Today we remember The Drowning Man last played 3 years ago today in Nantes

OTD 2023 Nantes Cure played the familiar 17S foursome of At Night, M, Play for Today and Forest but non-consecutively with not just one but two breaks between songs First time this has happened in Europe since RAH 2006 Also the last time Drowning Man was played

OTD 1980 Cure played Lancaster University Something presumably terrible happened because Cure have not returned to the ceremonial county of Lancashire since

Happy Friday I’m in Love from Carla

Sweet dreams

Don’t usually post about other bands but Bleach Lab in Bristol tonight were ace First night of UK tour 55min set only Tiny venue and destined for bigger things Support from Sandhouse rocked it Vids👇

Sandhouse support for Bleach Lab tonight are ace!

Looking forward to seeing Bleach Lab on first night of their tour tonight Their last album is my fav of recent years

OTD 1980 moody 3-piece outfit The Cure took Primary Tour to Loughborough University Gig remarkable for being furthest Cure have played from the sea in UK, some 55 miles eastwards to The Wash UK pole of inaccessibility Coton in the Elms 18miles away Memories of And Also The Trees singer is charming

OTD 2002 3rd of 3 Trilogy gigs Albums Porno/Disintegration/Bloodflowers played in full Last 2 Berlin gigs recorded for DVD 36 song set then a record equalling 3x36 sets from 1996 Short Term Effect exhumed from 1982 grave & then returned Also last plays: There Is No If/Where Birds.../Loudest Sound

Today we remember Piggy in the Mirror last played OTD 2016 Poor Bob struggling with voice in Leipzig 4th most played from Topx122 Piggy had reasonable run on 80s rotation bagging 32% sets 1986-89 Nada until 12/98 Swing Tour sets then AWOL again Meagre 7 outings 2014-16 and off to slaughterhouse

10 Imaginary Years remembers Andy’s final weeks with Cure

OTD 1984 Boris Williams joined The Cure Top Tour thrown into chaos after Wild Andy kicked off drummers stool Faced with unpalatable options of cancelling US leg or Lol assuming stool, Phil's contact book saved the day twice, first by drafting Vince Ely for a few weeks and then Boris More👇

When did Cure fans start doing singalong Play for Today?

Geneva OTD 2022 Rob so entranced by crowd singalong that he forgot opening verse of Play for Today

Don't think I'm weird but... I wrote a short story using only Cure song titles about a predator who kidnaps a girl, subjects her to a 13 day ordeal before releasing her, then wrestles with his conscience and kills himself /thread/

In Your House and Watching Me Fall are the only two Cure songs to juxtapose two Cure song titles in the lyrics

At Night and In Your House are the only pair of Cure songs with multi-word titles to mention each other's song title within the lyrics Is it a coincidence that the two songs are from the same album? CGS doesn't believe in coincidences

Today we pause to remember Round & Round & Round last played OTD 1996 Inconsequential ode to fakeness within showbiz party scene R&R&R played 60 of 1st 76 gigs of WMS launch/tour then skipped remaining 22 shows R&R&R is longest Cure song title to feature in lyrics of another song: Disintegration 👇

OTD 2022 show 20/46 of that year's Euro roadtrip Cure introduced A Fragile Thing into setlists 1st of 59 outings for AFT Perhaps more curious is unique starkness of 1st encore Figgy into Faith done just once before, La Coruna 1998, but Faith into Dis is an unrepeated and emotional novelty

Today 9th anniversary of last time Cure played Boy's Don't Cry in the main set Such positioning of Cure's second most-played song feels quaint today but was delivered 9x in 2016 alone Since Basel BDC played 141/147 gigs, 114x as show finale else preceding CTM JSET or 10:15 mostly in final encore

Lovely visiting dogs Zeph Harley and Carla

OTD last year Cure played SOALW in full at Troxy London No one could get tickets so watched on YouTube All I Ever Am. Secrets and Friday the highlights youtu.be/HNWSAtqiizs?...

Simon Gallup interview condensed to just 7mins youtu.be/HJkNTC71eho?...

Simon Gallup interview starts 19:00 GMT loveandover.com/radioplayer/

Cure have gigged twice on a Friday Halloween 1980 on their first and penultimate Luxembourg aoppearance 1997 at Galore launch in NY when Cure played almost all of their second singles comp, but which 3 songs were missed?

Laertes: “Willingly I came to Denmark to show my duty” This will be 13th Cure gig in Denmark and 7th at Roskilde after appearances in 85 90 95 01 13 and 2019 Cure also played the festival site to open Prayer Tour in 1989 but that wasn’t the fest itself

OTD 2022 Cure restored Faith to their live performances for the first time since Reflections 2011, and before that 2008 This came on the back of a relentless #BringBackFaith campaign within the fan community which may, but probably didn't have anything to do with it

The Cure have played spooky Lullaby at all four of their #Halloween gigs since 1989 Assago 1992 Valencia 1996 New York 1997 Bologna 2022

BREAKING Simon Gallup has new jacket

Not for the first time, Hampshire community activist Simon Gallup puts Andover firmly on the map Tune in to Andover Radio on Friday evening to hear Si discuss local issues such as opening of a new modern art gallery, controversial traffic calming measures, and funding for Andover Model Railway Club

OTD last year As anticipation for imminent SOALW album launch hung like electricity in the airwaves, The Cure captured the different brand identities of BBC's radio portfolio perfectly with a serious set for discerning Radio 6 listeners followed by mashed potato for the toothless audience of Radio 2

Just when you thought you’d heard it all, here is The Cure disrespectfully transforming CGS fav Going Nowhere into a Radio 2 jingle

Evening status

Cure could really do with thawing forgotten weepies To Wish Impossible Things and Apart from deep freeze and restoring to 2026 sets

For the record here are Roger's performance counts of Cure songs, with Top 20 and yet-to-debut titles highlighted

Celebrating Roger’s birthday with this little secret

Happy 70th birthday to Cure utility man & senior member @rogerodonnell.com Roger tinkered and tamboed 18,350 performances of 192 different songs over 674 gigs in 42 countries during 3 spells with The Cure: 87-89, 95-04, 11-present topped by IBD x632 but never To Wish Impossible Things or Apart

Gary Glitter’s Do you Wanna Touch Me? is Robert Smith’s absolute fav cover to sing in concert, delivered at least 33x in 1980 and 1985 Cure have almost certainly played Foxy Lady more often but Mike Dempsey was usually on vocal duties when it came to disrespecting Hendrix

Rennes OTD 1980 Cure gave birth to ponderous fav of ponderous fans All Cats Are Grey ACAG may have surfaced earlier in post-Matthieu era, as did Holy Hour+Primary, but here is first recording Set finished with audience singalong of a Cure fav Glitter's Do You Wanna Touch Me youtu.be/YjdwU0Vbpk4?...

Happy 24th birthday to the one and only live performance of Just Say Yes with Saffron of Republica on duet duties JSY was intended as a single but decided in the end to confine it as a curio to finish Greatest Hits lest it became too widely known among general public

Since 1993 Cure have been 43% more likely to play Friday I'm in Love in concert if the concert was held on a Friday

Ariel by The Cure Can keener ears establish whether this Ariel is recorded live? The rest of the session was live, but not sure about this song The only other Ariel is a Rob home demo (below) on Top Deluxe which may or may not be different youtu.be/UQAkC3lGvDg?...

OTD 1979 Michael Dempsey left The Cure During SATB Join Hands Tour atmosphere within band had deteriorated and stubborn Mike was resistant to Rob's new material & stark musical vision One week after tour concluded in Hammersmith Lol "executed the sever" via phone call As remembered in fanzine #3

OTD 1996 Cure closed Swing Tour gig in Assago with A Forest into Faith for final time that year This pairing of classics has been delivered as a finisher at least 20x Forest-Faith finales feasibly furnished 1981 but one can't be sure More confidently, 1992x3 1996x5 2000x12

Carla’s evening photoshoot

OTD 2022 Cure debuted I Can Never Say Goodbye 6th of 7 gigs in Poland 1st in Krakow Only song debut on Polish soil www.youtube.com/watch?v=pZtg...

OTD 1992 show 2 of 3 night residency at Paris Zenith Cure thought of offering something special so delivered a unique final trio that had never been played together and would never be played again For the record, second encore was a triplet served up just once before and never again

Apple season has begun on CGS farm

Ronnie made new friend