed up at 5:30pm in the 'wristband' line, and by 7pm the line had doubled to stretch up to O'Farrell St. The 'non-wristband' line was about 2/3 the length of the wristband line. At 8pm security announced the band would only be signing for people with wristbands. As expected, this didn't phase anyone without a wristband, and they stood their ground.

The line seemed to hardly move at all, and when I got inside on the 2nd floor of Virgin, I was greeted by another epic line. They had the band tucked away out of sight. It wasn't until I was about 20th in line that I could see them unobstructed, and about that time I had forgotten about my numb frozen feet. :)

The band members were cordial, but visibly fatigued. We proceeded quickly through the signings in a daze, too mesmerized to speak. I think I had something in mind I wanted to say to Robert given the opportunity, but all I managed was a sincere "Thank you."

When I exited the store at 10:30pm, there was two small lines of fans waiting outside. I don't know if they turned any fans away, but I hope not.

(Thanks Brandon)

so the san francisco instore went well, but im sure youll hear plenty about that... when i got to perry, i asked when their contract with Elektra is over, and he said that The Cure's contract ends with Bloodflowers, but Robert has one album left. i mentioned that i hoped that the whole band would be involved and he responded with an unsure shrug. id never heard anything about the robert contract thing, so i thought id send it your way.

(Thanks Jeff)

On the occasion of the release of Bloodflowers, 11th album from The Cure, its leader Robert Smith talks about his band, on of the most important British new wave bands.

L'Express - The cure have been around for about 25 years, but this album is the most autobiographical you have ever done...

Robert - For a long time, I have been afraid to be boring by only talking about myself. Bloodflowers ressembles me, it's true. This record has a dramatic and nostalgic trend, and emphasizes the idea of the "never again". It is the best Cure album, but it is the last : I am 40 and now I feel ready for working as a solo artist.

L'Express - Young English bands ( Garbage, Placebo... ) say they are influenced by the Cure. What do you think about that ?

Robert - Jimi Hendrix changed my life. Each generation influences the following one and as a consequence brings it back to the past... Personally, I have experienced New Wave from the inside : I became an adult in a extreme way. I was recently sorting some old photographs and I found another Robert Smith wearing make-up, caricatural and agressive. I didn't invent this character : he escaped from me. My anger is still the same, but I make it positive.

L'Express - "Blood" is still one of your favorite words...

Robert - Bloodflowers refers to the paintings of Bacon. I don't think of death in a romantic way anymore. This title is reminiscent of the attraction of death, but also of the strength and beauty of life.

Interview by Gilles Médioni.

(Thanks Sylvain)

"It´s quite funny because it must be the night before the Zillo interview. In it Robert, Daryl, Simon and the interviewer try to experience Hamburg´s nightlife. They also review all Cure albums. I hope I get to translate it by the weekend.

On the pagewith the charts Robert enumerates his top ten albums which are this time:

Another very funny thing is that the writers for "Musikexpress/Sounds" always enumerate their Top 5 and there always is a photo of each writer next to their personal Top 5 and in this issue every writer wears smeared lipstick, eyeliner and a Robert-wig."

(Thanks Martin)

Here are a few intersting things (to my opinion) that Robert answered:

- he doesn't like TIB even if the album still sounds good (for an album of the late 70s)

- Seventeen Seconds is an incredible album

- he does not remember the recording sessions of Faith

- He had lost his best friend (Simon) because of Pornography

- The Top is a bad album and it's because he produced it alone ("I wish I had been in a real band at the time")

- During the recording sessions of The Head On The Door, they were all friends and were just like a family

- They loved all the wine they drank during the Kiss me sessions in France

- He was horrible with the band's members during the recording sessions of Disintegration. Plus he says that he would agree to work again with Lol Tolhurst someday.

- Wish was very difficult to end because he already knew that Boris and Porl would leave soon.

- Wild Mood Swing is not as good as he used to state at the time

- If people consider that Bloodflowers sounds like a Cure album from the eighties, it will be the best compliment he could receive for this new album.

(ThanksBruno)

"This week, Lima's most important tv and entertainmnet magazine "TV+" published an interview with Robert Smith. I guess it was done in Madrid. Robert told the interviewer about the new album and the end of The Cure. The note was titled "Robert no llora" (Robert don't cry) and included a big picture of him and another with Mary. Bloodflowers will be available next monday in Lima. Doble 9 radio station is playing "Maybe Someday" every two hours.

Three weeks ago I received a mail from a local Show Business Company who were doing a poll to figure out Cure's popularity here in Lima. They asked me if i would go to a Cure's concert. They also asked me to re-mail the poll to all my friends. I hope they could bring The Cure at last to this country. "

(Thanks Juan)

(Thanks Goggles00)

Given the number of e-mails of people who missed the deadline we've been getting in these past 2 days, we decided to extend the preordering period for 5 more days (this is, until February 21st @ midnight). For those of you who are interested, send an email to pigpreorders@yahoo.com

Thanks a lot for the support ! :)

Love Flor, German & Juan Jose

<on Bloodflowers hangover>

Also, put the CD in your computer for some neat little extras from Elektra. The instructions on how to activate it are in the fine print where the copyright date is at the bottom of the back of the CD. It takes you to Elektra's new Cure site, where some new band photos and information is revealed.

(Thanks Desperately Seeking Charlotte and Ryan)

Digital Downloads

More from The Cure: Spinner caught up with Robert Smith fresh from the kick-off concert for The Cure's Bloodflowers tour. As a special addition to our ongoing Cure promotion, next week we'll be offering the interview for download from our Cure promotion page. Available February 22--don't miss it!

(Thanks Stephan)

(Thanks Scotty-Dog)

Satellite Monday, February 21, 2000

CD Release Party for The Cure "Bloodflowers" Come dressed as Robert Smith and enter our Look-Alike Contest Fabulous prizes and giveaways courtesy of Elektra Entertainment

DJs Frankie Macchia and Liz O. spinning Synthpop New Wave Darkwave

Club Fais Do-Do

5257 W. Adams Blvd., Los Angeles (between La Brea and Fairfax)

9pm-2am, all ages

Admission: $8, or $5 before 10:30 with ad from LA Weekly

Questions can be directed to: iceblinklk@aol.com

(Thanks Frankie)

(Thanks Stephen and Nicole)

(thanks james and shawnna)

CURE UPDATE

There is no new information about the possible CURE concert on February 25th. Please only call our concert hotline at 773-472-0366 or check the website for info. We promise to put it on both immediately!!! We are getting too many e-mails and calls a day. We know there are a lot of fans out there and we apologize for the wait - know that we are waiting too!

(Thanks Dan)

(Thanks Crystal)

(Thanks Rich)

"There was a report on the newalbum with a retrospective, interview and excerpts of the FNAC show. Robert said that he was not drunk for the last show and it was better, but that he continues to drink and take some drugs. Not for a creative sense but just for amusement. He told about his happiness for the new record and said that he built it to sound like old songs of The Cure that he loved more than others."

(Thanks Yan)

(Thanks Cin, Diana, Ramona and Christian)

"Just returned from the midnight sale at the Virgin in SF. I can't estimate how many people were in line, but it was alot. I thought I had a poor spot by getting there at 11pm, but by midnight the line stretched from Stockton-Market to O'Farrell-Market and up O'Farrell. By 1:15 am, I had CD, poster, and wristband in hand, and was much the happier. :)

They passed out more information about the wristbands for the Feb. 16 signing. I'm sure someone will send you a scan of the flyer, but here it is in case:

" The Cure autograph signing. February 16, 2000 7PM Virgin Megastore San Francisco -- Important Information.

o Starting Monday February 14 at midnight, the new Cure album "Bloodflowers" will go on sale. At that time we will start handing out wristbands for a place in line to meet the band on February 16 at 7 PM. We have a limited number to give out; we will continue passing them out until they are gone.

o Wristbands only guarantee placement in line, they do not guarantee a signature by the band. Time constraints may limit the amount of people with wristbands we can let in.

o If you do not get a wristband you are still welcome to come to the event. There is still a chance that you may get to meet the band.

o There will be TWO lines: one for people WITH wristbands and one for people WITHOUT. It is very important that you do not block the doorways of the other businesses along either line.

o Both lines will be along Market Street starting near front corner of the store and going towards Rite Aid. Please make sure that you join the correct line.

o The line of people with wristbands will be let in first. After everybody with a wristband has gone in, we will start letting people in who do not have wristbands.

o The Cure will be signing one item per person only. This is done to allow as many fans in to meet the band as possible.

o Sorry, there will be no photography allowed. "

(Thanks Brandon)

(Thanks Albert, Christian and Manuel of Cure Nius)

"Believe it or not, the next issue of tv guide (w/sarah michelle gellar on the cover) actually has one of those "close up" boxes featuring the cure/vh-1 spot. i understand that tv guide lists EVERYTHING, but this is like a close-up/highlight kinda thing...i was really suprised!

page 75 of the feb 19-25 issue, "close up music"

" THE RETURN OF THE CURE Two 80's powerhouses, the Cure and Violent Femmes, return to the stage.

The Cure found fame in the dark spookiness of goth, then in dance pop. Their upcoming cd, "Bloodflowers," harkens back to the band's early sound; front man Robert Smith describes it as 'heavier and darker.' The Cure's set includes the ballad "Out of This World," and the somber, dramatic "Bloodflowers" from the new album, and energetic versions of "Just Like Heaven," "Wrong Number," and "One Hundred Years."

Violent Femmes reprise the folk-punk sound that brought them success in a set featuring their breakthrough hit "Blister in the Sun" and "American Music."

and it features a little photo of robert w/guitar (looks like from the actual show). "

(Thanks Richard)

"friday 11th february "CAMBIO" one page article about BLOODFLOWERS

also on friday 11th Chilean newspaper "El Mercurio" has a one page article,full color page on its magazine "WIKEN".

monday the 14th the most important newspaper from Peru "El Comercio" a two page article on magazine "TVMAS".

Peruvian radio doble nueve (double nine) airplays Maybe Someday with good reviews from old fans."

(Thanks YTALO)

"They say that it's a good album "the reasons why you will love this album - which many already hate - are obvious". BUT they also say that the show in Paris (Arche de la Défense, Feb 7th) was "a disaster": according the journalist, the songs from Bloodflowers sound horrible on stage and their guitarist (Jason Cooper, he says!) murdered all songs. As usual, they say that Robert still had his old gothic look, that Simon had a ridiculous hat and that the cure's drummer look like a surfer. He concludes his article by saying that "the band's adventure is almost officially over and we hope it really is."

(Thanks Bruno)

"Thursday evening from 10pm-1am (Eastern time) I will be broadcasting 3 hours of the Cure, past and present. It's my normal radio time slot, you can listen online at http://listen.to/wshl or at http://www.stonehill.edu/wshl

If you'd like to send some email requests of specific songs you'd like played (and at certain times), please go ahead: lbasso@stonehill.edu"

(Thanks Lisa)

"I do a radio show on my college radio station at Yale every week. The station is WYBC AM 1340. Tonight I'll be playing all of Bloodflowers on it. (normally I always start and end with a Cure song). My show is 10 pm-12 am, Tuesdays. One has to download the Windows Media player to listen. The link to listen and download is: http://www.broadcast.com/radio/college/wybcam/ "

(Thanks Malini)

"My girlfriend and I attended the Bloodflowers listening party sponsored by Elektra at the Metro Cafe in Washington D.C. last night. We estimate that there were about 50 people there for the Cure party. They gave away 2 copies of Bloodflowers (one of which she won), promotional posters, red roses to all the women present, and a Cure "mega prize" which consisted of 4 albums, the Galore video, lipstick and glitter. For some reason, however, the "cool dj" decided to not play the last two songs which surprised us, but nontheless it was a really good time."

(Thanks John and Katie)

Australia - "There will be a Bloodflowers launch party in Perth, Western Australia, this Thursday night. Its at Geremiah's nightclub and there'll be giveaways etc. $6 / $4 entry."

(Thanks Andrew)

"in the news on Viva 2 today they mentioned the "Bloodflowers" release as a Valentine´s gift from The Cure. They showed another snippet of the interview with Robert, where he talks about what Valentine´s day means to him. He said that it could be a very hard day when you´re young and in love but don´t dare to show your feelings. They also played short parts of "Bloodflowers" and "There Is No If...".

The really interesting thing was that they are going to feature a special about The Cure on march, 2nd in the show "2 Rock"."

(Thanks Martin)

(Thanks Christian)

(Thanks John and Voltron64)

(Thanks Daryl)

"Today, Monterrey's most important newspaper El Norte (www.elnorte.com.mx) published a note about The Cure's new release (bloodflowers is since yesterday available in Mexico) and small bits of a telephone interview with Robert Smith. When he's asked about his memories of the Monterrey's show in 1992, Robert answers: "It was a very weird experience, because we traveled from California (to Monterrey) by bus, and all the travel, which was very long, was strange, because of the landscapes and everything. From the concert my fresher memories are that the weather was terribly hot and that people were very noisy. Now we want to play in Mexico City, we really want to do it" I must remark that in an interview in the mexican teen magazine ERES (published after the release of Wild Mood Swings), Robert told the interviewer that he felt regret because the band didn't play in Mexico City during the Wish Tour. He said that it happened like that, because he had promised to not to fly in 5 years; he thought that it had been a stupid decision."

(Thanks Adrian)

CURIOSITY will play live on friday the 18th february at 10pm in WAAIBERG-'T ELIXIR (tervuursevest 60, leuven, BELGIUM)

The band will play a dark show with song(s) from bloodflowers too !! + after the show, gothic party "Black Fever"

How to go to the show :Take the Liège/Luik highway to Brussels. Leave the highway in Leuven and take the highway E314/A2, exit 15. After, take the "Koning Boudewijnlaan" and you will arrive at the tervuursevest.

(Thanks Vincent)

St Louis - "There will be a cure listening party on monday, febuary 14 from kdhx 88.1 at the Tap Room. It is all ages and is from 7-9 pm. For more info call 314-241-2337."

(Thanks Jen)

San Diego - A Special Nightfall -- A Night Like This

One of the greatest bands to ever hit the airwaves is releasing what is> reported to be their final album. Please join us at a party to celebrate the release of Bloodflowers, as well as the work of the last 20 years. This special event will be held at the Brass Rail in conjunction with Nightfall on Sunday, February 20th. Doors open at 9pm, $3.00 cover, with the regular drink specials. DJ Cybian will be spinning, and there will be door prizes to give away as well. The music will feature The Cure, their influences, and artists that were influenced by The Cure - as well as their contemporaries through the years.

(Thanks Jennifer)

Seattle (reminder) - "We're having a listening party here in Seattle at 10 pm Monday night at Disc Go Round, 4527 University Way NE. We're having a contest for promo items and there will be free pizza and drinks!! Here's the link to our flyer. "

(Thanks Armin)

The whole 'Breakfast with The Cure" story IS NOT true and has been removed. What 99X will be doing is giving away tickets to the show this weekend and holding some sort of contest to be able to attend the soundcheck.

(Thanks Jim, Anna, Bill & Lisa)

(Thanks Kenneth, Juan, Mary, Chris)

(Thanks Thomas)

(Thanks Cin)

"I went to the Virgin Megastore in Oxford Street in London yesterday and in the album section there was a display containing The Cure's back catalogue. At the top there were a few lines which said that we could reserve a signed copy of Bloodflowers at no extra cost. Obviously there are only a limited number available and the band probably signed the copies last week when they were in town to play the Astoria which is just down the road. "

(Thanks Fab G)

(Thanks Alejandro)

"The Cure were mentioned in an interview by Deftones: talking about the new record "White Pony", the singer Chico Moreno said that "its sound will be very morbid and melodic"; he said that one of the tracks, called "New Murderer", recalls the sound of The Cure's Pornography."

(Thanks Davide)

(Thanks Mike)

(Thanks Christian)

(Thanks Stephan)

(Thanks Brian)

"It says that more than 400 tickets for the zurich-concert (april, 7th) were sold even before the show was announced! "Cure-Fans know everything about their heroes!" it says...

there probably aren't any other bands with such great fans! "it's almost a religion" it says,...

bf is judged as very interesting with deep & dark songs. "das ist Kult pur" it says... Fans will love it!!!"

(Thanks koyldo)

(Thanks Manuel of Cure Nius)

"I just recived my S.A.M. (student advantage magazine) in the mail today and their is a short article about robert smith and bloodflowers in it. they seem to think robert smith is singing with more conviction and heart than ever. thay also claim that their is an 11 minute song that sounds much like zepplin."

(Thanks Gregg)

"Bloodflowers went on sale in Impact Records, Canberra, yesterday, on the fri 11th of Feb. Finally picked it up this morning, 12th feb (I'm one of the ppl whove had the 196khz mp3 album since mid dec. and knew i would buy it as soon as it came out).

What was really exciting was the number of people in the store with it in hand and buying it. There were a lot of smiles and it was playing over the sound system in there. I hope this album sells well to really stick it to the record company for not releasing singles...

Oh! and Maybe Someday is getting played 2-3 times a day (at least) on JJJ Australia. "

(Thanks Nick)

Germany - On 19.02.2000 is in Halle/Saale (Germany) in the Steg e.V. Club the 6TH Cureparty "Bloodflowers" with DJ PCCS

Florida - Cure fans in South Florida, theres a Cure listening party febuary 15, 2000.. Elektra is putting it on and they are going to play the trilogy.. Pornography, Disintegration, and Bloodflowers..Call Radio X (954)262-8457. . At:Manrays 4301 N Federial highway, Pompano Florida.. also Uncle Sams in fort lauderdale wants to have a cure midnite release party.... www.unclesamsmusic.com go on their site and tell them you will be there

(Thanks Pauly676767)

Switzerland - On sunday there's not only the party in zurich (abart-club), but also one in Basel (skyline) and one in Luzern (blue valentine). Everybody is expected to dress in black and at midnight the women will get a red rose...

curiosity: on tuesday morning i heard on a local radio station that a record-store was giving away 100 tickets for the abart-club-party next sunday. you had to visit their homepage and leave there your adress... well, of course i did it and the next morning i got my invitation + 2 bf-cd's... "make a special person happy with the enclosed second advance album-copy" it sais...

(Thanks koyldo)

"Just returned from the cd release listening party in dallas. From my observations, about 75 total people showed up. During the doorprize drawing (at 1am) only about 30 people were present. Nothing splendidly cool given away, BUT 1 ticket voucher to Deep Ellum on 2/21 auctioned off for $250.00!"

(Thanks Brandon)

"I emailed people at CIE (Compañía Interamericana de Entretenimiento) www.cie.com.mx, the company who brought The Cure to Monterrey in 1992, and they told me that they are currently in negotiations to bring the band to Mexico, probably in august. "

(Thanks Adrian)

(Thanks ec1)

Tickets for the shows in Spain can now be purchased online at Gamerco.com.

(Thanks Maciek and Evelyne)

(Thanks Christian)

(Thanks Alexandre )

(Thanks Chris)

(Thanks Nicole)

(Thanks Cyndee)

(Thanks Pieter-Jan, Peter and Stephan)

Lock back in Minor

Two Celebrations, one Album: Through the Cure's 20th anniversary and Roberts 40th birthday, Robert achieved one long awaited wish: After Pornography and Disintegration Cure Boss releases with Bloodflowers the 3rd part of his very personal trilogy

Bloodflowers was announced already 2 years ago, but then its release was delayed again and again. What happened?

Robert: I exactly knew, what kind of album i would like to do, but when i met the band for first discussions, i had no good feeling. And i realy feared that there are plenty of problems.

What kind of problems?

Robert I was quite upset about the behaviour of some of our band members. There was no enthusiasm, no zest, no sensibility. The mood escalated, when i told them, that i don't want to record Bloodflowers with people, who are acting like a part-time band. I was realy very upset, more than that: I hated them !!

.....

So, did you paid contributions to your reputation as a dictator ?

Robert (laughing) I was more a conductor than a dictator ! And in the end, me, the whole band had the great feeling, that Bloodflowers has become very great. If Wild Mood Swings would have been the last cure album, i would have been rather unhappy, because the mood i wanted to express, was not realy right !!

... (finally) ... Is there a future for the cure, or not?

Robert The future lays in front of me like a white, clean screen. And I really thinking hard about what i should paint. Indeed I think, that i'll be releasing a solo album. There are already seven tracks, which have nothing to do with the music and the concept of the cure. But that might not (already) be the end for the cure.

(Thanks Patrick)

(Thanks Andrew)

"On tuesday The Cure were on first page of local paper (24 hours; Switzerland) and there was a review of the "La Défense" concert.

The journalist was at "La Défense" and he says the concert was boring and that the songs of pornography (100 years, figurehead, strange day) were the best but did not paste with the songs of BF.

He says that 39 is one of the best Cure's song ever and that Robert never sang as good as on BF.

He says that a rumour says that the Paléo Festival is intersting in invite The Cure (The Cure played in Paléo in 1985).

And he says that the song "17" on Adore of the smashing pumpkins is a tribute to The Cure's 17 seconds. But everybody knew it."

(Thanks Yannick)

(Thanks Márcio)

(Thanks Márcio)

There will be a Bloodflowers record release party at Stigmata , in Hollywood,CA on the 12th . It is located off of Hollywood Blvd , on Las Palmas . .

(Thanks FXHCURE)

switzerland's distributor for "fiction" placed a full-page ad in the weekly "going out guide" of the swiss/zurich newspaper "tages anzeiger" for the "bloodflowers" official pre-listening party happening at the "abart club" in zurich this coming sunday, 13 february. (start at 8 p.m.) (the ad is based on the "bf" promo cd booklet for switzerland, of which you had a scan online a few days ago.) at the bottom of the ad the date and ticket outlet information for the zurich dream tour gig are also given.

my dad told me that there was also an article on our "heroes" in today's issue of the swiss paper "blick" (which you can only compare to the uk's "sun"). they mentioned the pre-listening party happening in zurich, but also two more parties taking place on sunday that were not in the ad mentioned above. (and therefore not official, i guess.)

(Thanks patRice)

Two French music magazines have just published reviews of Bloodflowers and interviews of Robert for the new album. Here's a summary:

1) French magazine "Magic" has made an interview of Robert entitled "Bloody Valentine" in which

- Robert says that he now admits the existence of a Cure sound, "favouring dark climates and tense atmospheres”.

- He says that since he wanted Bloodflowers to be the last part of the trilogy begun with Pornography and Disintegration, he had to use the same working method (i.e. decide of everything).

- However, Robert doesn't regret the democratic method used for Wish and WMS "If we worked this way for those albums, it's because I felt like it!"

- About the "flop" of WMS, Robert says, "We didn't hit rock-bottom. When WMS was released, I was sincerely surprised at the lukewarm reception it got. To me, its only default is to have 2 songs too many on it, which are "Round & Round & Round... and Gone!". But Robert adds " But if you ask me what my favourite 5 cure LPs are, I'd answer the last five, without hesitation".

- About the fact that there are more guitars than keyboards on the new album: "Roger was fine with it, though I had to explain to him quite long why I chose that! I wanted to use keyboards only to enhance the melodies”.

- About the album having only 9 tracks: "There were 10 tracks out of the 17 we had wrapped that were perfect. I chose only 9 tracks because I didn't want the record to last more than an hour. It's really the maximum and because all the tracks blended with one another. Here again, it's like Pornography. I get tired of long albums, even with the bands I adore. But yet, I accepted that the 10th track, "Coming Up", appeared on the Japanese release. Anyway, you can't have the last word with those people"

-About the history of the Cure "I have few regrets.(...) If there is one thing I regret, it's how Lol Tolhurst was kicked out and the trial after that. It's sad to come to such an extent, especially for childhood friends. I didn't hear from him, I just knew he was hanging around in the conventions, which I found sad. But he wrote me a letter recently. I think I'll send him a New Year greetings card. This story has lasted enough."

- About the B-side compilation. " I’d like to release it but the record company doesn't seem to want it. I don't mind, if I have to, I'll release it through our website, which I update myself with the help of Roger"

-About the end of the band " I know, I have often announced the end of the band. As I've always told the musicians that every recording could be the last album. Anyway, it will inevitably happen some day. If Bloodflowers has to be the last Cure album, I'll have the satisfaction of stopping on a good mark".

And, as a conclusion, "The biggest lesson I've learnt over the last years is that Now, I know when to stop".

2) The other magazine is Les Inrockuptibles. They have also made an interview of Robert, more about him than about Bloodflowers.

- Robert says that he’s much better as a singer than as a guitarist.

- About the Cure, he says that in the past, he thought the band could experiment any style, which he no longer thinks.

- About Bloodflowers, he says that the album has a warm sound and that it’s been recorded so that the listener thinks the band is playing in his living room.

- About the album being released on Valentine’s Day, he says that the lyrics are less about love than relationships in general.

- About the end of The Cure, Robert says he’ll release his next solo project through the Internet. If it works, he’ll do a solo career, if it doesn’t he’ll work again with the band.

(Thanks Vincent)

And more from Les Inrockuptible:

Legendary years : He says he refuses to be melancholic thinking about the past when The Cure was three persons. Robert thinks the Pornography tour sounds like shit (it’s Robert’s own words) when he listens to the recording of these shows. He admits there weren’t many bands like The Cure at this time, that’s why it worked, but musically he doesn’t consider they were good as he wished they could be. The concept and ideas were good stating point, but it didn’t always work the way Robert wanted to. It made him frustrated. But it doesn’t mean he do not like this period, he had some great times and a lot of fun doing this. It’s just that he really thinks the band got better and better thru the years, like a good bottle of wine.

His voice : During the ten past years he thought he was a guitarist who sings, he was singing nearly the same way he talked. With the Kiss me album he began to consider himself as a real singer, and he thought, even knowing his vocals limits, he was better singer than guitarist.

Bloodflowers and old stuff : Robert admits Bloodflowers, Pornography and Disintegration are from the same “family”. But preparing the Dream tour, he finds it hard to put the old ones with the new ones. He thinks Bloodflowers got a really “warm” sound not like the other, which are more… cold. Robert says he recorded BF with a lot of acoustic guitars, trying to make the listener feeling in his living-room! He also thinks he writes better now than during Pornography.

The last one… BF is an album of the past either looking forward, Robert says. Writing it, he tried to explain the mutation feeling he had and so, the feeling it became the end of the Cure. A natural end : he says the band recorded BF as a last album.

…or not ?? Robert is categoric, the next thing which come out will be a solo-one. But he also says that if this “next thing” please him, he’ll keep on this way (without the band) and if not, he will form the Cure again (!!!!).

(Note: I've placed the reviews on the Bloodflowers review page)

(Thanks Julien)

(Thanks Jody & Dave)

"in the interview with the cure on studio brussels yesterday robert said that the next album would be a solo album and not a cure album. he said not that this is the last one but he wants to do something else. he also said that he listens a lot to drum&base and that he is really interested in this sort of music. at the end of the interview they said bloodflowers is out now so i called a recordshop in brussels (caroline) and they said that it will be out probably tomorow (friday the 11th)."

(Thanks Stephan)

"I heard on Xfm today that they are having some sort of Cure feature this weekend. The format was unclear but it seems that they are going to give away the back catalogue. What was a bit more interesting was a short clip of Robert talking. He repeated that Bloodflowers would be the last album as "... there's no point making another one. I want The Cure to go out at the top." He then said that he is disappointed with the low level of support they get in England. He would like to do more concerts here but he knows that they can go abroad and play to larger audiences."

(Thanks Andrew)

(Thanks Frank)

(Thanks Eric)

(Thanks Mark)

(Thanks Tom)

"There was a reportage yesterday on France 2 during the news. They quickly summed up the Cure's history and they showed an interview of Robert Smith. It was quite interesting and they said that The Cure will probably be the band everyone will remember when thinking about the eighties. Plus they showed a few seconds of the Paris gig (Feb 7th) with an excerpt of Watching me Fall.

You can view/download the entire video clip on the France 2 website: http://www.france2.fr/infos/sommaire-info.htm Then click on Video and choose Mardi 8 février 200, 20 heures). Sorry but since they propose all TV news on their website, there's no direct link."

(Thanks Bruno)

The Crows' flight

The Cure has left songs that several generations know and like.

The Cure is still alive. In the icy winter, the good news is spreading while the wintry weather invades the deserted streets of the big cities. The cult band is back; its black clothing is intact.

Twenty years ago or so, an English trio was about to unwillingly revolutionize pop music. This did not happen with a single pop song, it happened insidiously, with a few solar revolutions.

The Cure have become an important band. They have left us songs that several generations know and like. Their style is very changing, but the finally central character that hides behind The Cure and the fetish of the ghastly mask is none other than Robert Smith. With his very recognizable voice and a guitar play that was completely new for the time, he and his mates gave hope to an entire generation of young musicians for whom the simplicity of the Cure, its play note by note, its bass combined to Smith’s ethereal guitars have become a format. This was to such an extent that there were typical settings to obtain the Cure sound.

From yesterday to almost tomorrow, The Cure will have seen loads of people in its line-ups, without suffering from it since there has never been any conflict for the leadership. The Cure was and remains the archetype of the band that seeks, doubts, wonders; never to the extent of splitting, but with the principle of never using twice the same formula. And when The Cure finds, as happened at the time of “Faith” or “Pornography”, it changes to invent “Disintegration” and then changes again to offer “Wish” to its public of fans and groupies.

The other strength of the band was to be born of the generations that immediately followed the punk movement. The Cure imposed this notion of cultivated coldness with its dark clothing that the audience has adopted since then. The Cure conquered the world very slowly and France very quickly. One can remember the concert at L’Olympia, with that sound described as “sonic” or noisy, a sound that was nuclear without losing the romanticism of the lyrics expressing the doubts of fragile lost teenagers.

The ex-children of the punk and the new wave are back with an album that we no longer believed in -the doubt, always- and this landing at the dawn of the century sounds like the Cure forever.

(Thanks Vincent)

"They think Bloodflowers only has 3 good-old-songs (There is no if-Out of this world-The loudest sound) and the 3 worst songs are Watching me fall/39/Bloodflowers !! The interview is quite interesting, we learn things about Robert's first Cure tours opinion, the future of the Cure and how he wanted Bloodflowers to sound."

(Thanks Julien)

(Thanks Peter)

(Thanks Stephan)

"Polish radio journalist Piotr Stelmach asked Robert at Hamburg on February 1st:

- Could you promise that 'bf' is not the last Cure's album?

- Who told you it is?!! - Robert asked.

- Well, you did. I've read it in few magazines.

- C'mon, don't you know I always lie to interviewers?!! - Robert smiled.

That journalist told this story on air last saturday. "

(Thanks Mietek)

San Francisco - There's an ad in the SF Guardian advertising a record release party for Bloodflowers at Ballroom Blitz, a glam/new wave club. Its Friday, Feb 11 at the Cat Club 1190 Folsom @ 8th. The 1st 100 people get Bloodflowers posters and theres a grand prize of the entire Cure catalog on cd. Its from 9-3, $5, 21+. Info at newwavecity.com/blitz .

(Thanks Chris)

Melbourne, Australia - There is a release party here for Bloodflowers. Its on Saturday 12th Feb @Subculture 12 Mckillop st city. $7 to get in and it starts about 10pm.

(Thanks Richard)

New York - There's a listening party in new york city this saturday the 12th at don hill's (511 Greenwich St. corner of Spring 212 334 1390) the ad says it starts at 9pm and there's giveaways all night.

(Thanks Tracy)

LIVE 105 presents the Cure at the Fillmore, February 17, for a very special performance.

Tickets go on sale 10am Sunday, Feb. 13, at the Fillmore Box Office and through Ticketmaster Charge-By-Phone (415) 421-TIXS only! There is a two-ticket limit per person, and all tickets will be sold by a random lottery. Early lineups at the Fillmore Box office will not be allowed. There will be no Internet sales and no Ticketmaster Outlet sales. All ticket purchases must be picked up at the Fillmore Box Office the night of the show. Ticket holders must present a credit card (unless they paid cash) and a photo ID to pick up the tickets, then must enter the Fillmore immediately.

Doors open at 7pm; the show starts at 9pm. Tickets are $35 general admission plus applicable service charges.

Also, Ticketmaster now has the show listed.

(Thanks Lori, Dylan and Matt)

(Thanks Alberto)

(Thanks Bret)

American Psycho Features Equally Schizophrenic Soundtrack

Feb 8, 2000, 2:25 pm PT

The soundtrack to the film adaptation of Bret Easton Ellis' controversial novel American Psycho features an eclectic hybrid of music old and new, rivaling the schizophrenic nature of main character Patrick Bateman.

Leading the way will be the Cure's "Watching Me Fall," remixed by Massive Attack's Underdog; ex-Love and Rocket/Bauhaus guitarist Daniel Ash dueting with Portishead's Adrian Utley on "Trouble"; an American Psycho remix of David Bowie's "Something In the Air"; and Dope's cover of Dead or Alive's "You Spin Me Round."

Throw those in with '80s classics like Eric B. and Rakim's "Paid in Full," M/A/R/R/S' "Pump Up the Volume," Huey Lewis and the News' "Hip 2 Be Square," Information Society's "I Wanna Know (What You're Thinking)" and New Order's "True Faith" and you get a good idea of what an interesting hodgepodge of styles and genres the soundtrack will be.

Koch Records will release the soundtrack on April 4.

Here is a full track listing of American Psycho:

-- Kevin Rau

SPECIAL INTERNET MIX

The Cure webcast, live on dotmusic tonight (Weds) will be specially mixed for the internet by one of the band's former producers.

Dave Allen, who co-produced the Cure's 'The Head On The Door' and 'Kiss Me Kiss Me Kiss Me' albums, has agreed to mastermind the special dotmusic sound mobile studio that we're installing outside the Astoria in London. Dave will provide a special live mix of the gig and online fans will notice the difference.

"Music webcasts on other sites usually take a direct feed from the mixing desk," explains dotmusic Editor, Andy Strickland. "Dave Allen will remix that rather flat sound and provide our huge global audience with a sound much more like the one those lucky enough to have tickets will enjoy inside the packed venue. It's a bit of a first for UK music websites - but that's what dotmusic is all about."

dotmusic has built a special interactive Cure microsite around the webcast where fans can talk to each other and vote for their favourite albums before posting their own reviews of the London show.

Also, Dotmusic is having a Cure competition:

Dotmusic has printed up exclusive Cure webcast flyposters that are hanging on walls and shop fronts all over London as we speak. These collectors items will be torn down by fans or covered up within days, but we've got 10 of these special giant posters locked safely away as competition prizes. Ten winners will be picked at random at the end of the month.

To win a Cure-dotmusic flyposter just answer this question.

Q: What is the name of the Cure's UK record company?

Creation Fiction Deception

(Thanks Christian)

(Thanks Frank)

Last Pink Pig Update: only 5 days left to pre order!

Just a short note to remind you that there are 5 days left to pre order the Pink Pig set (pre ordering will finish at midnight on February 14th), so those of you who are interested, e-mail the following info to pigpreorders@yahoo.com

* Number of sets (1 or 2) in the title

* Name and surname

* Address to which the set has to be mailed

* Whether you took part in the recording of any of the covers.

For more info go to the news section at

http://usuarios.interar.com.ar/german/pinkpig/home.htm

We're getting there!!!

Love Flor, German & Juan Jose <undergoing Bloodflowers pre-release tension>

Lyon , France - there will be a bloodflowers listening party today (Feb. 9th) at plastic people, 12, rue sergent blandan at 10.30pm.

(Thanks Ice)

Tuscon, Az. - we're having a bloodflowers release/listening party 11 p.m. on monday, feb. 14th at zip's university music, 946 east university boulevard, across from main gate of university of arizona... flyer at link below: http://www.geocities.com/SunsetStrip/Theater/8444/flyer.jpg

hope everyone can join us! we'd love to know who's coming, please e-mail us at either insepia@uswest.net or doplgangr@uswest.net

(Thanks Jewel and Diana)

Sydney, Australia - Some details of the official Bloodflowers launch in Sydney that appeared in the local street press: 10pm until 3am Saturday 12th Feb, downstairs at Moretons, 20 Sussex St

Entry is $10 and there will be giveaways courtesy of Warner Music. Requests can be sent to requiem@darker.net

The Warners ad also confirms that the 'Australasian edition' includes Coming Up.

(Thanks Craig)

(Thanks Will)

Columbus, Oh. - there will be a cd release party on Feb. 14th at Millenium Night Club, sponsered by Millenium Night Club, Elektra Records, and the Virgin Megastore #20 Columbus. The address for the club is 747 Chambers Rd. Doors are at 10pm. The Virgin Megastore will be there to sell the album after midnight, and Elektra Records will be there to give out Cure Stuff.

(Thanks Denton)

Houston, Tx. - There will be a listening party at Numbers on Feb. 10th and a midnight record release on the 14th at Soundwaves will be selling Bloodflowers.

(Thanks Crimson Tears)

(Thanks Richard)

(Thanks Martin)

(Thanks to Jean-Yves for the Tim Burton info)

(Thanks Jean-Yves)

The Cure – The crows get out of the fog

The end of the Cure is announced regularly. And just as regularly, the band releases a new record. Here comes “Bloodflowers”, the 13th album of those dark-styled English whose melancholy tunes seem to pay a tribute to the English fog. Like usual, spleen and disenchanted romanticism are combined to musical sounds that are unique in the rock world. This may be the reason why the Cure, in spite of their 27 million records sold, are still considered as an underground band. The image of band’s lead singer Robert Smith contributes to that. Aged 41, this strange crow still exhibits his tousled hair, his black-painted eyes and his lips covered with blood-red lipstick. Right from the beginning of the band, thousands of young people turned themselves into clones of the writer of “Close to me”. “I understood that is was more to belong to a community than to identify with me”.

Since 1979’s “Killing an Arab”, a single inspired by Albert Camus’s “The Outsider”, The Cure has been gathering the post-punk generations. The French public always welcomes them warmly. Their concerts at le Zénith de Paris, on April 25th & 26th, should gather crowds once more.

(Thanks Vincent)

(Thanks Vincent)

(Thanks Nico)

Toronto, Canada - "There will be a Bloodflowers launch party this Thursday at the Velvet Underground. Seems that there's no cover & there will be giveaways. Doors open at 10."

(Thanks Flor)

Birmingham, Al. - "My CD store is having a midnight sale and listening party for "Bloodflowers" at 12am on February 15th...The store is called CD Solutions and we are located at 2401 Carson Road in Birmingham, AL. The phone # is (205) 853-1965. Call or email me at Bethcdgrl@AOL.COM if you have any questions!"

Lille, France - "There will be a Cure listening party in Lille, France this Thursday (10 th feb. 2000). The club (bar??? i dunno)is: BALATUM 13 rue de la barre Lille phone: 03.20.57.41.81

You must get your invitation for 2 persons from the Fnac store in Lille (at least thts what the Fnac says)"

(Thanks Pierre-Alexis)

(Thanks Tiffanie and Uncle Moe)

(Thanks Dennis)

http://welcome.to/electric.dreams

On Wednesday February 9th we are hosting a Cure aftershow party at Gossips. The Cure are playing on that day at the Astoria Theatre on Charing Cross Road, and so if any fans who are attending the concert want to come to the club to hear more of their favourite band's music, plus some eighties, goth and industrial, they should come to Gossips, 69 Dean Street, Soho W1, from 10.00pm onwards. The price of admission will be 4.00 on the door, and we should be open to 3.00am approx.

(Thanks Steve)

From Addicted to Noise:

Free Music: The Cure

New-wave icons the Cure have released a free download of "The Last Day of Summer," from their new album, Bloodflowers (Feb. 15), Elektra Records said Monday (Feb. 7). The cut, offered on the America Online-owned Winamp.com site, is available in Windows Media format and expires March 1. In addition, Cure frontman Robert Smith has programmed an online radio station for AOL's Spinner.com Net radio service. The promotion closely resembles one announced Thursday to support Madonna's new single "American Pie" and her film "The Next Best Thing." Both the Cure and the Material Girl record for labels in the Time Warner family. Their online projects demonstrate how easily Warner acts will be able to promote their work to AOL's 20 million subscribers if the planned merger of AOL and Time Warner is completed later this year. [Mon., Feb 7, 2000 9:56 PM EST]

(Thanks Daryl)

And from the Spinner.com e-mail newsletter:

Mainstage: Madonna and The Cure

We have two major artist promotions happening right now, celebrating new music from Madonna and The Cure. Madonna's much-anticipated cover of "American Pie," featured in the The Next Best Thing soundtrack, is in heavy rotation in Madonna's very own channel. Madonna's Mix boasts the Material Girl's latest singles, all of her classic hits, and songs from her own favorite artists.

This month The Cure will enter yet another chapter in their decades-long career with the release of their latest album, Bloodflowers. Can't wait? Get a taste of what's inside and download a free track from the album, care of Spinner and Winamp. Then be sure to check out our CurePix channel to hear songs from all of The Cure's albums, exclusive interviews with Robert Smith, and music from The Cure's influences.

ELEKTRA ENTERTAINMENT GROUP AND AMERICA ONLINE'S SPINNER.COM TO HOST WORLD PREMIERE OF THE CURE'S 20th ALBUM ELEKTRA ENTERTAINMENT GROUP - 2/7/2000 at 12:41:05

Spinner.com To Kick Off Exclusive Online Promotion With Official Debut Of The Cure's New Single "Maybe Someday"

NEW YORK AND SAN FRANCISCO -- February 7, 2000 - Elektra Entertainment Group today announced that it will join forces with America Online, Inc.'s Spinner.com, the first and largest Internet music service, to debut music from the newest and long-awaited release, Bloodflowers, by alternative rock group The Cure, due in stores February 15th.

Highlighted by the debut of the band's new single, "Maybe Someday," on February 3, the promotion will also feature band frontman Robert Smith and bandmembers as guest DJs on one of Spinner.com's more than 80 music channels.

Following tomorrow's secure download of "Maybe Someday," Spinner.com will feature the world premiere of "The Last Day of Summer" for secure download and an audio streaming of "Watching Me Fall" as well as other songs from Bloodflowers. Smith and bandmembers will support the promotion by going online and creating a pre-programmed playlist of more than 150 songs, including rare Cure gems (like eighties chart-toppers "Just Like Heaven" and "Why Can't I Be You") and songs that have influenced the band throughout its twenty-year career.

"This is the first joint endeavor with Elektra and AOL since the proposed AOL-Time Warner merger, reflecting the tremendous array of interactive opportunities on the horizon that are certain to benefit our entire roster of artists," explains Sylvia Rhone, Chairman and CEO of the Elektra Entertainment Group. "Our alliance with AOL offers loyal Cure fans all over the world the opportunity to join in the excitement of the new Cure album, creating a worldwide Cure community. We are very excited about Spinner.com's and Winamp's ability to continue to provide groundbreaking promotional vehicles and we look forward to expanding our relationship with these pivotal music services." "We're thrilled to have The Cure embrace Internet radio as the best way to showcase their new music to fans," said Josh Feltzer, President of Spinner.com. "This is a perfect example of how audio streaming can create communities specifically targeted to artists and their fans. And the bonus is having Robert Smith volunteering to serve as cyber DJ. What Cure fan wouldn't love the chance to hear the songs that inspired Robert Smith and what he considers his favorite recordings?"

Under the agreement, AOL's Spinner and Winamp brands will offer a secure digital download timed out at the end of February. The Cure programmed channel, titled, Cure Picks will be available for fans to tune into thru the end of May. Spinner.com will also feature prominent links to retail outlets where consumers can pre-order the new Cure album. To listen in to The Cure, fans can tune in to at www.spinner.com or by visiting Keywords: Entertainment or Music on America Online.

Founded by 17-year-old Robert Smith and schoolmates in 1976. Their album Pornography was the first Cure album to break into the UK Top 10 at #9 in 1982. In 1992, the band's single "Wish" went straight to #1 in the UK and #2 in the USA. The 1996 release "Wild Mood Swings" went straight to almost every Top Ten around the world. Bloodflowers is the twentieth album for the Cure, who have sold more than 27 million albums worldwide.

ABOUT ELEKTRA ENTERTAINMENT GROUP

Elektra Records is celebrating its 50th year as one of the music industry's most cutting edge labels. Home to such legendary and diverse artists as The Doors, AC/DC, Linda Ronstadt, Third Eye Blind, Busta Rhymes, Metallica, Missy Elliott and more, Elektra is a Warner Music Group company.

ABOUT SPINNER.COM

Spinner.com is the first and largest Internet music service with a database of 175,000 digitized songs delivered on 125+ highly specialized music channels. Covering an unprecedented depth and breadth of music programming -- with channels such as 90's Rock, Bluegrass, British Invasion, Chicago Blues, Top Pop, Great Guitar, Jungle and Latin -- Spinner.com reaches 1.3 million unique listeners per month, broadcasting two million songs per day. The Spinner.com music players -- the stand-alone Internet application Spinner Plus and the Web-based Spinner -- display song information as music is played, while providing dynamic links that enable online purchasing and real-time listener feedback. The company has partnerships with industry leaders including Real Networks, Amazon.com, @Home Network, as well as 350 record labels. Spinner.com was acquired by America Online, Inc. (NYSE: AOL), in May 1999, and merged with Nullsoft, Inc. Spinner.com and Nullsoft now reside in San Francisco's Audio Alley. They are an integral part of AOL's Interactive Properties Group. New listeners can visit Spinner.com and download a free player at www.spinner.com.

www.spinner.com

Bloodflowers is the last album. Robert says that he's fed up, he no longer wants to be a pop star.

He wants the Dream Tour to be exceptional, so that people will remember The Cure as a great and powerful band.

He intends to lead several solo projects but he does not mention songs.

He wants to work on instrumental projects only.

Another confirmation that it should be the last Cure album and tour : all the equipment will be sold this summer at the end of the tour

"Now i can spend a weekend without thinking about The Cure, i am progressively over it"

"I can't stand the things we allow ourselves on tour anymore. It's like these alcoholics who apologize for not being themselves when they drink"

((about him not wanting kids)) "When i met Mary, we were 14, she had lots of beliefs that she had to give up because of me. I don't know if it's a good deal... I exhaust people around me with my doubts"

"The other day, a furniture delivery guy looked at me as if i was a ghost. He saw me one day at a Dublin concert and told me 'you know i was a bit goth too when i was young'"

(Thanks Bruno and Muriel)

(Thanks Brian & Steve)

(Thanks to Manuel of Cure Nius)

(Thanks Alexandre)

(Thanks Flor)

"Today I got another thing that might be of interest for the fans. I received a BF-promo from a local radio station. This one was without any booklet or cover, but it was in an envelope with a kind of black humour?! I never saw such a direct statement saying that BF is definately the last album (but for whom? For the record company? But not for Robert and the Cure in general?)

I attach a scan from the outside and first inner sleeve of this "thing". Mainly it's an invitation for a release party.

The Promo and the strange envelope are released by Universal Music Switzerland.

(Thanks Greg)

MARDI 08/02

NPA1 : Pet Shop Boys pour leur dernier album

MUSIQUE : THE CURE

NPA2 : Arturo BRACHETTI

Vonda SHEPPARD

(Thanks Gregory)

"on the news show of german TV channel RTL 2 they brought a short snippet about The Cure. They said that Bloodflowers is gonna be their last album and mentioned that the Dream tour will come to Germany in april. They showed short snippets of the "Lullaby" video and of "Just like heaven" live (don´t know which gig it was). I was quite surprised about this because it was a regular news show and RTL 2 isn´t a music channel."

(Thanks Martin)

(Thanks Daniel)

"Yesterday my friend who works in a radio station told me that he received a promo single with this song from the record company. it looks like this is the promo single in poland, not OOTW nor Maybe Someday. there is only one song on the CD. "

(Thanks Maciek)

(Thanks Marc)

(Thanks Rich)

"Curiosity will play live on friday the 18th february WAAIBERG-'T ELIXIR (tervuursevest 60, 3000 leuven, BELGIUM) 10pm. They will play song(s) of the upcoming album BLOODFLOWERS and it will be a long dark show with a gothic party "BLACK FEVER" after the show. !!!!!They have received congratulations for their work by the cure themselves!!!!"

(Thanks Vincent)

Dallas, Tx. - "Bloodflowers" cd release listening party in dallas, tx. , with KNON 89.3 FM's own DJ STEREOTYPE from The Grey Zone. LIVE BROADCASTS!! *cure ticket voucher auction* doorprizes such as cd's, posters, and more! Friday night, Feb. 11th Doors open at 9pm

Redblood Club 2617 Commerce in Deep Ellum Dallas, Tx

this is an 89.3 FM KNON benefit event for more info. call 214-828-9500

(Thanks Anna)

Dresden, Germany - There will be a Cure Party in Dresden, Germany on Feb. 26th at Nickern castle 9.30pm. There will be some intereting projections and sounds and a second party on another floor (New Wave,Gothic,Eighties). Infos: www.silverfactory.de (silver_factory@hotmail.com). Here's a look at the flyer.

(Thanks Matthias)

Oslo, Norway - A free party in Oslo,Norway on Feb. 11th at So What. Check their website for more info.

(Thanks Tormod & Henning)

East Lansing, Mi. - A Bloodflowers listening party at The Small Planet in East Lansing, MI on Saturday Feburary 12th from 6-8pm. All Ages are welcome.

(Thanks Clay)

"It's confirmed by the belgian Newspaper Le Soir in the review of the thursday show that The Cure will play at Werchter on the first sunday of july (2 july exactly). They have the info of Robert himself and it's confirmed by the festival organisator. The review was good and said that the promo show was a perfect gift to the fans. Le Soir will publish a complete interview of Robert, probably the week the album comes out in Belgium."

(Thanks Jean-Yves)

(Thanks Alfredo and Larry)

(Thanks Colin)

(Thanks Steven & Ian)

(Thanks Wilgy)

"There will be a cure release party in Providence, Rhode Island. It will be held on wed. feb 09,2000 at Club Hell in Providence. It will be sponsered by 95.5 wbru. Club Hell is located at 73 Richmond st Providence RI 02903. For more info call club hell at 401-351-1977, or you may call WBRU at 401-272-9555. "

(Thanks Jonathon)

"There will be a "bloodflowers" listening party in Orlando, Fl. on Tuesday Feb. 6th. It's at the Sapphire Supper Club and starts at 6:30pm I believe. You should be able to get more info at Sapphiresupperclub.com."

"I heard on belgium's radio that the cure will come at the begining of july for the werchter festival. In fact, in radio 21, they said that the cure show in belgium was wonderful, without pop singles, and with a forest at the end (very traditional). At the end of the concert, robert said : see you in july. And after the concert, he talked with the organisers of the werchter festival."

(Thanks Vinch)

(Thanks Marina & Carlo)

"the Feb. 17th issue of rolling stone has a small and strange cure mention in the televison section on pg.61 under "the surf report". it says, "HARD ROCK LIVE: THE CURE Premieres Saturday, February 19th, midnight(ET); Vh1- The band that brings out the eye-shadow-wearing fat girl in all of us." we already knew about vh1, ofcourse- but the comment is rather random- by Harry Thomas if it matters...."

(Thanks midnightt)

(Thanks Martin)

(Thanks Jim)

(Thanks Clay and Christian)

(Thanks Jennifer)

(Thanks Jean-Yves)

(Thanks Simon)

(Thanks Paulo)

(Thanks Simon)

(Thanks Simon)

"Last night on WLIR (Long Island) the Cure got "retired" from the 9 o'clock Knock Out. They got retired becasue Mabey Someday won 14 nights in a row against other bands. Each night at 9, the radio station pits two new songs against each other. Listeners call in and vote. Last night they beat Utah Saints. The first night out they beat Live."

(Thanks Marc)

(Thanks Simon)

(Thanks Jerome)

THE CURE: The last word

(THE CURE, 02-01-00, MARKTHALLE, HAMBURG)

Yesterday THE CURE played their first show in the new millennium in Hamburg. The band around mastermind Robert Smith presented their album "BLOODFLOWERS", which will be released on february 14th and will be definetely the last album of the Goth-Cult-band, in the completely sold out Markthalle.

Robert Smith, THE CURE ...we´re finished

"When we started recording the album, everyone in the band believed it would be the last one. I wanted to create this final mood. Otherwise, a record like BLOODFLOWERS makes no sense. I wanted BLOODFLOWERS to be so perfectly THE CURE, that it would be senseless to do another CURE album.

And at the moment I still think like this. It is impossible to do another CURE album, cause there is no need for it. That´s it. I want to try something on my own to see if it works. If it doesn´t, I´ll work with THE CURE again, you know."

The final line-up of THE CURE is Simon Gallup and Perry Bamonte, Roger O´Donnell and Louis Pavlou (??? he is the drummer of the german Indie band "Pink Turns Blue". I don´t know how they hit on this???). Against all commercial laws and expectations, there won´t be neither a single nor a video.

Robert Smith, THE CURE ... no video, no single!

"It shall be like then, before there were videos. At that time you listened to records in the dark. I don´t want to give the album images. In this respect, it is an old-school-record."

The CURE show in London on february 9th will be webcasted by DOTMUSIC. In the future, Robert Smith will focus more on the web when he´ll place all remixes of BLOODFLOWERS there for free.

Robert Smith, THE CURE ... can I?

After the release of BLOODFLOWERS, after february 14th, THE CURE will stand there without a record deal. We will be able to do what we want in the web. At the moment I still have to ask 3 teams of lawyers for it, Universal, Elektra and Warner. "Please, please, can I???" It´s like in school. I am 40 years old and I have to ask for permission to place my own music on our homepage."

THE CURE

april, 8th Stuttgart

april, 9th Munich

april, 16th Berlin

april, 17th Hamburg

april, 28th Oberhausen

Probably THE CURE will be touring Germany for the last time in april.

Robert Smith, THE CURE ... march to july

"We will be touring Europe from march to may. The States, Australia and Japan will follow. After this I´ll have a holiday at home, without travelling."

(Thanks Martin & Brett)

(Thanks Manuel)

(Thanks Adam)

(Thanks Andreas)

And here are some reports about how its doing at local radio stations around the country:

"Thought I would pass along a bit of surprising info to you... 'Maybe Someday' was, again, the #1 song on 99X's (Peoria, IL) top 9 at 9 tonight, beating out Kid Rock. I figure it'll be up there again tomorrow, too. If anyone wants to hear the single, the radio station streams the broadcast in RealAudio, and Windows Media Player formats. Plays really nice even through a 56K modem. They count down the songs between 9 - 10 CST."

(Thanks Tim)

"I wanted to let you know that I have only been able to hear "Maybe Someday" twice on the radio in the last two weeks, but that's probably because I haven't been lucky enough to be in the car at the right times, because the first time I heard it was as the #1 song on the Top 10 at 10 Weekly countdown on Friday January 28, and the other time was today (Thursday February 3) as the number one song of the day on the "Top 5 at 5" countdown. So that means that "Maybe Someday" has been the most requested song for the last two straight weeks at the station! And the record company won't release a single ?!?

WEQX 102.7 is a medium sized independent radio station from Manchester, VT / Albany, NY. They have a modern rock format, but they take some risks and play interesting stuff, such as local bands and non-album tracks of popular bands, from time to time. They have a web page (with streaming audio) at weqx.com."

(Thanks Eric)

"I called the store today and they informed me that the scheduled time for the appearance is 7pm. There is no 'too early' to show up and the line will be forming on the Stockton side of the building. No info on what will be signed and how many but the lady was really nice and also a rabid Cure fan. They will also be having a release party in the store at midnight on the 15th, giving away a poster with album purchase. "

(Thanks Kam)

(Thanks Martin)

(Thanks An)

(Thanks Fusae)

(Thanks Tomek)

He thinks that this album will be the last one.

After feb. 14th they no longer have any contract with the record-labels, no single, no video.

He wants to ut different remixes of songs from bloodflowers on the internet.

In regards to the record companies, he said "It's disgusting, Iam 40 and i have to ask them [to release my own songs], it's like in school"

It was about a 5 min. interview, but that's all we have. If anyone has the rest, please send it in.

(Thanks Frank)

"I stopped by the Virgin Megastore to confirm the earlier posting. They confirmed it and said it would be in the late afternoon/early evening. They said that they probably won't be performing but that they will be meeting with fans and signing autographs plus the staff wants them to step into the DJ booth and play music for the store. The lady I spoke with didn't seem confident that the guys would agree to do this though."

(Thanks Eric)

(Thanks Tapier)

(Thanks Jean-Yves)

(Thanks Diego)

"Bloodflowers is now available in Japan. I got it in the small town of Hita, and if you can get it there, you can get it anywhere. Rather unusally, the bonus track is not at the end of the CD, but track number 5. Also unusually, the regular booklet (not the bonus Japanese one) has the lyrics to Coming Up and a bit of extra artwork as if it were a regular track. Were it not for a tiny indication on the wraparound folding card that comes with all Japanese CDs, you would assume it was not a bonus track at all."

(Thanks Samuel)

"What you do is fax or email your three favorite "Zone artists". then, on Friday's morning show with Mary Lucia and Brian Oake...they will announce the winner."

(Thanks Erik & Cyndee)

(Thanks Dennis)

(Thanks Dennis)

(Thanks Bruno)

'vote for the albums' http://www.rtl.fr/rtl/zikweb2/essentiels.asp

'vote for OOTW' http://www.rtl.fr/rtl/zikweb2/playlist.asp

(Thanks Christian)

"On Frebruary 9th there is a night for cure fans who want to listen bloodflowers in a pub called "Key West" 9, rue des Pêcheurs 67000 Strasbourg. Program of the night: - presentation du disque - places de concerts à gagner - albums à gangner."

(Thanks Luc)

(Thanks Alexandre)

Argentine radio "Rock Pop Fm" has been broadcasting (at least twice last monday) 'Out of this world'.

(Thanks Christian)

Polish radio station "Radio Zet" started promoting "The last day of summer" as the first song from "Bloodflowers" (according to me, very good choice :)) It currently occupies 6th place in the hits-chart.

(Thanks Tomek)

I heard a single off of Bloodflowers on beat106, out of Glasgow, Scotland. I think it was Out of This World; but I was 1. at work & supa-busy; 2. waaaaay too excited to hear one of the new songs that I didn't catch the title.

Also, Bloodflowers is Beat106's "Album of the Week". They're gonna play songs (& I assume other promo stuff). Beat106 can be heard on the internet at http://www.beat106.com.

(Thanks Vilkas)

Today, Feb 1st at midnight the Mexican Station "Radioactivo 98.5" played entirely Bloodflowers as part of a weekly show which presents premiers of the best new albums to be released.

(Thanks Iva)

Yesterday a swedish radiostation had the Sweedish premiere of "out of this world". The song is now on their a-rotation. The station is called Rocket 95.3 fm, the rock home of Stockholm.

You can visit their homepage and also listen in real audio at www.rocket.fm

They plan to have "Bloodflowers" as their record of the week, playing all of the songs during one week, later on this spring. I'll mail you more information about that later.

(Thanks Joakim)

"According the the Canal+ website (Nulle Part Ailleurs), people from all over the world should be able to watch the Cure performance via their website. There is a webcam allows to watch the rehearsal, plus a link that says (in French): "Watch the program in Realvideo at 6:20 pm". So Cure fans will be able to watch the Live performance (usually it's at the end of the program,8:20 pm our time.) Here's the link: http://www.cplus.fr/html/npa/netcam.html"

(Thanks Bruno)

" Robert says literaly that next step for The Cure is a long, (not definitive), break. During this break he will release his solo album. He says he has spoken to the rest of the band about that very seriously and adds that they understand it perfectly...

Says also that he has refused to sign or update any record label because he says that next he wants to do is experimenting on the internet possibilities...admits that he feels very opressed by record company lawyers...

Try http://www.mondosonoro.es to read the original interview..."

(Thanks David)

(Thanks Peter)

(Thanks Cristiano)

"Further to the report a week or so ago about the song "Coming Up" being played on Australian Radio Triple J, and the speculation about that track; Today at around 12:30pm east coast time (GMT+11hrs) "Maybe Someday" was played and announced as the first single. I'm not 100% sure this was the first time it was played, but they tend to carry on as if it is for the first few times that they do, until everyone wakes up to it.

The announcer stated the release date for the album as merely being "next week", but most other local sources have confirmed the 14th Feb date for Australia as well.

Contacts for the evening request show to hammer Triple J for some more air time are as follows;

ph 1 900 155 444 fx (02) 9333 2942 (within Aust)

http://www.abc.net.au/triplej/requests/default.htm"

(Thanks Kymbo)

(Thanks Brad)

"Listen for the 89X Bombtrack! When you hear it be caller X and you'll be qualified for a trip for two to Chicago to see the Cure at a very intimate show at the Vic Theater on February 25th. Just for qualifying we'll give you a really cool 89X tee shirt!"

(Thanks Robert)

(Thanks Brad)