19/02/2000
watching me fall
want
fascination street
maybe someday
from the edge of the deep green sea
inbetween days split second intro cut
if only tonight we could sleep...
39
prayers for rain
one hundred years
shiver and shake slight broadcast edit/cut
bloodflowers
a strange day
a forest
the figurehead "and this is for lol"
disintegration
and this promo show is a keeper!! excellent excellent sound from a radio broadcast if i'm not mistaken...and it's just perfect--amazing sound, amazing mix of instruments and vocals...the whole package! no advertising, no disc jockeys, no radio interference...clean guitars, drums have a solid kick and sparkling synth sounds underneath the vocals--a perfect 10 recording for sound quality.
and...this just happens to be a keeper of a show for the performances as well. the band opens up w/"out of this world" and robert gives the song what might be the most gentle vocal ever...very delicate, very subtle...super way to open the show, and then without delay right into "watching me fall." you can hear perry's guitar work really well, all the different parts and scratching noises...robert puts some lyrics in the wrong places, but almost makes it work this time (!!) and recovers pretty well. good all the way 'round =)
robert finally says a few things, a thank you plus a simple intro for "the last day of summer." like everything before it, a killer mix makes a wonderful recording--sweet--"maybe someday" is more of the same, but that's a good thing. "from the edge of the deep green sea" benefits from the excellent sound/mix, with perry's electric guitar coming out of the mix a little more clearly than usual...and you can hear robert's vocals in the middle--they actually have an effect on them, which is so subtle that it's often missed in larger settings...but the "how much more can we...." part has a cool effect put on the vocal.
a tight and clean "inbetween days" comes next, very well prepared and played...the keyboards are low in the mix, but that's not a recording killer. all the snyths/keyboard sounds are lower in the mixes than normal, some more than others, but that actually helps bring out other things...kinda cool. robert then apologizes for not being more talkative, (he's "bereft of ideas at the moment") and introduces "if only tonight we could sleep..." again, everything benefits from the quality of the recording--great stuff.
"39" starts w/a clean intro of the sampled/looped keyboard line, and sounds great. everything works well, jason's drums are excellent--w/noisy hi-hat work and non-stop thumping drums pushing the song along--and the guitars make a nice mess as well, w/just enough control on robert's vocal to make this work. he does somehow sing "the fire is almost dead" more times than "the fire is almost out" at the end..."prayers for rain"has a great mix, kicking drums and stinging guitars...nice!! the sounds are so cool, the subtle differences are lost in the mix during larger venue shows =\
"one hundred years" comes next, and is very good--the mix of pre-recorded drums and live drums is perfectly done, and it all comes together for a strong performance. what comes next is even better...a rare "shiver and shake," with squealing guitars going all over the place =) and everything sounds great on it!!
the drums/robert's vocals/everything...the radio broadcast did require an edit for the lyric, so the "you're a fucking waste" line has a cut (it sounds like the slightest of skips). still, an energetic rip thru "shiver and shake," with robert even letting out a half scream/yelp after the song ends...awesome...
"bloodflowers" ends the set proper, and is lovely...gentle at times, emotive and bursting outwards at other times...good performance.
encores start w/"a strange day," and then "a forest." the first in fine form, w/lots of sounds coming out in this mix...the second is stranger, as they play around w/the long intro--but it's "a forest" and it sounds good anyway...pretty sharp, a direct performance with concise guitar work and solid stuff from everyone.
the band comes back out for a second encore, and robert then says this....
"big change of mood this one, this is from the 'pornography' album as well, and this is for lol...it's called 'the figurehead.'"
laurence was actually at the show, and this could easily seem like a cheap shot, given all of that cure history between them...and the story about how robert had lol sit in front of him in the studio while singing/laying down the vocals to "shiver and shake," which is a particularly hateful song that appeared earlier on in the set--the only promo show performance of "shiver and shake,"...but the dedication actually sounds very nice and sincere. like an appreciation of what they had been able to do as members of the cure.
the performance is excellent, as is the recording...clean guitar lines, repeated bass and drums pounding the same simple patterns home...and a good vocal.
"disintegration" closes the show, and like everything that has come before it--the mix is spectacular and makes it easy for the strong performance to shine thru...powerful, and strong...and robert gives one of his more controlled and driven vocals, not falling down or letting it go at all. a good ending to a perfect night.
this is absolutely a must-have promo show/recording!! terrific recording, a condensed and concise performance as well...only one single, the rest is all mood and emotion and heart--100% must-have!