"The Cure of my life"

My story begins in 1996, Madrid. I was 14 years old and my older brother had lots of CDs, most of them scattered around his room, full of scratches and without any kind of case. I was looking for something to listen to, tired of Gun's and Roses, Nirvana and other bands that teenagers used to listen to back then. I had started to listen to bands like The Pixies and The Smiths but my music tastes weren't really defined until I found a very ugly looking CD with The Cure on its label. The name of the CD was Standing on a Beach and I had no clue that the music inside of it was going to change my life forever. I remember listening to first tracks such as Boy's Don't Cry and Killing an Arab concentrating on the guitar parts, simple but perfect, trying to replicate them on my cheap guitar.

As I advanced through the record I couldn't believe what was coming through my ears, it was like the evolution of music from a one band perspective. From A Forest to The Lovecats, to In Between Days or Close to Me. I simply felt amazed of the simple but concise evolution of a band into the different sounds of the different years. Not too long after that, I was able to borrow another CD from the Cure. The music I had heard on Standing on a Beach had surprised me a lot, but anyway it was a studio album, just singles and even tough I didn't know it then I hadn't really heard the full potential of the band, a potential that you can only spot when you hear them LIVE.

So lucky for me, the next album I got to listen was Show. For about a year I almost only listened to that double CD. Tape, Open, High and Pictures of You, it was simply too much for me. Those four songs, specially the last one, Pictures of You have really gone far inside of me. Pictures of You simply changed my concept of music, the guitar and bass line are simply perfect, when I listen to it I feel like I'm lost in space, with the melancholy thoughts that the lyrics inspire. When I listen to that sound (which I still do very oftenly) my whole life comes as a thought. I remember old friends, old pictures, old situations and not so old ones. It is without any doubt the song of my life (so far) which has walked with me along the path of living.

After a while I reached the Disintegration album, I have to admit that I don't like the studio versions as much as I like the Live versions, but it was still a fantastic experience. So far I had only listened to the Standing on a Beach and the Show records, and I really didn't know if the Cure still had much to offer me besides, how naive. So I had the CD and I wanted to try it in one of the two ways that I like to listen to music (besides concerts of course). I waited until my family went to sleep and I lay on my bed with the headphones and nothing else. The "sound was deep, in the dark", deeper than I can ever remember. Plainsong just broke my heart, then the fantastic studio version of Pictures of You, and on and on until Untitled. Probably that was the most exciting experience so far for me of listening to a studio album for the first time. The band was too much for me, in a period of two years I was starting to become some kind of Cure-head.

I could listen to nothing else but those few CDs and I just wanted more. I didn't have much money as a teenager but I managed to buy Japanese Whispers which was on sale at Madrid-rock. I liked the CD, but after the experiences I have had with the other albums I guess that I was a little bit dissapointed, although after the years I have really enjoined that album many times after that. The mp3 era had come and someone gave me a CD simply with all of the Cures music. I was extremely happy that I was finally going to be able to listen to all of their music. I remember running back home, climbing up the stairs not waiting for the elevator, starting up the computer, really nervous. Will it work? Is this really the CD I've been looking for so long? It did, indeed it worked.

I was finally able to listen to Pornography, Faith, and all of the rest. It took me a few years to digest all of the albums, some more, some less. But by the time Bloodflowers came out, I was really an extremist Cure fan. The Dream Tour, Madrid, La Riviera, year 2000, 17th or March. I wasn't really sure of what to expect of my first Cure concert, I was nervous, excited and still a kid. I went with my best friend and my brother and his friends. Honestly I didn't care about the setlist, I knew for sure that I was going to enjoy it a lot, buy I have to admit that I really really really wanted them to play Pictures of You. I was really afraid that they wouldn't play it and that it could be the only chance of my life to see the band live, because of the rumors about the disintegration of the band after that tour. I was just 18 at that time, still a kid and I had only been to two concerts then.

I can clearly remember how it started: Out Of This World, which for sure was my favourite songs on Bloodflowers. It was simply a magical moment, from there on the concert went just the best way I could expect. And then it came, Pictures of You. When the song began I got totally paralyzed, watching Robert and Gallup face to face playing those perfect sets of notes, filling the air with the most beautiful sound there can be. I remember my brother calling my attention and saying: there you have it! But I guess I was too concentrated on the music to say anything. God that was really beautiful, one of those unique moments of your life that you know you will remember forever.

August 2nd, 2002 Benicassim Festival. That was my second Cure concert. I was disappointed that I was only going to be able to see the band for an hour, and I wanted more. I remember that that summer I wasn't going to go to the festival, instead I was going to fill up my geeky computer boy need by attending a Lan Party in Valencia. I already had the ticket of the Lan Campus Party but then the Line Up of the festival came out: The Cure!!! and Radiohead!! About three hours after that I cancelled my ticket for the Party in Valencia and I was buying the ticket for the Benicassim FiberFib Concert. As I was saying, it was a pity that The Cure were only going to play for about an hour, but you never know what's going to happen, and luckyly for me, Sigur Ros, another band that I was really excited to see, cancelled their tour, and the organization of the festival offered The Cure to play double time, and so they did :)

Again, the concert started with Out Of This World. I wasn't expecting to feel as sensitive with this concert as I had been with the one in Madrid two years ago, but something happened. I went to the concert with my girlfriend. Since we had meet she had started to listen to the Cure a lot, and it was already one of her favourite bands already. She expected a lot from the show. Before the band came out, a few minutes before the crowd started to clap and cheer them on. I could feel some kind of small shake around my hands. The shackle spread though my body, and by the time they started playing, I swear that I was totally shaking, I could even feel my teeth shaking, something that has never ever happened to me again. I was like a dream coming true, I was really about to see the band again. I just couldn't believe it. The concert went smooth as butter, with a very happy ending which I enjoined all the way. There, with such a big amount of people, it was like a dream coming true. Again, one of the best days of my life.

The next concert was the day of my birthday two years after that. Me and my girlfriend took a 12 hour train to get to Santiago de Compostela, a city in Galicia the north of Spain. 16th July 2004. Nothing much to say about that concert, besides that it was truly amazing. The sound, the temperature and atmosphere, everything was simply perfect. I could see the mountains far behind, the sunset, with cold breezes of air cooling me down. I really needed to take a leak at some point, but the toilets where so far away and there was such a big line that I didn't want to miss a single second of the concert, I had to hold onto it and trust me, I almost exploded at the end :). That was the last concert with a 5 man lineup that I got to see. The concert was slightly longer than 2 hours and it ended with Faith, long version. I remember a couple, a goth couple crying close to me and I understood that they were feeling what I had felt four years ago when I listened for the first time to Pictures of You. I had a very nice feeling of being around people who felt the same way as I did in that moment. It was also beautiful and sad at the same time.

August 5th, 2005, Benicassim Spain. I wasn't planning on going to the festival that year, but again The Cure were playing so I had no choice. It was my first concert with Porl back in the band, and it was really nice. The truth is that I wasn't as suprised as the older concerts, don't know if it was because I had already seen them 3 times, of because it was a 4-piece lineup. The concert was good and I really enjoyed it, but it wasn't as emotional as the previous ones. At least I got to hear songs like The Blood or Push live :)

2008. I was lucky enough to see the band twice in the last tour. Palacio de los Deportes Madrid and Rotterdam. Both shows were really nice but I must say that it is whole different experience to see the band as 4-piece than as a 5-piece. Although Porl is the best guitar player the Cure could ever have, I really miss Roger at the keyboards.

(From: Javier Quevedo Fernández, Madrid, Spain)

"...so different from everything that was going on..."

I first got into The Cure in 6th Grade, around age 11 or 12, which was 19 years ago around 1989. My older sister had the first few records and I borrowed Boys Don't Cry from her because I was looking for something to do. I remember thinking that this music sounded so different from everything that was going on back then. I just got sucked in. Seeing as I didn't even have a job yet it took a while to buy all of their records so I would go to the library and rent the tapes until I could afford to buy more.

I loved that each of their records sounded so different and I just became more and more intrigued, admiring their diversity. I couldn't believe when I actually saw the band members, they were so strange that they were cool and I loved their sense of humor in their videos. I think my friends thought I was crazy for being so passionate about this band but I really felt the connection throughout my teenage years to their music and lyrics.

I do wish they were a little more up on their technical stuff and update their website a bit more. I have to search other cure fan sites to get the latest info sometimes. I wish there were more interactive things for the fans. I also wish it didn't cost so much to get a good seat at their concert! Other than that, they will forever be my favorite band.

(From: Michelle Galinis, Middleton, WI, USA)

"Passion and sadness"

The Cure got into my life about 14 years ago, when I heard on a record shop the song Boy's Don't Cry. Something amazing and melancolic trapped me. Later on (I think just in the same week) I heard on the radio Friday I'm in Love. But I was short of money then to buy the records so it wasnt' until I was on College when I begin to buy The Cure record.

I was just surpirsed just how can Robert write a song such as Lovesong and also a song like One Hundred Years. The passion and sadness mixed together, the voice, the music. Ever since The Cure album and the night at The Cure concert in Mexico City back in 2004, I've been a loyal Cure fan. Over the years, my attitude has really changed, because The Cure has been a eternal companion for many stages of my life (love, tragedies, depression, joy) and right now, I'm a devotee of their music and their live shows.

(From: Ernesto, age 25; Mexico City, Mexico)

"Le Cure, they are ze best"

I am a massive Cure fan and have been since 1988 when I was 16. I think my Cure story is quite interesting because I "missed" The Cure a couple of times before I realised they were my band.

In the late 80s one of my school friends had a French pal. We lived on the same street so his pen pal stayed for a week in his house. We were all interested as to what he was like. I asked my friend what he did all day and he said he basically lazed around listening to the Cure. When I met him in person I asked him what he was into and he said "Le Cure, they are ze best". I had not heard of them and asked if they were French. He said "no, they are English". I was surprised, a French guy listening to an English band. And if they were so great why had I not heard of them? At this point I didn't think of checking them out for some reason. Looking back it may have been a bootleg copy of The Cure in Orange that he was listening to, or the head on the door.

About a year later my brother had a German pen pal called Marco. He came over to stay with us. He was also listening to the Cure. In particular the 12" version of Boys Don't Cry. I also liked the song. Even at this stage I still didn't get into the Cure though. I did think to myself that it was strange that the French and the Germans really like the Cure and my friends and I were not into them.

Shortly after this I joined the lower sixth form at school. Everyone seemd to have some musical aliegance. Lots of people were into U2 due to The Joshua Tree etc. Somebody lent me a copy of Staring at the Sea the singles. I was hooked from that point on. I loved the singles. There was no band to match them from the dark brooding "a forest" to the light hearted The Lovecats. I rapidly started collecting all the albums, I devoured all of them. Even the heavy albums such as pornography. I knew I had found my band. Not to mention the majestic Disintegration was released shortly afterwards with the strange songs such as Lullaby.

I also got The Cure In Orange on VHS. The concert blew me away. In paticular the extended version of A Forest, A Strange Day, Push... I hope they release it on blu ray as I can't watch it anymore.

I grew up on the same street as the television presenter "Vernon Kay". He has even presented MTV europe music awards. He is also a Radio 1 DJ. If you google him he will appear. I have lost touch with him but we were friends back them. One day on the radio he claimed the French pen pal was his but I am sure it was my other friend Simon who had the French pen pal. I remember because his mother was fluent in French and could tell him off in perfect French. It was impressive. So where Vernon got that idea from I don't know.

I can even play many Cure songs on my acoustic guitar including Just Like Heaven, Boys Don't Cry, In Between Days etc.

So I still love the Cure. They are my favourite band. People think I am crazy for liking the Cure but that is the way it is.. I can't wait for the next album. For me the only problem has been meeting other Cure fans. I have only seen them live once in the early 90s on the Wish tour. I thought it was a great gig. Robert went into Foxy Lady (Jimi Hendrix) at the end. I got very close to the front and was only 5 feet away from Robert Smith.

Recently I went skiing with a friend to the portes du soleil in France. We flew to Geneva airport. My friend said a previous time he had been there he met the cure. The whole band sat next to them in an aiport cafe. He warned them that the table was wonky as they had just sat at the same table and then moved. He said they were very nice people and seemed quite ordinary. Even though there was no missing Robert due to the hair. I thought to myself it should have been me, I am The Cure fan.

Another strange Cure story. I was working with a guy called "Blewitt" at work. An older guy in his late 40s. He was from the South of England near Surrey/Sussex. I had just bought the rerelease of Three Imaginary Boys and he saw it on my desk. He said to me, "oh yeah, the cure, I like The Lovecats, but not the other stuff" (this is typical from a non Cure fan). He said I used to work with the brother of Robert Smith's girlfriend. I had read a book about the Cure and remembered that Robert's childhood sweetheart was called Mary Poole. I said to him "the guy wasn't called Poole was he". When I said that the guy appeared shocked. He said "How did you know that?" When I told him about the book he still would not believe me. It was very strange.

Recently a new guy joined work and it turns out he is a big Cure fan. I had to meet one some day. Hopefully we will be able to see the next Cure concert in the UK with the new album.

Anyway, I hope you like my stories etc. This can be used for material if you like. If you use it online or something would you let me know. I would like to see other peoples stories too.

(From: John Thompson, Bolton, England)

"It happened way back in 1980"

It happened way back in 1980, during a summer sailing camp, in Friesland, The Netherlands.
Some of my fellow-campers took a casette-tape (CD's and CD-players were not invented yet) of The Cure with him: The Boys Don't Cry album. Basicaly it played all week and that is when, how and where I was struck by The Cure. That same year I saw the band for the first time live. In Nijmegen, 19-10-1980.

After that, The Cure has always been the guide-line in my musical experiences. Since then I saw them in Holland, England and Belgium some 18 times. Last two gigs were this March in Antwerpen (Belgium) and Rotterdam (The Netherlands).

The Cure (for a good understanding, their music and not Robert and co) has been a great support for me in hard periods as well in periods of greater happiness. Actualy, The Cure became a significant part of my life since that week in 1980.

And about the present Cure. Well, the way they play now, comes rather close to their 1980/1982 period. Pure, melancholic, not to complicated. And a little strange, like in "Freak Show".
What I miss a little, is the more doomy part. The All Cats Are Grey, Funeral Party and Siamese Twins experience.
I am looking forward to the new album. Let's see what Robert is gonna offer us.

(From: Ronald Kersten, age 44, The Netherlands)

"I cannot imagine a life without their music"

I can honestly say I do not know how I got into the Cure at first, although I was definitely at school in the very late 80’s (I am 34 this year!). It must have been through friends as we were all into alternative music. I remember buying Boys Don’t Cry and being blown away by its simplicity yet its power. Then listening to Disintegration for the first time and being utterly confused by how different and yet amazing Plainsong sounded. It was then a mission to find everything inbetween and became thoroughly absorbed by the journey and history of the band.

I saw them live for the first time at the Brits (Wembley Arena) in '91 and it was like nothing I had ever heard before, then again in Cambridge at the beginning of the Wish tour. My Cure T-shirts and manic dancing to Lovecats was always magnetic and several girlfriends were met as a direct result!

My love affair with the band waned through the late 90s as I grew up for a while and then something happened to me in 2003 and I was hooked again. The Cure arrived in the post on the first day of release, I saw them again – by travelling to Ireland for the DAY in 2004 and then again in Antwerp last month. Hardly a day goes by without my listening to something Cure related and looking for album/tour details on COF.

Robert and the band have been so much a part of more than half my life and I cannot imagine a life without their music. Some songs move me even when I hear them for the 7843rd time!

P.S. Of course I didn’t tell you that for the Cambridge gig I died my hair black and backcombed it. Unfortunately by the following day it had gone blue and got ripped in the VI form common room!!!!

(from: Robert Ellinor, England)