The Cure – in concert at Rock Werchter, Belgium – June 28, 2019 – RTBF
Before you read, we gotta ask:
The Cure in concert at Rock Werchter, just one day ahead of their much talked about Glastonbury appearance. Since most everyone has heard the Glasto show, I suspected Rock Werchter may have gone largely unnoticed. Festival season is upon us and the embarrassment of riches is in full swing. And The Cure, true to form, are hitting the Festival circuit this year in a big way – with some 23 dates planned between June and August. A lot of shows and the road crew are no doubt up to their eyeballs in stage monitors.
For a band that’s been around for over forty years, The Cure have shown no indication of stopping, or even letting up. Since lead singer and founder Robert Smith is the only remaining original member of the band which started in 1978, there’s no point in stopping when their shows are written up as memorable and audiences have packed halls and stadiums all throughout this tour so far.
In case you haven’t been exposed to The Cure, or are coming to them just recently, here’s an excerpt from their Wikipedia page which should answer a few questions and shed some light:
The Cure formed in Crawley in 1976. The group has experienced continuous line-up changes over its lifespan, with vocalist, guitarist and principal songwriter Robert Smith being the only constant member. The band’s debut album was Three Imaginary Boys (1979) and this, along with several early singles, placed the band in the post-punk and new wave movements that had sprung up in the wake of the punk rock revolution in the United Kingdom. During the early 1980s the band’s increasingly dark and tormented music, as well as Smith’s stage look, was a staple of the emerging style of music known as gothic rock.
Following the release of the album Pornography in 1982, the band’s future was uncertain. Smith was keen to move past the gloomy reputation his band had acquired, introducing a greater pop sensibility into the band’s music. Songs such as “Let’s Go to Bed” (1982), “Just Like Heaven” (1987), “Lovesong” (1989) and “Friday I’m in Love” (1992) aided the band in receiving commercial popularity. The band are estimated to have sold roughly 27 million records as of 2004 and have released 13 studio albums, two EPs and over 30 singles to date. As of March 2019, the band are in the process of recording their fourteenth studio album which they hope to have released by the end of the year. They were inducted into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame in 2019.
In April 2018, Robert Smith announced that the Cure would be heading into the studio to record a new album with plans to release it in 2019. “It’s the 40th anniversary of the first album in 2019. I thought, if I don’t have something out new that year, that’s it for me,” Smith said.
In February 2019 it was announced that the Cure will embark on a twenty-three date tour from June through August consisting mostly of festival performances along with four dates in Sydney, Australia where the band will celebrate the 30th anniversary of Distintegration by performing the album in its entirety along with rarely or never performed outtakes from the album. The final Sydney show on 30 May was also live-streamed (and is currently still available) on YouTube. Smith hinted that the band might also perform the album in the United States at some point.
It was announced on 15 March that the Cure would headline the Glastonbury Festival in June, closing out the festival on Sunday 30 June. It would be their first set at Glastonbury since 1995, and their fourth appearance overall, tieing with Coldplay.
In a 30 March interview with Rolling Stone, Smith commented on the band’s next album saying, “For the first time in 20 years, we went into a studio—we actually went into the studio where they (Queen) did ‘Bohemian Rhapsody’. The songs are like 10 minutes, 12 minutes long. We recorded 19 songs. So I have no idea what to do now. The others are saying, ‘Triple album!’ I’m saying, no let’s not. I’ll pick six or maybe eight songs and do like a single album. But I think it will delight our hardcore fans. And probably really, really infuriate everyone else. At my age, I’m still doom and gloom. We’ll finish it before we start in the summer, and it’ll be mixed through the summer. And then so release date, I don’t know, October? Halloween! Come on!”
So now you know – all that’s left is to hit the play button, relax for the next 2 hours and enjoy the concert.
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