Hole Return To Stage In Surprise U.K. Gig

Courtney Love and band open for mope-rockers the Cure at annual Blind Date concert in London.

SonicNet's Marti Zimlin reports:

LONDON -- More than 500 people crowded into the Kentish Town Forum in London on Sunday. They knew why, but not what for.

About 20 minutes before showtime, as Miller beer commercials flashed on giant video screens, and tracks by past performers for the event wafted from the sound system, wild rumors were circulating about who the opening act might be. The event was the Miller Genuine Draft Blind Date concert -- a promotional event in which the beer company sends contest-winners to see a special mystery performance in a major city.

Then, at 9 p.m., the red velvet curtains rose, and squeals of delight accompanied the appearance of singer Courtney Love and her post-grunge pop act, Hole -- the first in a surprise double-bill also featuring legendary mope-rockers the Cure.

"How is everybody tonight?" Love growled huskily into the microphone, at the onset of her band's first full concert in four years. "We haven't played for our fans for a long time!"

You wouldn't have known it from her stage presence. From the anthemic notes that opened the hit single "Celebrity Skin" (RealAudio excerpt), to such other Hole favorites as "Violets," "Beautiful Son" and the new single, "Malibu" (RealAudio excerpt), Love showed that even though she's taken time out for a Versace ad-campaign and recent film roles, she's still a rock performer.

Wearing tight black pants and a sheer top, Love prowled the stage, grinding her pelvis into her guitar and dancing around the microphone -- all in true rock-diva fashion. Young English techno-kids in high-tech Nikes raved while American goths sang along and pogoed to such past Hole tunes as "Miss World" and "Doll Parts."

Bush singer Gavin Rossdale and supermodel Kate Moss were seen bobbing their heads in appreciation.

The hour-long set included a cover of the Bob Dylan folk-rock classic "It's All Over Now, Baby Blue" and concluded with an acoustic version of "Northern Star," off the Celebrity Skin album, with Hole member Eric Erlandson accompanying Love on acoustic guitar.

But Polly (who didn't give her last name), 25, from South London, wasn't particularly impressed.

"I mean, they just aren't big over here, and I saw one of them being escorted around the guest-area by security. It's a guest area; we just don't act like that here in England. You wouldn't see [Oasis leader] Liam Gallagher being escorted by security," she exclaimed as she took a sip from her beer. "I was hoping it would be PJ Harvey. Hole are OK, I guess."

Others were grateful to have had the chance to catch Hole before they head out on a full tour.

"I f---ing loved it," said Crispin Matthews, 27, from Manchester. "It was alright, yeah. Courtney, she's my girl, and Hole haven't played here since Reading a few years ago. I thought the set was great, and I can't wait until she tours the U.K."

The identity of the next band was -- like the first -- anyone's guess. When asked who he thought it might be, Matthews replied, "The Prodigy and Oasis. As long as it wasn't Depeche Mode, I didn't care. I was kinda hoping for Ash, though, I must admit."

At 10:30 p.m. the Cure took to the stage and kicked off with their song "Fascination Street."

The band -- currently on a short hiatus from recording their follow-up to 1997's Wild Mood Swings -- performed for more than an hour and a half. Their set included "Just Like Heaven," "10:15 Saturday Night" and "Why Can't I Be You" and ended with an earth-shattering rendition of their classic, "Killing an Arab," from their first album, Boys Don't Cry.

Afterward, Roger O'Donnell, keyboardist for the Cure, said he thought the show was a success and a lot of fun, even if they didn't have time to hang out with Hole.

"The vibe just wasn't there," O'Donnell said. "I didn't even get a chance to check out their set. There was just so much going on."
 
 

Hole Takes the Cure on a Blind Date

Kentish Town Forum, London, October 11, 1998

To a converted cinema in a shabby part of North London they came: 500 Americans awaiting the apogee of a wild weekend. The Forum is awash with the sponsor's revolting beer, and there's an atypical buffet of dubious cold cuts -- though everywhere you look, happy couples are chowing down on each other's faces -- but who's providing the music for this bacchanal? Two bands, we're told. That's all we know.

The 8 p.m. start time comes and goes and anticipation billows nicely. It's strangely enjoyable having no idea who you're going to see, although I've been anticipating the worst all day, offering silent prayer that it won't be Green Day, Everclear or, please God, Smashing Pumpkins. Finally, the giant screen obscuring the stage ascends. There's a stunned pause followed by a raucous cheer. "That's Courtney Love! It's Hole!"

Goodness, the one-time doyenne of anti-corporate rock! "I heard she'd do anything for a beer, but this is ridiculous," laughs a woman behind me. But when they kick into "Celebrity Skin", there's no denying it: New Radio-Friendly Hole rock harder than a grandma with a grudge. Whatever her shortcomings on record, Courtney Love is extremely good value on a stage -- deliciously unpredictable and yet reliably vulgar, mischievous, funny and vain. Tonight, once she realizes the crowd is almost entirely American (as if no one had told her in advance), her mission is to upset the few Brits in the crowd. "Nothing wrong with the British, they just seem to forget that we won the war!" (Cue jingoistic American cheer.)

Melissa Auf Der Maur tells us they haven't played in front of a party crowd like this in a long time. Though relaxed, Courtney takes her usual verbal sideswipes at current obsessions that the crowd couldn't care less about. Tonight Lilith Fair feels the rough end of her tongue, and then the British class system: "It sucks. They should give it up and read the fucking Constitution!" Our nation's problems solved at a stroke! Hooray for the plucky blonde gal!

She's obviously defensive about the new pop tunes in the set, but they sound fine. One of the best moments is a surprise cover of Them's arrangement of Bob Dylan's "It's All Over Now, Baby Blue". Courtney loses her guitar and starts smacking a tambourine on her hip, fanning her fingers and shimmying tits-first to the mic, ass-twitching in a near-perfect impression of early Mick Jagger in one of his tarty moods.

She's at her best when free to preen like this. Hole's engine no longer runs on bile, it seems. There's none of the disaffected anger of "Teenage Whore" (which they don't play). Apart from a fearsome "Beautiful Son," the songs don't connect that way any more. It's Courtney's showwomanship, her lurid hybrid of Mae West, Joan Rivers and Joan Jett that rules. That said, she's not so slick she can avoid the intensity flagging. Despite rabid approval during the set, Hole received a strangely muted send-off. Someone has to come on and demand more noise before Courtney can skip on and pose all through an encore.

The screen comes down and the buzz goes up. They've won a contest, been flown over to London, put up in a swank hotel for a weekend, seen Hole as a support band. You can imagine the kind of anticipation that's crackling in the air about who's going to bring this crowd to climax. One group near me are expecting nothing less than U2.

"I wanna see R.E.M.," a guy called Dave says to my notepad. Just then the curtain goes up again, revealing a bunch of old warhorses dressed in black. It takes a while before my eyes sweep stage left and spy a thundercloud of hair. "Yes! The Cure! The fuckin' Cure!" shouts a guy by my ear. Dave looks supremely crestfallen.

The crowd is similarly divided. The gothy types are getting over the shock with dazed, disbelieving smiles. Those in baseball caps pull faces, but after a pummeling "Shake Dog Shake" everybody roars hello anyway and someone throws a welcoming pair of boxers at the stage.

I wonder if an all-British crowd of the same vintage would have been so delighted to see Robert, Simon and Co. appearing as their own tribute band? Personally, I've managed to avoid seeing the Cure at every available opportunity in the last twenty years. But I'd imagine this show is remarkably similar to any in that time. Robert Smith looks/sounds/does exactly the same as always. His "act" consisting merely of backcombing his hair before he goes on.

When you're relying on the material to do the work, it's a shame to have to wrestle with such a boomy, cavernous sound -- as if the thud 'n' rumble of the old songs alone wasn't enough. "Fascination Street" and "A Hundred Years" win through nonetheless, but the mix doesn't favor the claustrophobic intimacy of "Close To Me" or "Lullaby". The concrete-booted funk feel of "Never Enough" and other, more recent songs becomes unlistenable as it careens off the walls and swamps the ears. The invitation to "Go on, go on, just walk away" during "In Between Days" is too tempting. When it's over the crowd -- presumably succumbing to a lovely, beer-fueled nostalgic glow -- goes absolutely wild. I go absolutely home.

JIM IRVIN (October 14, 1998)
 
 

Before Cure played, absolutely nobody from the 400 strong audience had any idea about who they were about to see on stage. We only got to know about the gig ( and that Cure were playing ) a few hours before the actual event. Naturally, we were very excited.

With the first drum beat of Shake Dog Shake, the curtain lifted and the secret was revealed. It was an amazing experience to see how Cure were greeted by the audience. It was nice to hear A Night Like This again, and it was a wonderful verson. The audience were quite drunk, and even though they had no idea who was going to play, it was almost impossible to get to the front.

We were surprised when we heard Close to me (the single version). We think that it was fun for Robert to play "pop-songs", because the first encore with Love Song, Let's go to Bed and Why Can't I be You (not the long version) were excellent. After the summer gigs, we forgot how Robert dances. Shiver and Shake was quite fast and we have never heard this song so intensively sung. The same goes for Killing an Arab. It was obvious to see that Robert had really a lot of fun with this concert.

For the other fans that weren't as lucky as us to be there, we have to say that we never saw so strict security and it was nearly impossible to get in. It was really absolute luck that we were at the right place at the right time.
 
 

We wrote the concert review originally anonymously because we didn't want to cause any envy or jealousy between us and other fans. We want to emphasise again that it was absolute luck that we were there, and not a priveledge. We can understand that many fans are upset at not being there, or not being aware of the show, but it had nothing to do with the Cure. There was no guest list, no tickets available and the band was sworn to secrecy. Steve's assumptions are correct. At first it appeared impossible for us to get in, even though we had contacted the band after the soundcheck. They simply had no possibility to give out tickets or passes. It was only thanks to Karim's "gift of the gab" with a Forum employee, that we managed to get passes. We want to thank this person who really made a dream come true. We are sending you a scan of the VIP pass. This pass had no special priveledges. All 400 people had the same. If anyone wants to know any more about London, the please mail Karim at kabedi@yahoo.com "
 
 

The air was electric, my pulse was racing, adrenaline clouded my vision, even though it was apparent more than half the people there were part of the "business": I felt I was attending some sort of sinister industry-related showcase, where self-important representatives of all shades could rub buttocks in tight leather pants while drinking all the free Miller beer their hearts desired. Ignoring this, I cheered anyway.

Hole came on-stage first, Courtney in all her trailer-trash glory shouting away at the audience a handful of embarrassing epithets. Is her stupidity calculated, is she underestimating the intelligence of her audience, or are she and the kids gaping at her visible nipples just less sentient than I had hoped? Nevertheless, her band was "tight", the tunes were infectious. They gave an impressive performance and I discovered I knew far more Hole songs than I suspected. I even sang along, tapped my foot, had some beer spilled on me. Hurrah.

As various members of the audience were floating around the gaggle gathered at the front of the auditorium, their fists pumping away and the odd "sign of the devil" forked at Courtney and her lackies, I began to grow very concerned about the impending appearance of The Cure on that very same stage. As I studied the collection of drunken frat boys and be-headsocked skaters, doubts grew into my mind as to whether their inebriated glee would turn into more of a bar fight when Our Saturnine Heroes would grace the stage. I heard someone mention their excitement at hearing the unknown headliners would be the Beastie Boys. I cowered.

Indeed, when The Cure came on stage, I could sense a large degree of confusion in the audience. They calmed down a bit. They contemplated. Some just continued shouting anyway. I saw a very few walk away utterly perplexed (these were sporting "mullet" haircuts and gold chains, honest). The Cure played five songs, and when they belted out "Just Like Heaven", I could practically see the connection made and the light bulb appear above the crowd's head. And then all went mad.

Have you seen people floating at a Cure concert? Have you even seen a pit? All these were there...and more. Such a frightening raucous was made in between encores, with everyone stomping their feet and singing football cheers, I'm sure Bob & Co. felt a little bit more than surprised. I certainly did. Even those who had expressed intial disappointment were shouting unintelligibly by the end of the first set. And I was pleased. If The Cure can bring down the house, full of Miller drinkers, then they can thrill any audience, anywhere. It's not as if it were a red wine-tasting convention.

People sang along to songs they didn't know and waved their hands in the air as The Cure gave us a very impressive performance. Honestly, I couldn't tell you what any of them were wearing, let alone what Robert said (even if I could decipher it), but as soon as the audience warmed up, so did they. Robert giggled and Simon looked moody as he played back-to-back with Perry, the usual fare. All I can remember is being covered in sweat and entirely out of breath, my throat raw from screaming. As the night wore on and the audience pointed their devil horns at their newfound heroes, The Cure, eventually my exhausted self could only smile with unalloyed happiness at being shown just how much spirit they have left.

From Musicnewswire:

HOLE and The Cure Bring Down the House at Final 1998 MGD Blind Date At The Forum in London

400 U.S. Winners Flown to London for Exclusive Concert

Platinum recording artists HOLE and The Cure entertained nearly 400 Miller Genuine Draft Blind Date winners from across the country at a "mystery" concert tonight at The Forum in London. More than 400 music fans were flown from the U.S. to London Friday to see the sights and experience a show that featured some of the hottest acts in music.

The Cure, an Elektra Records recording artist, mesmerized the Blind Date audience when it hit the stage with frontman Robert Smith. A critically acclaimed British rock sensation, The Cure established a presence in the United States in 1986 with the release of its singles collection, Standing On A Beach. Blind Date winners were thrilled to hear familiar songs such as "Just Like Heaven" from the LP Kiss Me, Kiss Me, Kiss Me and made even more noise when The Cure played "Friday I'm In Love" from the multi-platinum album, Wish.

"Personally, I'd like to go to a show where I didn't know who was playing, but it would be difficult to do an entire tour on this premise," said Robert Smith, The Cure's lead singer. "It was one of the strangest concerts that I've ever done, but at the end it was good fun."

HOLE, a Geffen Records recording artist, kicked off the show and charged up the audience with cuts from its most recent release, Celebrity Skin. Vocalist and guitarist Courtney Love demonstrated her talent in songs that ranged from contemplative ballads to aggressive rock in tunes such as the title track, "Celebrity Skin" and "Malibu." Blind Date music fans were also hyped to hear tunes such as "Miss World" from Hole's 1994-platinum album, Live Through This.

"MGD Blind Date is all about bringing big name bands to small venues and this London show really delivered," said Bruce Winterton, Miller Genuine Draft brand director. "HOLE and The Cure are very dynamic acts and that made for a really impressive finale to the 1998 Blind Date program. Most importantly, these two bands got our Blind Date winners completely fired-up."
 
 

From MTV :

Hole, The Cure And Pearl Jam Provide Weekend Surprises

Roughly 400 contest winners were treated to surprise performances from Hole and the Cure in London Sunday night, courtesy of the latest "Blind Date" promotion staged by an American beer company. The winners were flown in from around the U.S., and, as in past promotions, not told who they were about to see.

"It was one of the strangest concerts that I've ever done, but at the end it was good fun," said The Cure's Robert Smith.

The London show was the third and final Blind Date event of 1998 and the first one ever in London. According to Britain's "New Musical Express," Hole played for about an hour, mostly offering up tracks from their new album, "Celebrity Skin."

The other Blind Dates this year included the Red Hot Chili Peppers, Garbage & Big Bad Voodoo Daddy's in Chicago in July and a secondary event featuring The Wallflowers in San Francisco in August. Previous years in the States and Canada have featured the Foo Fighters, Soundgarden, Metallica and others, all sticking to the 'big band, small venue' premise.
 
 

From spin online:

Secret Show Two: Hole, The Cure, Free Beer

"Did you guys guess? No? We played the K-ROQ showcase. We suck at this." Guess who? After ripping down the heavily guarded shroud of mystery, Hole took that stage at the London club the Forum and treated 500 contest winners to the raging title track from their latest album, Celebrity Skin. The show, sponsored by beer company Miller Genuine Draft, was a "Blind Date" affair, where the mystery rockers could be any number of A-list acts, however, few were expecting Courtney Love and company, who have been making noise of late about auditioning new guitarists, to deliver a full live show so quickly. Hole went on to play "Miss World" and "Doll Parts" from their classic sophomore release Live Through This, though not before Love noted that one lucky audience member looked like Monica Lewinsky. The proud California native asked: "Are there a lot of Americans here? English people with their class system--I love the British but they just seem to forget that we won the war." Love pulled up her already transparent top and flashed the crowd before launching into "Asking For It," providing Blind Date headliners the Cure with a seriously hard act to follow. They rose to the challenge with a crowd- pleasing set of classic material such as "Boys Don't Cry," "Love Song," "Just Like Heaven," "In Between Days," and "Killing An Arab." Sadly, Robert Smith and company didn't preview any new material from their upcoming, as-yet- untitled disc (due next Spring).
 
 

From Sonicnet:

Hole Take To The Stage Again

Courtney Love and Hole played their first live concert in nearly four years at London's Kentish Town Forum Sunday night. Opening for British mope-poppers the Cure, the post-grunge pop act Hole played a one-hour set for a secret Miller Genuine Draft "Blind Date" show, for which 500 radio-contest winners were flown in from the U.S. While Hole played material drawn from their new album, Celebrity Skin, the Cure stuck to career highlights such as "Fascination Street," "Just Like Heaven," "Close to Me" and "Killing an Arab."
 

From Chart Attack:

HOLE LOTTA COURTNEY

Courtney Love continues to make friends and influence people whereever she goes.

On Sunday, her band Hole played a secret opening gig for The Cure at the London Kentish Town Forum in London, England as part of the Miller Genuine Draft blind date concert series (hmm, that idea sounds familiar, eh?). The highlight? Love apparently teasing the crowd before bearing her breasts.
 
 

From Emily:

"Robert told one of the radio DJ's for our Southern California stations that he was excited about playing and getting out of the studio for a bit. He also had to leave for the show a day before everyone because he took the ferry (he didn't want to fly). He also said they will definetely be playing shows next summer."

From Ange:

Original comments removed by request of Ange.

To the cure,

Over the past week I have received non-stop emails and phonecalls from upset and angry uk fans, regarding the cure's secret show in london last sunday, and its been made VERY clear to me that the band are extremely upset at our general reaction.

I want to make clear that MY comment was made in reference to the 'set up' of the gig, not the band personally, after all why would I intentionally set out to upset and offend people that I know personally, a band which are a huge and important part of my life?

MY comment was purely an expression of us missing out on something we all love, enjoy and dedicate a lot of time to, not an all out attack on the band not caring about their fans....I personally would NEVER accuse the band of not caring when they, and their families have been so good to me and many of my friends...

I want to apologise for the fact I made my comments heard publicly, when I should have first contacted the band directly to find out why none of the 'uk faithful' were told about the gig.

It should be obvious that our reaction was so intense because we care SO much, and I'm sorry our 'gripes' didn't manifest themselves in a more constructive form. I think the time to worry should be when no one cares what the cure are doing anymore...

I have been really upset all week...we really didn't mean to hurt those we care about..I hope this clears the air

ange

susan
 
 

From Hugh:

Comments removed by request of Hugh.
 
 

From Steve:

from what i know about the mgd contests, the bands are sworn to secrecy and the band ISN'T given an alotment of tickets like they normally are. the people who see the bands are winners of the contest (and they are the only ones to see it). while i may not like the promotion, it's a contest put together by a beer company (the band receives some nice cash too). the bands and roadies aren't allowed to say who is involved (part of the contract i'd assume). these contest have been going on for about a year now and i think every time one happens the fans of the bands get all bent out of shape because they weren't invited.
 
 

From Nicole:

i understand the anger from everyone. i too am upset. i think it's neat miller beer would choose a band like the cure to be apart of their promotion, but when are the cure ever gonna play to a crowd of 400 REAL cure fans. there had to be so many people there that could have cared less about the cure, so this is where i become very annoyed.
 
 

From Menno:

My personal opinion: the fans angry about the secret gig should just be happy for the ones who did get to see it. Jesus Christ, all this nagging all the time.. I can imagine people being a little bit disappointed, but ANGRY at The Cure themselves? That's pathetic. There are fans in countries that the band will never visit, think about those for a change. I bet my life on it now that London will be played again.. and again.. and again..
 
 

From Chris:

I've just found out about the secret gig at the Forum. What can I say? I am completely outraged that they can disregard the feelings of the UK fanbase. I live on the outskirts of London and have seen the band loads of times here and abroad over the past fifteen years. Why can't we have the opportunity to go? The only time they've played this year ON OUR DOORSTEP and we don't find out until afterwards.
 
 

From Thierry:

i just wanted to say that not only british fans are upset about this secret show... many people on the continent, for example from germany, hungary, switzerland, italy, who've been faithful to the cure over many many years, would have liked to see this show as well... a concert for non-fans???? what a joke!

i just wanted to make clear that my comments about he gig were NOT supposed to criticize the band!! i was only disappointed of having missed this show, that's all! my love and admiration for the cure remains unchanged.
 

From Dean:

I think there is going to be a lot of squawk over the Cure in the Blind Date show. I hope Cure fans remember (myself included) that no matter how long they have been fans, no matter how many show travelled to, all that.. the Cure does not implicitly OWE us anything. I really shivered at the comment in your newsdesk that this guy Hugh OUGHT to have been offered a ticket or invited, simply because of his holy-fan-ship.

What would have been worse is for the Cure to have said no because of the fear of reprisal from its own fans.

I'm glad that the Cure thought it would be cool to be a part of this. I don't resent that I did not know of this ahead of time. Let them be. I am old enough to know that fans that cling to righteousness as fans never are appeased, and what is worse, it usually pushes bands away.
 
 

From Sascha:

a question to those who are upset: What the hell are you expecting? I think it was a funny idea FOR THE BAND... let them have fun on their own, like they ALWAYS do... i don't understand what you mean by saying that you have been faithful,true fans for years, following them everywhere. well, i do follow them to every concert too, but i don't expect them to play FOR ME, to do me favour or whatever. You sound like if you would deserve a 'reward' for being a faithful fan... Please stop complaining about that secret show! Imagine if only ONE fan would have been in the audience that knew what bands are going to play, soon EVERYONE in the crowd would know it, no surprise anymore! And besides that, next year there will be another tour (99% for sure) so you can see them again then.

ps. of course i would have liked to see that show, because i like to see EVERY show, but you can't always get what YOU want. Cést la vie!
 
 

From Dominique:

Yeah! it sucks that we all missed that gig! I just wanted to say that it's not so serious... I've seen the band live 4 times this summer and I have to say that I've never seen them (actually robert) so bad... I guess that gig in London (FOR A BEER... believe it or not!) was probably the same shit as this summer.. with Robert unable to play or sing a fucking song he already did 2000 times!!!
 

From Lars:

When I first read the news about that secret gig, I got quite furious. I've always dreamed and am still dreaming of seeing The Cure play such an intimate venue. And now, some folks who maybe don't love The Cure or even don't know much of their songs were able to see them playing in front of about 400 people ! Only because they took part in a competition of a beer company...!! Isn't that ridiculous ?!

Well, to some degrees, it is. But on the other hand I can understand the band. It was a great opportunity to combine getting out of the studio for a day with earning some (or a lot ?!) extra money. Try to be honest: wouldn't you do that, too ??

And I'm sure, Robert and the band loved the idea of playing in front of an audience that did not know what band will perform on stage. It was a way of playing a concert that they have never done before. So, it was a real challenge for them, wasn't it ?!

To my eye we all should not forget that they played several secret gigs in the past and they also played several smaller venues. All those shows were open for us. So, this time was different but then, is it a reason for criticize them so much ? I don't think so.

Once again, criticism is o.k. I'm also kind of angry and I'm still wondering if playing in front of real Cure fans would not be much more fun... And still, I'm wondering if I have to win a competition of a beer company, first, to see them play such an intimate venue. But this isn't a reason to criticize them so rudely. I think, it is much more a chance to persuade them giving another "secret" gig, just for us !

I think Christmas would be a very good time to give us that kind of present. And it would be a great chance to introduce their new stuff to us cure fanatics !!
 

From Francyne:

Dear faithful UK cure fans....firstly I don't doubt for a second that you are genuinly mad but please take into consideration that it was infact a "secret" concert and the point of the whole show was not to know who the band was..for all we know they could've been asked the day before to preform, plus, correct me if i'm wrong, you do have to qualify to gain entry which is a difficult task in itself. Maybe you should consult a lager company of your own to take part.

And also, please don't don't get any angrier then you already are at me but from what i've noticed the cure play the majority of their shows in the UK and europe in general so just think of it as a concert that happened in North America, and you cant help where they want to play. Also please don't accuse the cure of not caring about their fans, it's not the case at all. This is a semi-promotional thing and not meant to screw us fans over. They are going on tour next year aren't they? Once again i know that you feel screwed over here, if i was in your position i'd be doublely screwed because i'm also underage, but you need to look at things logically and you'll see...please email me if i've been mislead in any way at violet_halo@hotmail.com
 

From David (dim@arrakis.es):

THE CURE DON'T NEED YOU AND DON'T OWE YOU NOTHING

I think during the last few years, some (lots of) cure fans have adopted such a lamentable attittude about the band. When the band released Wild Mood Swings, they thought they were someone to complain about the commerciality of the songs. Lots of european fans, just said that The Cure had betrayed them (what a stupid thing) just basing their line in an american concept (i'm still trying to understand what it means). When they did the american club tour in december 1997, the complainings just kept going on. But... when The Cure came to Europe and just played in London...did anyone complain about that? The last summer i've done more than 10,000 kms to see 5 Cure gigs. For me it's the only way to see them. Since the 90s started, The Cure have played 16 times in London. They have played only twice in Barcelona (one of them without my most admired Simon). Do you realy think you have a solid reason to complain???

There's just one thing I can say: PLEASE, RESPECT THEM. They are professional musicians. So, they must do what they want to. If you don't like the record they release, don't buy it! If you think you have something against them, don't go to the shows. But remember: they don't need you to be a succesfull band, and they don't owe you anything. And please, before writting something as embarassing as the things I've read lately, try to imagine how would Robert or anyone in the band feel when they read it.
 

From Martin:

I live in London and was annoyed about the gig, until I saw the set list! It's the same set they played at Shepherd's Bush last Xmas! At least there were no new songs, that would have REALLY pissed me off.

I agree it's time there was a real "fan" gig - don't the Cure realise they have such a loyal fanbase, and yet there's no real fan club or anything like that... It's about time we got some better treatment! Anyone agree?
 

From Lorenzo:

"personally I think that The Cure CAN do a secret gig BUT FOR CURE FANS"
 

From Craig Pepper:

After reading through all the fan comments, it strikes me that a lot of you are being a bit precious with regard to this secret gig thing. The statements coming from "REAL" UK/euro fans are a bit over the top - you've seen the band many, many times and are pissed off you missed out this time. But consider fans who aren't as geographically fortunate as you - I live in Australia, have been a fan for more than 15 years, and have seen them precisely three times - 1984 and 1992 in Sydney, and last December in San Jose (by a fluke of timing and logistics). The fact that you live in the same country/continent as the Cure is great for you, but it doesn't entitle you to any special privileges - just consider yourself lucky that you get to see them as often as you do.

From Keith:

"My name is Keith and I work at Q101 Radio in Chicago. I just wanted to shed some light on the Blind Date Concert. For the last few years Miller Genuine Draft has been doing these Blind Date concerts in the States. The basic premise is "Big band small club, big mystery." People win tickets to a show and then are thrown on a bus. Miller takes them to a surprise location to see a concert, but they don't know where they're going until they get there, and they don't know who's playing until the curtains open.

Miller, along with participating radio stations, sponsors bar events across the country registering people for these very elusive tickets. Last year Bush played the concert in LA and David Bowie and the Chemical Brothers played the Chicago show. This year Miller decided to have one show in Chicago and the grand prize show in London. Winners from around the country were flown to see the Chicago show earlier this summer. Big Bad Voodoo Daddy, Garbage and the Red Hot Chili Peppers were the "secret" guests in Chicago. Unbeknownst to Miller, the bands were actually leaked to several sources the day before the show, and the names of the participating bands were in the Chicago Tribune (newspaper). This was not the case for the London show.

It was a complete secret to all those involved. The radio stations, promoters, winners and even many record label folks had no idea who was going to play. Rumors included Lenny Kravitz, U2, REM and even Depeche Mode. Don't feel too bad or too angry that you didn't know about the show or couldn't get tickets, tickets were certainly not available to general public. If you guys didn't know about the Blind Date promotion, then it appears that all the winners were flown in from other places around the world. I actually gave away tickets to the event on behalf of the radio station and had no idea the The Cure was going to appear. Imagine my shock when I received word from the show that my favorite band was the surprise headliners. I almost cried. "
 
 

From DarkSunFox:

I believe that the rules are that US radio stations are given tickets to fly to wherever the show is held and tickets to the show, and the radio station then uses them as promotional items. There is NO public addmittance, to people in the local area or people from around the country, world ect. It is simply for whoever wins from a radio contest. That should outrage more fans than just the British, but fans around the world who would want to see the band, yet didn't get to because it was only open to radio winners. Personally i think the concept behind it is weak.