2019 has been a stimulating and rewarding year for The Cure. In March they were inducted into the Rock and Roll Hall Of Fame; two months later they celebrated the 30th Anniversary of their Disintegration album by live-streaming their show from Sydney Opera House; they triumphantly closed Glastonbury Festival; and today their 40th Anniversary concert movie is being screened in cinemas around the world.
The highly anticipated global cinema release of The Cure – Anniversary 1978-2018 Live in Hyde Park London celebrates four decades of The Cure, and it’s a fitting reminder of why the band has lasted so long.
Released in collaboration with Eagle Rock Entertainment, this dynamic and dazzling feature sees The Cure take to the stage on a scorching July evening in London’s Hyde Park to play to around 65,000 fans.
Controlled by longtime collaborator Tim Pope, a visionary filmmaker at the helm of their other lavish cinematic release, The Cure in Orange, plus countless iconic pop videos, Pope now captures the band in glorious 4K.
Devotees of The Cure will already be familiar with their lengthy setlists. With Anniversary, we can once again appreciate a band delivering to the max; although Robert Smith would probably tell you he would be quite happy playing for a few more hours. This 29-song, 135-minute show captures the band’s biggest hits as well as their finest album tracks and genuine fan favourites.
There is a deliciously surreal and woozy quality as the film begins with longstanding gig opener, Plainsong – a song that launched the band’s eighth studio album, Disintegration. Bizarrely, these thunderous atmospherics mixed with additional sunshine, work in terms of melody and mood. We even get a playful wave from Robert Smith when he appears to notice the camera panning across the stage.
“I really honestly can’t talk until the sun goes down,” Smith mumbles. “It’s taking up all my energies not to dissolve into a pile of dust.”
Anniversary boasts a similar song structure to this year’s Glastonbury Festival performance but fittingly, this time round, there is the addition of a poignant and celebratory nod to Three Imaginary Boys (their 1979 debut album) with ‘Grinding Halt’, ’10:15 Saturday Night’ and first ever UK single ‘Killing An Arab’ closing the show in truly nostalgic fashion.
On 5 May 1977, Easy Cure (as they were then known) made the first of many regular live appearances at their local pub in Crawley then known as The Rocket. Within the same month, the band recorded a demo in Robert’s parents’ house, entered and won a talent contest, and signed a recording contract.
Anniversary is the perfect cinematic project for both Tim Pope and The Cure – a collective that share memories dating back to 1982, and a work ethic so agreeable to Smith that the collaboration established over 37 pop videos. It would be mind-boggling to grant any other director the same endorsement.
If there is one thing to take away from this recording, it’s how spirited it is. Forty years on, The Cure is still one of the rarest of rock bands with a vast back catalogue of work and a wealth of memories.
On reaching the tail end of his band’s encore, Robert Smith is reflective:
“This last bunch of songs is how we finish and it is for everyone that is still here, and sadly for some of those that aren’t.”
Visually, Pope’s cinematography is sumptuous throughout here, and much like The Cure’s manic nature, it sways from capturing the flares of the summer sun to the bellowing storm, with only the odd earthquake-style rumblings (‘Shake Dog Shake’) and tripped out, kaleidoscopic blurring (‘If Only Tonight We Could Sleep’). Pope has resisted treating the film with overindulgent and unnecessary special effects, so what we’re left with is a widescreen vision of a band doing what they do best.
Within the first 30 minutes we are able to back in the glow of High, The Walk and Lovesong. As the sun sets, we can indulge in darker tracks such as ‘Burn’ (from the soundtrack to 1994’s The Crow, starring the late Brandon Lee). The shift from sunshine through to dusk and then night-time certainly gives this film a theatrical edge.
Crucially, the 5.1 audio mix (by Robert Smith and Bloodflowers co-producer Paul Corkett) sounds fantastic, too.
“If you’d asked me in the Rocket what I’d be doing in 40 years, I would have got the answer very wrong..” says Robert Smith, clearly overcome with emotion.
“But it’s thanks to everyone around me, and to you all as well that I’m still here, so thank you very much! It’s been a good four decades. Here’s to the next one!”
SETLIST
PLAINSONG
PICTURES OF YOU
HIGH
A NIGHT LIKE THIS
THE WALK
THE END OF THE WORLD
LOVESONG
PUSH
INBETWEEN DAYS
JUST LIKE HEAVEN
IF ONLY TONIGHT WE COULD SLEEP
PLAY FOR TODAY
A FOREST
SHAKE DOG SHAKE
BURN
FASCINATION STREET
NEVER ENOUGH
FROM THE EDGE OF THE DEEP GREEN SEA
DISINTEGRATION
ENCORE:
LULLABY
THE CATERPILLAR
FRIDAY I’M IN LOVE
CLOSE TO ME
WHY CAN’T I BE YOU?
BOYS DON’T CRY
JUMPING SOMEONE ELSE’S TRAIN
GRINDING HALT
10:15 SATURDAY NIGHT
KILLING AN ARAB
The Cure – Anniversary 1978-2018 is released worldwide today | But tickets
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