The Cure tonight played the first of at least 19 European festival headlining dates on the books this summer, and Robert Smith had a little secret to reveal at Holland’s famed Pinkpop Festival: guitarist Reeves Gabrels, a former David Bowie collaborator who previously recorded with Smith in the late ’90s.
Smith has not made an announcement regarding Gabrels’ addition to the lineup — and generally hasn’t announced lineup changes in recent years — but musician Jenn Vix, who released a song with Gabrels earlier this year, tells Slicing Up Eyeballs that Gabrels will play all of The Cure’s summer festival dates. (Chain of Flowers notes Gabrels is a guest, not a full member of the band.)
Later this evening, Vix posted the following statement from Gabrels on her Facebook page:
“For all my friends who have been wondering where I have disappeared to for the last few weeks… I am playing guitar with The Cure. We will be doing festivals throughout Europe this summer” — Reeves Gabrels
Gabrels — a member of Tin Machine who worked on Bowie’s ’90s albums — played on The Cure’s 1997 single “Wrong Number,” and during the same session, recorded the single “A Sign From God,” released under the band name COGASM. Smith later appeared on Gabrels’ 2000 album Ulysses, singing “Yesterday’s Gone.”
Tonight, The Cure — also featuring bassist Simon Gallup, keyboard player Roger O’Donnell and drummer Jason Cooper — played a 30-song set that downplayed the early-career material that was the focus of last year’s Reflections concerts, instead trotting out surprises like what appears to be the first performance of The Top track “Bananafishbones” since 1984 and an unusually high number of songs from 1992’s Wish (five, including the “Trust” and “Doing the Unstuck”).
The full setlist and a host of video, via the ever-reliable Chain of Flowers, is reproduced below. At the top of this page is Saturday’s 50-minute webcast (“Friday I’m in Love,” “Doing the Unstuck,” “Trust,” “Want,” “Wrong Number,” “One Hundred Years,” “Disintegration,” “Lovecats” and some of “Close To Me”). Below, you can find Sunday’s webcast, which was shorter and duplicates much of Saturday’s, but opens with “Lullaby” and features “Sleep When I’m Dead” and “Why Can’t I Be You?” at end. Plus a number of individual clips.
Setlist: The Cure, Pinkpop Festival, Landgraaf, Holland, 5/26/12
1. “Plainsong”
2. “Pictures of You”
3. “High”
4. “The End of the World”
5 “Lovesong”
6. “Push”
7. “Inbetween Days”
8. “Just Like Heaven”
9. “From the Edge of the Deep Green Sea”
10. “Hungry Ghost”
11. “Play For Today”
12. “A Forest”
13. “Bananafishbones”
14. “Lullaby”
15. “The Walk”
16. “Mint Car”
17. “Friday I’m in Love”
18. “Doing the Unstuck”
19. “Trust”
20. “Want”
21. “Wrong Number”
22. “One Hundred Years”
23. “Disintegration”
24. “Lovecats”
25. “Close To Me”
26. “Let’s Go To Bed”
27. “Sleep When I’m Dead”
28. “Why Can’t I Be You?”
29. “Boys Don’t Cry”
The Cure at Pinkpop: Sunday webcast (35 minutes)
The Cure at Pinkpop: “Plainsong”
The Cure at Pinkpop: “Push”
The Cure at Pinkpop: “Inbetween Days”
The Cure at Pinkpop: “Play for Today”
The Cure at Pinkpop: “A Forest”
The Cure at Pinkpop: “Bananafishbones”
The Cure at Pinkpop: “The Walk”
The Cure at Pinkpop: “Mint Car”
The Cure at Pinkpop: “Friday I’m In Love”
The Cure at Pinkpop: “Trust” (webcast)
The Cure at Pinkpop: “Want” (from webcast)
The Cure at Pinkpop: “Wrong Number”
The Cure at Pinkpop: “One Hundred Years”
The Cure at Pinkpop: “Lovecats”
The Cure at Pinkpop: “Close to Me”
The Cure at Pinkpop: “Let’s Go To Bed”
The Cure at Pinkpop: “Why Can’t I Be You”? and “Boys Don’t Cry”
The Cure at Pinkpop: “Boys Don’t Cry”
The Cure tour dates:
June 1: Primavera Sound 2012, Barcelona, Spain
June 11: Maxidrom Festival, Moscow, Russia
June 14-16: Hultsfred Festival, Hultsfred, Sweden
June 22-24: Hurricane Festival, Scheeßel, Germany
June 22-24: Southside Festival, Tuttlingen, Germany
June 28: Rock Werchter, Werchter, Belgium
June 30: Les Eurockéennes, Malsaucy, France
July 5-8: Roskilde Festival, Roskilde, Denmark
July 7: Heineken Jammin’, Venice, Italy
July 9: Rock in Roma, Rome, Italy
July 12: Bilbao BBK Live, Bilbao, Spain
July 14: Optimus Alive, Oeiras, Portugal
July 18: Paleo Festival, Nyon, Switzerland
July 20: Festival des Vieilles Charrues, Carhaix, France
Aug. 18: Frequency Festival, St. Polten, Austria
Aug. 24: Reading Festival, Reading, UK
Aug. 25: Leeds Festival, Leeds, UK
Sept. 1: Electric Picnic, Stradbally, Ireland
PREVIOUSLY ON SLICING UP EYEBALLS
- Video: The Cure, ‘Play Out’ — out-of-print ‘Wish’-era collection of live performances
- The Cure’s ‘Entreat Plus’ live album to receive double-vinyl U.S. release on Record Store Day
- The Cure headlining Reading, Leeds festivals
- The Cure to headline ‘series of major European music festivals’ this summer
- The Cure reissuing ‘Wish’ in 2012, prepping ‘Friday I’m In Love’ Record Store Day 7-inch
- Red Hot Chili Peppers, Beastie Boys make Rock Hall of Fame — The Cure snubbed
- The Cure’s Robert Smith hints at 2012 tour, tells New York: ‘We’ll see you again next year’
Dear Robert,
Please stop.
Signed,
ACF
Why does Europe only get these shows?
Oh Reeves Gabrels joins the Cure, big whoop! Does it even matter who’s in this travesty of a band anymore? Its always been Robert Smith and his backing band, just like NIN. These videos suggest that Smith is merely doing this purely out of boredom now, he has nothing left to offer. Dull, boring.
I did love the Cure when i was a teen, if only he had stopped then and left me with a decent memory of his band.
Nobody is worse than Madonna.
I think there are some unfair comments here; I must admit, I don’t think they’ve done a good album since Disintegration (how could you top that mighty achievement?) but they are still a force to be reckoned with in the live arena. Bob is a wealthy fella…he wouldn’t be doing these shows if he wasn’t enjoying them, and he is giving vast amounts of enjoyment to his audiences…the band often play upwards of 3 hours for their own (non-festival) shows.
As much as I often “wish” (pun intended) for another great Cure album…I know this will probably never happen…but if Bob wants to keep playing and people still enjoy seeing the band…where is the harm? With shows as jaw-droppingly amazing as the recent “Reflections” concerts; they can hardly be accused of soiling their legacy.
That last album was a right dud though. Meat and potatoes rock with no magic.
I’m 19 years old and a new fan and I DEFINITELY enjoy their music, I bet they are still play music for the young audience now…Not just for you people who are stuck in the past and hates them now. Looking forward to see them in the near future!
Spoken just like I’d expect a 19 year old twat to speak.
@Mike C: Ha, i’m no fan of Madonna but compared to Smith, at least she’s still pushing forward.
@Nhadz: Thats cool, but to say we are stuck in the past is false when clearly it is Robert Smith who is still stuck somewhere between 1989 and 1993. The Cure have become the post-punk version of The Rolling Stones, they just wont stop despite having nothing left to offer or even prove, the last two albums in particular were simply awful and merely an excuse to have something out there for their deluded army of fans, the rest of the music loving world stopped paying attention in the mid 90s. As you can see from those videos, not one new track was presented, this is a band going nowhere.
And if you,d like to see a band who still have something to offer in the way of new music, great live show and general purpose, dont miss the return of Depeche Mode in 2013 ;)
@ Paul: Right on about Depeche Mode. Duran too. Both those bands put out amazing albums. In Sympathy and Girl Panic ! are classics.
Yes to be fair, Duran Duran’s last effort was pretty good, i still think they were wrong to fire Warren Cuccurullo though.
Saw them live a few times between 2004 -08, great shows.
Sweetheart, Happy 40th! I cleaned your underwear, put the want-ads on the fridge and cooked your favorite–banana pancakes! Why don’t you leave the basement today–it’s a beautiful afternoon. Love, Mom
Why all The Cure bashing? I actually think it’s pretty cool they dusted off a couple songs from ‘Wild Mood Swings’ (the most hated record on the planet, but I like it :-)
I do wish they’d stop opening each show with either “Open” or “Plainsong”, it gets stale.
I agree about Depeche and Duran, both bands are still making excellent music (Duran’s “Girl Panic!” is one of the coolest songs ever written)
“it gets stale”
Thats why.
So instead of bitching and moaning about it, don’t listen to it. Pretty simple.
Didn’t bother with the last Duran Duran, but the last Depeche Mode was the weakest in a line of albums that has grown successively weaker since “Ultra”, their last solid record.
Admittedly Bob looks none too good here (resembling Ian Dury at times) but the music rocks. I’m glad he hasn’t retired.
Depeche Mode’s last album SOTU was good but not great, however the previous album, Playing The Angel, was their best since their early 90s heyday.
Bananafishbones was the only ‘real’ rarity played. Everything else has been played many times before in the last decade or sooner.
Pretty standard set list.
However, at least The Cure throw out even one old nugget for the fans. Go see your beloved Depeche Mode: they play the same hits every damn tour. Same thing with Duran Duran. Both of those bands play an 18 – 20 song ‘greatest hits’ setlist with a few new tunes, while The Cure plays full albums, and 30 songs including rare ones.
I’ll take The Cure anyday over those two.
@ Paul ,The Cure really haven’t put out a consistently good album since ‘Wish’.
‘Wild Mood Swings’ was garbage, ‘Bloodflowers’ was okay and had it’s moments – but nothing great, ‘The Cure’ was garbage, and ‘4:13 Dream’ was uninspired drivel.
But they are a great touring act. Again, you think Duran Duran or Depeche Mode would play more than 20 songs, bsides, rare album tracks or dare play a full album? Not a chance. For those bands it’s a cash grab for the ‘greatest hits’ and that’s all you get.
@Stan: What you have to understand is this, yes the Cure play 3 hrs but thats because Robert Smith just stands there strumming whereas David Gahan is a true performer, he works the stage for 2 hours and engages with his audience, he cant keep that up for 3 hours!! Robert Smith doesnt seem to care that people need to catch the last train home and keeps bloody playing. Depeche Mode are an exciting live band, much me so than the Cure who seem to play for themselves.
Also, you may have noticed that Depeche Mode are an electronic band and it is actually difficult for them to play certain tracks, particularly the very early ones. Besides, Depeche Mode have always had a much broader audience than the Cure and most people that go to see them want to hear the well known songs. For me personally, i’ve seen them play four times and i have no complaints about their set lists, they always play at least 8 new tracks from the album they are currently promoting, whereas the Cure seemed to give up and become a museum, digging out b-sides!
We actually left during the third encore of the last Cure show we went to. I appreciate the effort and all but it was getting late! Still, one gets their moneys worth at a Cure show. I like that they are breaking out some other things you might not expect to hear and there are somethings I wish they would never do again (Let’s Go To Bed being one).
Anytime they come to the Tampa area I will have tickets. Where I stop spending money is on new albums. 4:13 is a total turd. Wild Mood Swings wasn’t the crap people claim, though, it isn’t all good. Kiss MeX3, in my opinion, is a worse product. Yeah, I discovered the band because of that album and wore out multiple copies of the cassette but I can’t listen to it 25 years later. Their best days of recording have passed. Shows like Trilogy, Reflections and what may come do matter and as long as they continue to give the people what they want we will be there.
One other point. Why is it hard for DM to play some of the more electronic tracks? Computers don’t get tired. That is nonsense. It’s like New Order being worn out because the synthesizer did all the work (they suck ass)
Depeche Mode’s 2009/2010 set list
In Chains (new)
Wrong (new)
Hole To Feed (new)
Walking In My Shoes (minor hit)
Its No Good (hit)
Precious (recent hit)
Fly On The Windscreen (rare, unplayed since 1993)
Jezebel (new)
Judas (rare, unplayed since 1993)
Home (minor hit)
Come Back (new)
Policy Of Truth (hit)
Peace (new)
In Your Room (minor hit)
I Feel You (hit)
Enjoy The Silence (hit)
Personal Jesus (hit)
Never Let Me Down Again (hit)
Stripped (hit)
Waiting For The Night (rare album track)
The band also diD acoustic versions of the 1998 b-side Surrender and the 1997 album track Insight.
Now, that is NOT a standard greatest hits set, it is a mixture of brand new songs at the time with a few hits, album tracks and a couple of rarities.
As for Duran, well i wasnt really implying anything by mentioning them, i liked them much better before that wretched reunion in 2004, however i enjoyed them live.