Some personal news from Reeves Gabrels — guitarist for The Cure and former David Bowie sideman — got major play today, as his wedding to Susan Van Wie Kastan, a marketing communications consultant, landed a write-up in the New York Times’ wedding section. No word whether Robert Smith will be there.
Film director Tim Pope finally let the cat out of the bag, today announcing plans to collaborate with Robert Smith on a “feature-length, chronological documentary of The Cure’s history from the 1970s via present day to the future” — a project that promises to include never-before-seen footage.
Now we’ve got our first confirmation that something is indeed in the works to mark next year’s 40th anniversary, courtesy of film director Tim Pope, the man behind some of The Cure’s most iconic music videos (“Close To Me,” “The Love Cats”) and the full-length concert film “The Cure in Orange.”
Next year marks the 40th anniversary of The Cure’s recording debut, a milestone that’s already got fans wondering whether bandleader Robert Smith is preparing something special — speculation both aided and fueled by social media postings from current and former members.
For this week’s installment of Vintage Video, we’ll revisit a rarity we first shared about four years ago: The Cure’s lost relic of The Top era, a 90-minute concert film called “Live in Japan” that documents the band’s Oct. 17, 1984, performance in Tokyo — and which was released the following year on VHS and Betamax in Japan only.
The Cure’s two much-coveted Record Store Day releases — 2001’s Greatest Hits and a standalone release of its limited-edition companion Acoustic Hits, both as 2LP picture discs — will receive a general release later this month on standard vinyl. They’ll be released on June 30.
For this week’s installment of Vintage Video, we present a real treasure for fans of The Cure: about a half-hour’s worth of footage of the band rehearsing its Prayer Tour set at Bray Studios in Berkshire, England, in April of 1989, the month before Disintegration was released and the band headed out on tour.
They hadn’t played together in The Cure since the late ’80s, but Lol Tolhurst — the band’s founding drummer, who later moved to keyboards — and Pearl Thompson — who played guitar during three different stints in the group — recently reunited in a recording studio, according to Facebook and Instagram posts by Thompson.
Time for what’s becoming a regular Vintage Video repeat: While we’ve posted this before, The Cure’s Robert Smith has yet to follow through with his announcement of a DVD release of “The Cure in Orange,” so, as it remains sadly out of print, we once again present the full 1987 concert film.
The Cure delivered a marathon 40-song set tonight at London’s Eventim Apollo that included a full performance of 1984’s The Top, the live debut of rare B-side “A Man Inside My Mouth” and the reintroduction of songs not played live in decades. The band will perform again Monday and Tuesday nights.
A long-in-the-works Paul McCartney tribute album finally arrives this November, and the first track to debut from The Art of McCartney is a rather faithful cover of The Beatles’ “Hello Goodbye” performed by The Cure with Sir Paul’s son James McCartney assisting on keyboards.
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