bradley's almanac - a boston music blog

boston area events of note:

thursday, january 8th

forest henderson

the new collisions

the lights out

sir q

@ great scott

saturday, january 10th

head automatica

radio 4

@ great scott

sunday, january 11th

whistlejacket

voxhaul broadcast

local natives

the union line

@ tt the bears

monday, january 12th

varsity drag

the rationales

nate rogers (ex-scamper)

@ tt the bears

thursday, january 15th

illinois

@ great scott

thursday, january 15th

the raveonettes

@ the paradise

friday, january 16th

dear leader

hallelujah the hills

faces on film

@ the paradise

saturday, january 17th

the rosebuds

the love language

the fatal flaw

@ the middle east downstairs

sunday, january 18th

frightened rabbit

@ great scott

sunday, january 18th

department of eagles

@ the brattle theatre

saturday, january 24th

longwave

wheat

bon savants

@ great scott

saturday, january 24th

arts at the armory benefit

mission of burma

the neighborhoods

@ the somerville theatre

saturday, january 24th

vic chesnutt

elf power

@ the middle east

tuesday, january 27th

annuals

jessica lee mayfield

what laura says

@ the paradise

friday, january 30th

andrew bird

loney dear

@ the orpheum

wednesday, february 4th

the pretenders

@ the orpheum

thursday, february 5th

illinois

mean creek

you can be a wesley (cd release)

@ great scott

wednesday, february 11th

the godfathers

@ the middle east down

friday, february 13th

los campesinos!

@ the paradise

saturday, february 14th

animal hospital

travels (cd release!)

arms & sleepers

mary page

@ pa's lounge

sunday, february 15th

the pains of being pure at heart

pants yell!

the depreciation guild

@ the middle east upstairs

sunday, february 15th

fujiya & miyagi

@ the paradise

wednesday, february 18th

m. ward

@ the somerville theatre

saturday, february 21st

norm macdonald

@ the wilbur theatre

tuesday, february 24th

ben kweller

the watson twins

@ the somerville theatre

tuesday, february 24th

tapes 'n tapes

wild light

@ the paradise

wednesday, february 25th

comedian eugene mirman

'the will to whatevs' book tour

@ the brookline booksmith

thursday, february 26th

jimmy eat world

'clarity 10th anniversary tour'

@ the new house of blues

thursday, february 26th

blizten trapper

alela diane

@ the paradise

saturday, february 28th

swirlies!

gregory & the hawk

@ the middle east up

saturday, february 28th

fountains of wayne (acoustic)

everyday visuals (acoustic)

@ the paradise

saturday, march 7th

airborne toxic event

alberta cross

henry clay people

@ the paradise

wednesday, march 11th

fleetwood mac

@ the garden

saturday, march 14th

throwing muses

screaming females

50 foot wave

@ the middle east downstairs

saturday, march 14th

a.c. newman (new pornographers)

with dent may & his

magnificent ukulele

@ the paradise

sunday, march 29th

morrissey

@ the house of blues

visit tourfilter for more shows

Monday, May 19, 2008

Mp3s: The Cure in Boston (4 new songs)

As promised, here's the full set from last week's Cure show here in Boston. Rather than a long-winded write-up, I'll just run through some personal highlights from the night...

The opening "Plainsong" chimes still get me, every time. I spent too much time with that album for it not to. When they started with it, I knew I'd love the show.

Porl Thompson is such a brilliant guitarist, and his return is so obviously the reason the band has transformed so well into a quartet. While there are still a few keyboard part backing tracks, his flawless (and in many cases, improved) replacement of the old synths has reinvigorated a number of songs, especially "Lullaby" (which I'd become entirely tired with years ago). And he does it all while rocking the plastic ~~passion~~ pants.

I think this show finally erased my lingering (and for the most part illogical) resentment of drummer Jason Cooper's presence in the band. I was such a massive fan of Boris Williams, thought his playing was essential to what the Cure had become, that I didn't give Jason as much of a chance as I should have. He's come a very long way since those first couple years on board, when all I was doing was unfairly comparing his live drumming to Boris' flawless performances. No longer, though. [drumgeek] That said, I could do without that extra snare hit in the progression of "From the Edge of the Deep Green Sea".[/drumgeek]

I continue to appreciate how much the band embraces its past, not just by playing multi-hour shows that cover their entire (almost 30-year) career, but through little touches like reworking a never-recorded 1985 song as a new single ("Sleep When I'm Dead"), and titling a new one "The Perfect Boy", which is of course a nod to 1987's "The Perfect Girl".

High points of the set: "A Night Like This" (Porl's solo!), "Pictures of You", "From the Edge of the Deep Green Sea", "The Blood", "Push", "Primary", "100 Years", the new "Sleep When I'm Dead", "Disintegration", "Play For Today", and the entire third encore. Low points? Well, I've never been a great fan of their ultra-pop side, so "Why Can't I Be You?", "Hot Hot Hot!!", "Wrong Number", and "Lovecats" sent my mind wandering a bit. I've also not listened to the band as much over the past 10 years or so, so "Signal to Noise", "alt.end", "The End of the World", and "Us or Them" left me cold. But the high points far, far outweighed any lows.

Here's the 36-song, nearly 3-hour set...

The Cure

Live at BU's Agganis Arena
in Boston, MA
on Monday, May 12th, 2008

01. Plainsong
02. Prayers For Rain
03. alt.end
04. A Night Like This
05. The End of the World
06. Lovesong
07. Sleep When I'm Dead (new)
08. Pictures of You
09. Lullaby
10. The Perfect Boy (new)
11. From The Edge of the Deep Green Sea
12. Hot Hot Hot!!!
13. The Only One (new)
14. The Blood
15. Wrong Number
16. The Walk
17. Signal To Noise
18. Push
19. In Between Days
20. Just Like Heaven
21. Primary
22. Us or Them
23. Never Enough
24. 100 Years
25. Disintegration

---encore 1---
26. The Lovecats
27. Freakshow (new)
28. Close To Me
29. Why Can't I Be You?

---encore 2---
30. Play For Today
31. A Forest

---encore 3---
32. Boys Don't Cry
33. Jumping Someone Else's Train
34. Grinding Halt
35. 10:15 Saturday Night
36. Killing An Arab

Rather than my standard list of links, I'll just refer you to the best Cure resource out there: Chain of Flowers. Up-to-date info on the current tour and the band's upcoming release plans.

The new single, "The Only One", is streaming at P4K, and you can buy it at iTunes, along with the non-album extra track "NY Trip". Physical versions should be out within the next week or so (CD single and 7").

Photos: My many Flickr-hosted shots are here. Check out a full Cure Flickr tag search.

Upcoming tourdates: Visit the Chain of Flowers tourdates page for the complete list of Cure 4Tour dates, past and present.

Listen to any and all 'Nac-hosted Mp3s at the Hype Machine.

the fine print... If anyone has an issue with these Mp3s being made available, just let me know (my contact info in the 'nac faq). Live sets recorded with a Sony ECM-719 mic and a Sony MZ-RH10 minidisc, converted to .wav and then edited to 192kbps Mp3s. Files are made available for a limited time, and are not reposted once removed.

Labels: livemp3s

posted by brad at 9:01 AM | direct link | rss (1 :2) | |

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