The Cure: Classic or Dud?

I had a girlfriend once who was into these boys hard and she used to play is it 'Pictures of You' (?) over and over and over (a sort of pining for a lost love I think; not me, incidentally). Anyway, it used to bore the hell out of me, not to mention what felt like a large hole in my brain.

The thing is, with the Cure, it's like the Manic Street FUCKING Preachers syndrome - people who like 'em don't just like 'em, they fucking LOVE 'em, and think they're prophets or something. No, they are miserable, half-goths with absolutely nothing to say and even less charisma.

That said, I am admit that I am hardly familiar know their canon, since I can't bear exposure to it for protracated periods.

Still; DUDUDUDUDUDUDUDUDUDUDUDUDUDUDUDUDUD

Hmm, having said that, I do get riled when someone fails to 'get' my favourite bands and indulges in the kind of mindless attack I have already posted against The Cure. Yet, I feel that certain bands are wont to attract a more dependent following, who hang the band's music like metaphorical rosaries. And I'm not sure that even among my most beloved artists, there are those which I could hold in such equally mindless esteem.

What say you?

DUD

Yet I do wonder how much my own nosatlgia plays a role. I still think Wish is great, despite every. review. ever. written. Maybe if I hadn't listened to it for the 1st time as a teenager travelling thru Europe with schoomates I'd think differently.

Also, I really really like the Wolfgang Press song on _Lonely is an Eyesore_, but I've heard their recordings are pretty patchy. Any recommendations there?

the "cure=suburbia" part of Michael Bracewell's England Is Mine is one of the best things ever!

Classic, BTW. Again, my mid-teens coincided with Disintegration and I was full-on obsessed for a couple of years. I bought a shedload of albums at Oxfam last year, and a friend and I drove our GF/wives insane by listening, back to back, to 17 Seconds, Faith, Pornography and the Top. Divorce was on the horizon by the end of that evening.

Thing is, there are SO many B-sides and rarities which have officially surfaced that they'd have to put out a box set. As it is, if the remasters that are surfacing next year are going to include bonus discs for each with room for other oddities, then that will partially settle the problem.

Shake Dog Shake
Fascination Street
A Strange Day
A Night Like This
Lovesong
Push
Sinking
Pictures Of You
Lullaby
Lovecats
Maybe Someday
In Your House
From The Edge Of The Deep Green Sea
M
Charlotte Sometimes
Inbetween Days
Just Like Heaven
Hey You!!!
Play For Today
A Forest

Fire In Cairo (as a 3 piece)
Grinding Halt (as a 3 piece)
10.15 Saturday Night
Boys Don't Cry
I Dig You (with Porl Thompson and Frank The Postman)
I'm A Cult Hero (with Porl Thompson and Frank The Postman),
Close To Me
Let's Go To Bed
Why Can't I Be You
Friday I'm In Love

Fucking hell, just reading that through sends me into space. I'm still shellshocked.

Genius.

In Bob we trust.

him saying it's ready for release is a little different than saying it's almost done, no?

I think he was saying the next record was already recorded back when SOALW came outside

'about to be delivered to universal' at least gives me some room for optimism that it might actually be happening

and yeah he'd previously talked about how they'd recorded two albums worth of material during the songs of a lost world sessions

the fact that the last album was received with love instead of indifference might change the equation a bit

last night in Austria, no live stream but another ! setlist

https://www.setlist.fm/setlist/the-cure/2026/pannonia-fields-ii-blue-stage-nickelsdorf-austria-5341f309.html

"Shake Dog Shake," "100 Years" and "Plainsong" :swoon:

Tonight: Firenze Rocks - no live streams for any of the previous days, so probably none today either.

On BBC6 Robert said they have rehearsed 55 songs for this Summer festival tour, so we're not done yet :-)

look forward to that elusive Descent / Splintered In Her Head / Happy The Man encore

I *think* they played Happy The Man once or twice in 1984? I should check, they did do Splintered in '81 fairly regularly.

Yeah it was part of the standard setlist on the Top tour. Love that one and all the bsides from that 1983-1985 period

A Fragile Thing had its tour debut yesterday

https://www.setlist.fm/setlist/the-cure/2026/ippodromo-del-visarno-florence-italy-6b4c2eda.html

... I had NO idea any of this existed: the Pornography LSD Soaked Supercut, all 1982 session/TV versions (Siamese Twin with violins and ballet dancers) - https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=j7ZVKQOrQ-g

The in-studio version of “FIGURE HEAD” which opens that is one of my all time Cure favourites. Seeing them actually in those sessions was like finding footage of the pyramids being built or something.

Also peak Roberts Smith/Pattinson crossover

really like the version of "primary" (36:10) more in your face, vocals more up front.

On Saturday, they're headlining the Pinkpop Festival (after Editors) - there's going to be a livestream on Friday-Saturday-Sunday, several bands are announced already, just not the headliners.
Maybe those haven't decided if they want to be live streamed yet (Friday: Twenty One Pilots / Saturday: The Cure / Sunday: Foo Fighters) - this is the current schedule and also the page where the stream should be:

https://3voor12.vpro.nl/artikelen/pinkpop-livestream-tijdschema-2026

^ update: The Cure has been added to the streaming schedule. The complete set, two hours, Saturday

mailing list links:

Pinkpop, Saturday evening https://www.thecure.com/news/live/pinkpop/

Isle of Wight Festival, Sunday evening, UK ONLY :( - https://www.sky.com/watch/isle-of-wight-festival-2026

Thanks for all these updates StanM, as this point in time shows are fun to keep track of.

oh they are showing bits of some festival on sky arts tonight which is free to air. i wonder if Sunday night will also be? yes, according to TV listings

I hope that Pinkpop link on TheCure.com works because that VPRO livestream is geofenced after all, only visible in the NL (unless you VPN I guess)

doesn't look like we'll have any live streams this weekend after all :(

That’s weird Stan, I’m watching it without any problems here in Flanders

That link did just not show any stream for me on any of my browsers or devices - I don't get it. Anyway, I'm happy for you I guess :(

I'll find it somewhere, no worries :-)

Simon had a black eye?

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=joIICfW-Tw8

https://www.setlist.fm/setlist/the-cure/2026/megaland-south-stage-landgraaf-netherlands-634c9a4b.html

Charlotte Sometimes! (and they messed up Fascination Street)

Watching the opening there, I think it's sunk in that "Alone" is one of their all-time great songs, top ten even. It packs an emotional wallop.

in the uk, sky arts / sky mix (both freeview) tonight for Isle of Wight festival show. 9 to 11:15 it says but I'm not sure how much of that is the cure's set