Turn off all the lights and sit for a while

Aching alone, waiting in the dark for you.”

In early May, The Cure made their long-awaited return to the North American stage, their first appearance stateside since 2016. An air of nostalgia marked their triumphant comeback concert in New Orleans, as the band revived a pair of tracks: “Six Different Ways,” a standout from the Head on the Door album, had only previously seen the stage during tours from 1985 to 1987; and “A Thousand Hours,” a deep cut from 1987’s Kiss Me, Kiss Me, Kiss Me, that had been untouched for over three decades. On this tour, Robert Smith has been strategically reaching into the grab bag of Cure deep cuts to keep things interesting, and enhance a little suspense at what else might be unearthed.

This theme of pleasant surprises continued into last night’s performance at the Hollywood Bowl. The band unveiled a significant milestone in their post-hiatus journey, a never-before-performed ’90s track named “Another Happy Birthday.” This piece, up until now, only existed as an instrumental demo from the Bloodflowers sessions. An instrumental demo version of this intriguing song has been subtly making rounds on YouTube for years. Robert Smith first dropped the song’s title during a 1997 conversation with Addicted to Noise. From an archived copy of the interview, Smith’s depiction of the song deviates from The Cure’s conventional mold, describing it as a break from the typical verse-chorus-verse structure, suggesting a more fluid arrangement. (Is this a hint that the song will appear on the forthcoming Songs of a Lost World?)

This melancholic track, with Roger O’Donnell’s distinct piano melody taking center stage, was notably rehearsed during the band’s UK tour in the preceding year – yet it wasn’t officially debuted until Tuesday night’s performance. Giving this long-lost track some love was not only a delightful bolt from out of the blue, but also marked a new chapter in The Cure’s journey, making each concert an exciting and unpredictable experience. Watch below:

On this tour, Robert Smith is accompanied by his long-time comrade, bassist Simon Gallup, joined by the band’s skilled ensemble of musicians, including drummer Jason Cooper, keyboardist Roger O’Donnell, and guitarist Reeves Gabrels. Adding an unexpected twist last fall, Smith delighted fans by welcoming back guitarist/keyboardist Perry Bamonte to the lineup.

The Shows of a Lost World tour continues tonight and tomorrow at the Hollywood Bowl and will wrap on July 1 in Miami. Remainder dates are below:

• May 24: Los Angeles, CA — Hollywood Bowl
• May 25: Los Angeles, CA — Hollywood Bowl
• May 27: San Francisco, CA — Shoreline Amphitheatre
• May 29: San Francisco, CA — Shoreline Amphitheatre
• May 31: Portland, OR — MODA Centre
• June 1: Seattle, WA — Climate Pledge Arena
• June 2: Vancouver, BC — Rogers Arena
• June 4: Salt Lake City, UT — Vivint Smart Home Arena
• June 6: Denver, CO — Fiddler’s Green Amphitheatre
• June 8: Minneapolis St. Paul, MN — Xcel Energy Center
• June 10: Chicago, IL — United Center
• June 11: Cleveland, OH — Blossom Music Center
• June 13: Detroit, MI — Pine Knob Music Theatre
• June 14: Toronto, ON — Budweiser Stage
• June 16: Montreal, QC — Bell Centre
• June 17: Montreal, QC — Bell Centre
• June 18: Boston, MA — Xfinity Center
• June 20: New York, NY — Madison Square Garden
• June 21: New York, NY — Madison Square Garden
• June 22: New York, NY — Madison Square Garden
• June 24: Philadelphia, PA — Wells Fargo Center
• June 25: Columbia, MD — Merriweather Post Pavilion
• June 27: Atlanta, GA — State Farm Arena
• June 28: Atlanta, GA — State Farm Arena
• June 29: Tampa, FL — Amalie Arena
• July 1: Miami, FL — Miami-Dade Arena

The post The Cure Unveils New Song “Another Happy Birthday” During First Night at the Hollywood Bowl appeared first on Post-Punk.com.

The album was the last record to be released via 4AD records before the band moved onto the much larger and mainstream Capital Records for their next two records.

On the album’s creation, bassist Simon Raymonde told The Skinny during a career spanning interview a few years ago:

“It was a really weird time; while the music was amazing and great fun to be a part of, together Robin and I wrote some of our best tunes and separately too, he wrote a couple all on his own and I wrote a couple all on my own and when he added things to mine it made them better and vice versa. We were in a very good space musically but we were putting so much time and effort into the music, it was trying to mask all the other shit that was going on that we didn’t want to stop and think about for too long. But the drug problem did get absolutely out of hand by the end of the recording of Heaven or Las Vegas and that obviously led to the rehab period which we moved into shortly afterwards.”

The album’s lead single “Ice-Blink Luck”, is definitely the most pop-friendly of all the band’s songs and begun the new trend of singer Elizabeth Fraser actually writing and singing intelligible lyrics, as the opposed to the melange of sounds taking from several languages, and natural history books covering Entomology.

In our list of the 100 best Dream Pop Records, our editor Frank Deserto had this to say about the album:

“Arguably their magnum opus, Cocteau Twins were already on the top of their game for several years running by the time they released their sixth full-length record, their last for 4AD. It marks a latter-day peak in the band’s career as well as a dividing line, propelling the band further into alternative subconscious and employing both the catchiest set of tunes and the most intelligible lyrics Elizabeth Fraser would sing to date, mainly inspired by the birth of daughter Lucy Belle. The sweeping title track aside, the album’s bookends are chock full of slow, burning embers that wrap the rest of the record up in a shimmering, finespun bow.”

Watch the video for the album’s title track below:

Watch the full concert above from the Town Country Club, from November 1st, 1990. (The audio is synced from a Detroit concert)

Below is a note from the Youtuber who remastered the footage with synced audio, along with the setlist, enjoy!

“I’ve remastered the original Cocteau Twins London video and synched it to the superior remastered soundboard recording of the same show in Detroit. I was able to improve the video quality considerably and provide more depth to the colors. Fortunately, the video was shot well, by someone who knew the songs. Syncing was possible because the Twins used backing tracks that played in perfect time.”

The post Cocteau Twins | Heaven or Las Vegas appeared first on Post-Punk.com.

Live in Japan documents the October 17th, 1984, performance in Tokyo and received a release the following year in Japan on VHS and Betamax.

The Japanese concert film was not widely available in the US and has never been released on DVD. A used copy chas been known to cost over $499 via Discogs. For those not flush with cash, the film had been frustratingly removed from YouTube several times. Now, however, it has been uploaded by none other than drummer Andy Anderson, who was a member of The Cure during the filming of this concert.

Andy had joined Robert Smith, along with guitarist Porl Thompson, keyboardist Lol Tolhurst and bassist Phil Thornalley who comprised this short lived lineup during promotion of The Cure’s fifth studio album The Top. That album–incidentally, did not see originally see a release in the US—possibly due to it’s experimental nature and departure from the pop sound featured on the singles that make up the compilation Japanese Whispers.

Setlist:

1. Shake Dog Shake
2. Play For Today
3. Primary
4. Wailing Wall
5. The Empty World
6. The Hanging Garden
7. The Walk
8. One Hundred Years
9. Give Me It
10. A Forest
11. The Top
12. Charlotte Sometimes
13. Let’s Go To Bed
14. The Caterpillar
15. Boys Don’t Cry
16. 10:15 Saturday Night
17. Killing An Arab
18. The Lovecats

The post Watch the Out of Print “The Top” Era Cure Concert Film “Live In Japan” appeared first on Post-Punk.com.

In 1986, a VHS called Pumped Full Of Drugs was released on Factory Records that certainly fueled rumours as much as Noel Gallagher’s ego is fueled by cocaine. Prior to the release of their 1985 masterpiece Low-Life (maybe their best album), the band played one concert in Tokyo, on May 2, 1985, which was taped and released under the catalogue number FAC177, and…to my great pleasure the video features my favorite New Order song Sub-Culture. This one I always miss at their concerts.

Proving that they’re a damn good live band from the very beginning on, despite giving many singers the courage to pick up a microphone themselves as Bernard Sumner was certainly pumped full of… Adrenalin and missing a few notes (his voice is better than ever these days), this New Order concert is well worth the watch, in excellent audio and video quality. Spotting Tony Wilson on this tape earns you a warm handshake.

Tracklist:

1. Intro (Japanese National Anthem)
2. Confusion
3. Love Vigilantes
4. We All Stand
5. As It Is When It Was
6. Sub-Culture
7. Face Up
8. Sunrise
9. This Time of Night
10. Blue Monday

The post New Order | “Pumped Full Of Drugs” Live in Japan 1985 appeared first on Post-Punk.com.

Tracklist:

• Gloria
• 11 O’Clock Tick Tock
• I Will Follow
• Party Girl
• Sunday Bloody Sunday
• The Electric Co.
• New Year’s Day
• 40″

Below, you can watch the accompanying concert film U2 Live at Red Rocks: Under a Blood Red Sky, whose release helped establish U2’s reputation for putting pathos into their live performances, and one particular performance—that of the track “Sunday Bloody Sunday”, is considered by some to be of the greatest moments in Rock and Roll.

Enjoy.

The post U2: Under A Blood Red Sky | Live at Redrocks appeared first on Post-Punk.com.

This concert is the one they played “Burn” from The Crow Soundtrack (original video below)  for the first and only time.

Enjoy

Setlist:

Shake Dog Shake

Fascination Street

From the Edge of the Deep Green Sea

The End of the World

Lovesong

Just Like Heaven

Burn

Pictures of You

Lullaby

High

Hot Hot Hot!!!

The Caterpillar

The Walk

Stop Dead

Push

In Between Days

Friday I’m in Love

Doing the Unstuck

Bananafishbones

Want

The Hungry Ghost

Wrong Number

One Hundred Years

Give Me It

Encore

The Lovecats

Close to Me

Let’s Go to Bed

Why Can’t I Be You?

Boys Don’t Cry

The post Watch The Cure Live at Voodoo Festival 2013 appeared first on Post-Punk.com.

The band in it’s original incarnation only released one 4 song demo, but would go on to release live recordings, and reunite twice, including a 2005 performance at the third annual Drop Dead Festival—with Julia Ghoulia from The Brides on vocals.

During this reunion period, Christopher Bollman, and Greg formed the spectacularly beautiful Post-Punk Revival and Dream Pop band Bell Hollow.

Pick up Sons of the Burgess Shale, or Foxgloves if you can—these records really are treasures!!!

Okay, so on to the photogalleries:

• Adam Ant
• Andi Sex Gang
• Chopshop
• Cocteau Twins
• The Jesus and Mary Chain (First US Concert!)
• The March Violets
• Red Lorry Yellow Lorry
• Sonic Youth
• The Cult
• The Damned
• The Smiths
• Subway Club and Party Scene

The Naked and the Dead

Adam Ant

Andi Sex Gang

Chop Shop

Cocteau Twins

The Jesus and Mary Chain

The March Violets

Red Lorry Yellow Lorry

Sonic Youth

The Cult

The Damned

The Smiths

Subway Club and Party Scene

The post The Naked and the Dead | 1985 NYC Goth and Post-Punk photo gallery from the archives of Greg Fasolino appeared first on Post-Punk.com.

Greg’s only analog in music journalism is perhaps the UK’s Mick Mercer, Chronicler of The Batcave scene—furthermore, while Fred Berger of Propaganda Magazine was integral in the initial covering of Gothic Music in the US (predating Greg by about 2 years), he is more renowned for representing the fashion aspects of the Gothic subculture in NYC (and beyond)—whereas Greg Fasolino represents the die hard music nerd fandom that in my opinion dwarfs High Fidelity’s Rob Gordon by comparison.

In a series covering Greg’s music fandom throughout the years, we begin with 1984.  It was in this year that Greg started his own fanzine Heaven Down Here, as well as his first band “The Cave” (which would later be followed by The Naked and the Dead, and Bell Hollow). He has always been an avid photographer, and in 1984 he documented legendary acts such as Sisters of Mercy and Nick Cave in the Bad Seeds in their prime. We have featured Greg’s pictures of many of these classic concerts here on Post-Punk.com in the gallery below.

The Sisters of Mercy

The Psychedelic Furs

The Cult

Xmal Deutschland

Siouxsie and The Banshees

The Cure

Gang of Four

Nick Cave and The Bad Seeds

The Cramps

Ramones

Public Image Ltd.

Nick Cave and Bad Seeds at Danceteria.
June 8, 1984.

Blixa and Barry

Nick sits down to deliver “In the Ghetto

The Cramps at the Peppermint Lounge, NYC.
May 19, 1984.

Lux swallows the microphone

Lux grabs someone’s panties.

Gang of Four “farewell” tour at the old Ritz, New York City.
April 26, 1984.

Andy Gill of Gang of Four enveloped in smoke

The Cure’s classic concert at the Beacon Theatre in NYC.
November 17, 1984.

Lol Tolhurst

Phil Thornalley

Porl Thompson playing Keys

Someone threw this caterpillar doll onto the stage at the Beacon, and The Cure respond with a rare rendition of “The Caterpillar.”

Robert Smith does the “Caterpillar” dance

The Cure closing out their Beacon show with an epic rendition of “Forever.”

PiL at the Beacon.
November 2, 1984.

John Lydon tries to figure out who is taking his picture.

Anja Huwe casts a spell with Xmal Deutschland at Danceteria.
September 19, 1984.

Wolfgang Ellerbrock on Bass

Siouxsie and the Banshees dazzle us at the Beacon.
July 13, and 14th, 1984.

The Cult at Danceteria on their first American tour. They played in front of about 10 people and blew us away.
July 18, 1984.

Billy Duffy on his grand Gretch

Jamie Stewart on Bass

The Sisters of Mercy at the Ritz in NYC, opening (if you can believe this bill) for Black Flag. The smoke machine was stupendous.
August 9, 1984.

Wayne Hussey on Guitar

The Psychedelic Furs at Radio City Music Hall, NYC. November 19, 1984

Ramones at Final Vinyl Records in Baldwin.
October 18, 1984.

Dee Dee Ramone

Johnny Ramone

Joey Ramone

Richie Ramone

Joey Ramone walks the fan gauntlet after their record store appearance at Final Vinyl Records in Baldwin.

Stay tuned for 1985…

The post 1984 NYC Goth and Post-Punk | Photo gallery from the archives of Greg Fasolino appeared first on Post-Punk.com.

In my opinion, this is the best Cure concert footage available online, and quite possibly better than many of the (out of print!?) concert videos.

Enjoy!

(Below is a list of the songs that were televised, for the complete setlist, go here)

1. Catch
2. Pictures of You
3. Fascination Street
4. Lullaby
5. Just Like Heaven
6. The Walk
7. Inbetween Days
8. A Forest
9. Disintegration
10. Close To Me
11. Why Can’t I Be You
12. M
13. Boys Don’t Cry
14. 10:15 Saturday Night

The post Watch The Cure—Live in Leipzig, August 4th, 1990 appeared first on Post-Punk.com.

Their last release as a trio was 1982’s 2×45, which highlighted the Sheffield band being ahead of their time with the track Yashar’s use of samples—including the Outer Limits episode quote “There’s 70 billion people of Earth; where are they hiding?”.

Note that although 2×45 was issued by Rough Trade, the single Yashar was released via Factory Records, and Factory Benelux.

Ahead of the CV duo gig at the Hacienda nightclub (playing amongst friends, given their history with Joy Division and Factory Records), Kirk and Mallinder had released their brilliant LP The Crackdownthrough Some Bizarre Records.

The album is one of Cabaret Voltaire’s best, with the track Animation creating an avant-garde ice storm of gothic jazz-funk and the track Why Kill Time (When You Can Kill Yourself) holding a black mirror to the sounds emerging from the burgeoning New-Wave.

Indeed, 1983 highlights the forefathers of Industrial and Post-Punk at the peak of creativity. Enjoy the full concert from that period above, and read our interview with Stephen Mallinder here.

You can purchase a DVD with this footage, a gig from 1986, and  three of the band’s promo videos, “No Escape”, “Yashar” and “Sluggin’ Fer Jesus”, at Cherry Red

The post Cabaret Voltaire’s ‘Yashar’ and ‘The Crackdown’—plus a 1983 concert at the Hacienda in Manchester appeared first on Post-Punk.com.