Thursday, December 23, 2010

The Cure - Sacramento 2004-08-29 Last night of Curiosa

The Curiosa Festival
August 29th 2004
Arco Arena, Sacramento California



Download Links:






Setlist:
Lost, Plainsong, Labyrinth, Fascination Street, 
 From the Edge of the Deep Green Sea,  High
The End of the World Anniversary, Inbetween Days
Just Like Heaven, Pictures of You, Lullaby
Before Three, Alt.end, Disintegration
One Hundred Years, The Promise

Encore:
Faith, Going Nowhere

Note: The Drowning Man and Charlotte Sometimes were listed for the encore, but not played.  :(

This one of going out by request. Someone wanted to hear Going Nowhere, and this was the best Going Nowhere of the tour. Alot of disappointments in this show, we thought it was going to be a better of longer setlist because it was the end, but it was the same minicure setlist as the rest of the tour.



 From the Sacramento Bee:

Review: Cure gives festival a welcome dose of good rockin'
By Chris Macias -- Bee Pop Music Critic

Curiosa Festival bands such as Mogwai, Interpol, Cursive and the Rapture probably will never come close to selling 1 million records. But a commercial juggernaut wasn't the point of Sunday's six-hour event.

Instead, Curiosa was a chance to discover some of alternative rock's best buzz bands, topped by a knockout set from The Cure.

The venues were Arco Arena's main stage and a "B" stage in the parking lot, where the 100-degree heat tested the functionality of all-black garb. The indoor concourse featured a "4-H" type of marketplace that's typical of alternative-rock festivals (henna tattoos, hair dye, head-shop wares and human rights booths).

But not all was ideal. Sunday's turnout for Curiosa was fairly dismal: 5,000, about one-third of the venue's capacity.

Curiosa still succeeded in bridging the alternative-rock generations. The crowd was balanced between aging hipsters and new-jack goths breaking in their "Creepers" shoes.

Musically, the show mixed progressive and arty sounds with touchstones from the past. The Cure's influence infused the younger bands, especially in the Robert Smith-like howl of Luke Jenner, singer for The Rapture. The Rapture's smart and funky brand of post-punk also referenced Konk, an underground dance band from the 1980s.

Interpol also performed a solid set that contained some Cure-isms, such as the dreamy guitar line in "Slow Hands." The band's mix of deadpan vocal delivery and edgy guitar jangle was further rooted in Joy Division, the long-defunct band that in turn influenced The Cure.

The revelation of Curiosa was ultimately in how powerful and relevant The Cure sounded in its headlining slot. The band might best be enjoyed by the flicker of a candle at 3 a.m., but at concert volume, it was easy to get swept away in The Cure's atmospherics and density.

"From the Edge of the Deep Green Sea," a tune from its 1992 "Wish" album, was a stunning swirl of guitars and keyboard. Its poppier hits, such as "Just Like Heaven" and "In Between Days," rang punchy as ever. "The End of the World," one of The Cure's new songs, also hit much harder live than the recorded version.

Despite the sonic doom and gloom, The Cure's Smith isn't really hopeless. He's actually a hopeless romantic who sings songs titled "Pictures of You" and "Just Like Heaven."

It wouldn't have been surprising if The Cure turned out a sluggish show. Sunday marked the festival's end, a time by which many bands are simply burned out.

Instead, The Cure bade farewell after a month on the road at peak powers.

Too bad The Cure's set ended on a plodding note with "Faith" and "Going Nowhere." For such an otherwise powerful set, this downer of a finale was the most curious part of Curiosa.

Monday, December 20, 2010

The Cure - Live in Denver, June 5th 2000, Fiddlers Green Ampitheatre

THE CURE ~ THE DREAM TOUR LIVE IN DENVER
June 5th, 2000, Fiddler's Green Ampitheatre, Greenwood VIllage CO


Coming somewhat full circle from last week's Denver Prayer Tour upload, 
up to the Denver Dream Tour. Both these tours were kinda linked in my mind 
because they both had amazing setlists, so I thought this would be a fantastic
compliment to last weeks Greenwood Village 1989 upload.

The sound on this one is amazing. A nearly perfect DAT recording of
one of the better setlists from this tour. Files taken from Second CD Copy of the Master tape.
Excellent sound and All Cats/Drowning/Faith encore!!

Download Links
NOTE: I had to split the FLAC version into two parts because it was too large

FLAC PART ONE:
cure2000-06-05denverpart1flac.zip - 523.8 MB

FLAC PART TWO
cure2000-06-05denverpart2flac.zip - 504.4 MB

MP3 VERSION:
2000-06-05 Denver.zip - 354.0 MB


Setlist
Adagio for Strings, Out Of This World, Watching Me Fall
Want, Fascination St., Open, The Loudest Sound, Maybe Someday
 Like Cockatoos, Edge Of The Deep Green Sea, Inbetween Days 
Sinking, Prayers For Rain, One Hundred Years, End, 
 39, Bloodflowers

Encores:
There Is No If, Trust, Plainsong, Disintegration 
All Cats Are Gray, The Drowning Man, Faith 
Lovesong, Play For Today, Just Like Heaven, A Forest


Reviews Thanks to Craig's COF Archives 


A fantastic show!  This was my 7th show since 1989 and, in all honesty, this was the best I've experienced.  The  band played a great set, as you see above.  Highlights included Plainsong, 100 Years, A Forest, All Cats Are Grey,  Faith, and a brilliant verison of Like Cockatoos.  The band sounded great on both the new and older material. 
Robert's voice is in top form and Jason is much improved on drums since I last saw the band in 1997.  Robert, by the way, got a bit emotional during a couple songs and he seemed to look longingly out at the crowd each time  he exited the stage.  The crowd of about 13,000 (just a guess) was enthusiastic, although they didn't seem quite as 
familiar with some of the early material.  The show would have benefited from a more creative and interesting light/visual show, but that is a minor flaw and can be easily overlooked considering the terrific music that the band played for nearly 3 hours. 
By Andrew Figel







 The fire's not out yet - Cure concert keeps crowd at Fiddler's on its feet

                   By Eric L. Reiner 
                   Special to The Denver Post

                   June 7, 2000 - "The fire is almost out," Robert Smith of the Cure sang late in Monday's show at Fiddler's Green.

                   The lyric, from a song on the Cure's new "Bloodflowers" CD, wasn't so much a hint that the concert was nearly over as it was an announcement to fans that Smith, now 40, is thinking of throwing in the towel after more than 20 years as a musical icon. But regardless of what Smith intimated about the creative flames within him dying, he and the Cure staged a stellar concert that had the crowd on its feet all night, starting with the standing ovation that greeted the English band when it took the stage.

                   Known for dark music and darker lyrics, the band members were all in black. Smith showed up wearing semi-ghoulish white makeup and heavy black eyeliner, plus, of course, his trademark red lipstick and black bird's nest hair. (The crowd was fashionable, too; many wore leather/punkish clothes and hair dyed deep red, vampire purple, burgundy and other colors.)

                   Smith didn't have to say much to get his followers to cheer -"thank you" after a song was usually sufficient. And when he introduced a number by saying it's "from the 'Kiss Me' album"(referring to the 1987 album that made the Cure huge in the U.S.), the crowd roared before Smith even had a chance to name thetune. (It turned out to be the odd "Like Cockatoos," whichfeatured funky tropical-forest percussion sounds.)

                   Although Smith is decidedly the center of attention, other members of the Cure deserve honorable mention. Bassist Simon Gallup moved more than anyone else onstage, often bouncing as he played and incessantly roaming around, while guitarist Perry Bamonte made trippy, Pink Floyd-esque sounds on "39" and played a glitter guitar on pop-oriented numbers like "Fascination Street." Drummer Jason Cooper looked like he drove the band on one especially danceable, shake-you-in-your-spot selection, but it was hard to be sure: The Cure used plenty of effects to create their droning, hypnotic mix of beat, rhythm and texture. In fact, keyboardist Roger O'Donnell frequently stood several feet from his instrument (making it obvious that he wasn't playing it), and Gallup and Bamonte occasionally held their axes to the side, also clearly not playing, as if to fully disclose that more music was being produced onstage than there were musicians.

                   But so what if the band used backing tracks and other effects? The Cure rocked and sounded lush, full and big while doing it. 

An interesting sub-theme to the outdoor show was the change from daylight to darkness. The sunshine at the start of the concert didn't necessarily diminish the effectiveness of the band's sometimes somber music, but it did wash out the strobe lights on the show's second number. However, after night fell, a bevy of flashing white lights aided the relentless beat of "100 Years." Dance-club-style lighting revved up the highly rhythmic "A Forest," the show closer.

                   There was an overarching structure to the set list, by the way.

                   The main set began with the first two songs from the "Bloodflowers" album and ended with the last two tracks from it, while the encores were built around loose themes. The second encore, for example, included numbers that Smith said "we don't play very much," like "All Cats Are Grey" and "The Drowning Man." And the third (and final) encore was loaded with such fast-paced, fun tunes as "Lovesong" and "Just Like Heaven." The concert clocked in just shy of the 3-hour mark, lasting right up to Fiddler's 10:30 p.m. curfew. Now that shows Smith still has plenty of fire.

Sunday, December 19, 2010

Interpol - Webster Hall, NYC 2005-10-02 Antics Finale

Interpol - ANTICS Tour
Final Show, Live in NYC 10/02/2005

Thought there might be some Interpol fans among us,
and wanted to share this recording of an monumental gig.

This was the night where it all came to a peak.
The homecoming. The end of a long road of incredible shows.
The celebration of the best tour, of the best *new* band.


DOWNLOAD LINKS:
FLAC VERSION

MP3 Version


October 2nd 2005 - Webster Hall, NYC, NY

Setlist:
Intro, Next Exit, SLow Hands, NARC, A Time to be So Small
Say Hello to the Angels, Public Pervert, Not Even Jail
Leif Erikson, Evil, Obstacle One, Take You on a Cruise
PDA intro, PDA...
Encores:
Untitled, Stella was a Diver and she was Always Down, ROLAND
Specialist



This night was intense, the show was intense. Words can not describe....
If you were there, you know what I mean.


I also have the Boom Bip set (opening band) from this night if anyone is interested??