dahl's diary 1996

db's diary: june 10 th 1996

weird.. the sun was up and getting brighter when the cure opened their show in vaasa at the provinssi rock festival in northern finland... even weirder: it was still up when they finished the show at 2 in the morning... after the show robert, simon and jason left on an overnight drive to helsinki to catch the early plane home so as not to miss the next day's football ('euro 96' having kicked off the day before at wembley in london). sadly england could only manage a draw against switzerland...
last week the video for 'mint car' was shot in london's east end. it was directed by richard heslop and was a lot of fun; there are lots of different scenes and people and time periods... only robert had any clue as to what was going on...
the 'sixties party' scene ended up turning into one, with guests billy mackenzie, roberto soave, adrianna and roberto from 'the 13th' video, and virtually the entire cure backline crew getting into the 'swing' of things!
(db)


db's diary: july 4th 1996

july 1st, heathrow airport, london... tearful good-byes and smiling hellos... the cure are leaving london for their first u.s. tour in four years. robert and simon have both decided to overcome their fear of flying and try to just sit back and enjoy it... "as long as it doesn't get too bumpy!" (the added insurance of roger having his pilots license, ready to take the controls in case anything happens, is a real(?) bonus!)... as it turned out the flight was very smooth, and the band used the time to talk about the internet, and the future of the cure's involvement in it; it was generally agreed that this will grow as the medium expands, and will entail 'a long term commitment'...
boston welcomed them back to america with a long drunken trip in a gorgeous fish restaurant, followed by very early wake-up calls, aided for a change by the usually dreaded jetlag... the band left the hotel for a lengthy soundcheck, blowing away any cobwebs that might be lurking having not played for a couple of weeks... worcester, the first show of the u.s. tour, was absolutely amazing, reminding the band just how good north american audiences are. the crowd more than lived up to jason's expectations at this, his first concert in america. the cure played for close to three hours, and everyone fell off stage smiling, hoping that this reception was going to set the tone for the rest of the tour...
next up montreal; most of the eight hour bus journey was spent working on the web site, an occupation that was to consume hours and hours over the following couple of weeks... another excellent show, and "if the tour carries on like this, we're laughing... "
friday brought a flight down to new york city to perform the new single 'mint car' on the david letterman show; it's absolutely freezing in the studio, which makes everyone very uncomfortable, and there is a lot of waiting around just to play one three minute song: ah! the joys of live t.v.! after the show the band rushed downtown to the sonicnet office to do their first 'cure chat'. there had been people waiting in 'the conservatory' since 9.00am that morning, and by 7.30pm it was getting pretty crowded... unfortunately this meant that when the cure went to sign on, they couldn't get in - it was too busy! the server had to be shut down, and everyone had to log on together; "hit that button on three!"... which was all pretty bizarre - all this tech and they couldn't get on their own chat! sonicnet began to realize just what they'd got themselves into...
due to problems with the promoter, the band decided to cancel the portland show, and promised to return to 'great woods' in the autumn (confirmed as sept 12th); this meant that everyone had the weekend off in new york city, presenting some very dangerous shopping and club opportunities...
monday saw the start of a three show run in the new york area; new jersey, long island and then on down to philadelphia, where they were challenged to a football (soccer!) game for charity against a local club and a radio station... after a game of some extremely hard tackling, and no little skill(?), 'team cure' emerged with an unlucky 2-2 (cooper/bamonte) draw; the report? "obviously the superior team, but slightly lacking in the fitness department... " the gig was a tiny bit subdued that night, hardly surprising considering the several near cardiac arrests suffered on the football field that afternoon... all for a good cause though eh?!!
on to toronto... actually the gig was outside toronto at a racing circuit; an attempt to recreate a european festival atmosphere, that somehow didn't really seem to work, and the band didn't have too much fun. they came off stage after the set to be told that they'd gone past 'the curfew' and couldn't even go back on to say goodnight... apologies to all the cure fans there - the band will be doing a proper downtown gig at the varsity arena september 9th.
then the tour started to head west; great shows in detroit, cleveland, columbus and pittsburgh before a cracker in chicago. the detroit show marked the opening of the web site - and www.the-cure.com is finally unveiled after months of hard work... the event is celebrated with a live internet broadcast of the show, something that will hopefully continue every saturday night of the tour... the site is currently attracting around 15000 hits per day, and there'll be lots of new stuff added, probably by the time you read this, so keep your eyes open... the rosemont horizon in chicago is always an amazing show, and even better when it's sold out; more and more songs have been added to the set, with rehearsals of old favourites occuring at most soundchecks - songs that haven't been played for a while like 'catch', 'like cockatoos', 'm', and 'faith' (for full set lists visit the tourdates page). after the show the band go clubbing... they spend some of the evening trying to cheer up billy corgan, who has just had a pretty bad couple of weeks... the cure have become good friends with the pumpkins, and are very saddened at the news of Jonathan's death; billy is determined to get things going again, and the band wish him all the best.
milwaukee and minneapolis see half the entourage come down with a killer virus, which is very unpleasant at the best of times, and pretty horrendous when you're on tour; despite this, the shows are still really good... as usual, robert is wearing the nhl team jersey of the town the band are playing in, (unless it's a particularly nasty colour!), and you'll have an opportunity to win some of these shirts through your local radio station, as well as here at the house, so listen out!
still heading west, the band played st louis and then on to denver; a horribly bumpy flight in, which didn't make simon or robert laugh very much... ah! "there's a bit of 'weather' up ahead"; a phrase to put the fear of god into you... denver was a great show, particularly remarkable for the performance of 'faith', always a very emotional song, made all the more so by it's rarity in concert.
sunday night in portland, and looking for a party... no chance! nice restaurant though; ("seafood" drools jason, "and mashed potatoes" drools roger "and they've got the grand prix on the telly and yes damon hill will win and everything... " and he did...) monday is a day off, without any traveling, and the hotel has got a bar that's like a pub... guess what happened?!! tuesday down to eugene for the first in a series of theatre gigs; it was all very strange at first, much more intimate and personal than the arena/shed dates, but everyone enjoys the difference... the only down side is not being able to get the full production in, so the show is a bit 'compromised' visually, which is a shame...
back up to portland for the last show of july, and no-one can believe the month is over; we must all be having too much fun!!! more oldies in the set; 'if only tonight we could sleep', 'one hundred years' and 'piggy in the mirror'... also for the first time the band perform 'numb' from 'wms'; and as robert has said, when you first play a song live, it suddenly becomes real, and that's certainly the case tonight...
all in all it's a pretty amazing start to the tour;the cure are looking forward eagerly to the rest of it... they hope you are too...

see you again at the end of august...

(db)

db's diary: august 1st 1996

august 1st sees the cure across the border and heading up into canada, continuing the group's northwest 'theatres mini-trip'... they play an excellent show in the vancouver queen elizabeth hall, recorded by cbc radio for later broadcast.... then on back down to 'the states' for the most dramatic gig of the tour so far; the gorge, a fantastic canyon setting where everyone spends the afternoon hitting bio-degradable golf balls off the edge and out into space; almost everybody gets one in the hole! then a flight down to san francisco, where the group are met by their delightful elektra rep tara, and taken to san jose for an instore record shop signing... 4 hours and about a million signatures later the band are finally allowed to drive back to san francisco! it was actually a lot of fun for the cure to meet a few of 'you out there' whilst listening to cure records; something they don't do as often as they should! next comes a string of really good shows, with the band starting to properly gel; san jose and sacramento are particularly memorable as a pair of shows where the band start to mix up the set, playing older, more obscure songs... check the setlist page... las vegas is the next stop, and one that nearly kills robert, jason and perry when they accept the invitation from the stratosphere hotel to try out the latest 'attraction' "the big shot"; this ride involves being taken to the top of a 100 storey tower, strapped into a seat and then shot up a further 160 feet in about 1 second, before plummeting back down again, experiencing zero gravity through the fall... the look on their faces when they get off is not pretty; simon and roger take the better part of valour(?) and stay firmly white-knuckle-stuck-to-terra-firma... the show that night is recorded by pbs using new 3d cameras for later broadcast as part of their "on tour" series... a flying visit to a casino on the way out of town sees jason's 'first time luck' netting him $750 on number17 with a chip robert gave him... we leave for an overnight drive to laguna hills california, having experienced a very memorable first trip to vegas... the next couple of days prove to be among the most exhausting of the tour... an early start saturday 10th to make the video for "gone" (euro single release) with director steven hanft, who does an excellent job in a very short time... and then the forum in l.a; this is always an amazing show, and proves once again to be the highlight of the tour so far... the second night starts with an acoustic set from robert, and ends with him leaving the stage before the end of "a forest", thereby allowing wayne hussey from the mission the chance to fulfil a lifetime ambition: play onstage with the cure! robert returns to england for five days, while the rest of the band party spend the time off 'relaxing by the pool' in laguna... recharging batteries... getting married... and various other fun things... unfortunately, due to robert's late return, the band are forced to cancel san diego, but to make it up to everyone they invite san diego ticket holders to a special 'soundcheck party' before the irvine show.... 18th august, 'team cure' fly to phoenix and check into 'the nicest hotel of the whole tour, designed by a student of frank lloyd wright in his prairie style' (says roger!); shame we're only here for one night... heading ever eastwards, the next stop is albuquerque, new mexico, before moving on to texas for a night off in dallas, one of robert's favourite cities (he supports the cowgirls says roger... ) on to austin and houston, and the party atmosphere seems to go up a notch or two; just in time for new orleans on a saturday night... robert and jason go on an alligator hunt... and then go on to alabama... the cure have played some strange places, and mobile is certainly one of them! it's a good show though... by now the concerts are all of a really high standard, and the group continue to add old songs as time allows... florida sees the start of another 'semi-holiday' period, and everyone has a fun couple of days in st petersburg, before heading down to miami for four days in orlando... disneyworld, mgm and the epcot centre for perry's birthday celebration, courtesy of mickey mouse in italy world... back to reality(?), and up to gainesville for the last of our florida shows, before heading on north to atlanta and nashville; i don't suppose anybody ever expected to see the cure play in 'the home of country music', but as mad tim (our bus driver) says... "the cure do play country music; it's just not from this country... " ever north, to canada again, and a downtown toronto gig; everyone was a bit disappointed by the Eden festival, and so decided to go back to do a 'real' toronto gig in the rather more intimate varsity arena; it proves to be the hottest gig of the year... 110 degrees on stage! the day after, the band call in to the "much music" studios and play four songs in the middle of the office floor; very weird... this is followed by a visit to 'the academy of spherical arts' for a bit of pool practice before the impending "stick it to the cure" competition in new york for z100 radio... we leave canada behind and spiral ever quicker towards the end of the tour... albany and then boston great woods, notable for the re-introduction of "plainsong" as the opening song; greasy palms all round as it hasn't been played live since 89... but it goes down a storm... fairfax, virginia and then hartford before the final two shows in america at radio city new york. these performances finish what everyone agrees has been the most gruelling tour in cure history, but one that has seen the group get closer together than ever before, and play a lot better because of it... new york is always insane, but when you try to squeeze as much in as we do, insanity doesn't even come close to describing it... monday afternoon is the pool competition; roger and jason win both their games, but perry and simon lose both of theirs, so it's all down to robert... and he loses! oh dear... then on to radio city, where robert and simon perform a pre-show 'impromptu' acoustic set backstage for a few lucky radio competition winners... finally the cure get to play the show! the next day is spent at abc studios shooting 'the conan o'brien show', which turns out to be a lot of fun; he's a really nice bloke, and very 'into' the band, which makes a refreshing change... everyone thinks the show is a particularly funny one... and the crowd are great! then back to radio city for the final american concert, before staggering through the inevitable end of tour party... we all take very early and very bleary flights back to london for a well earned three week rest before it all starts again in europe...

see you there!

(db)