The Cure marked their 40th anniversary in 2018 with a pair of unique shows in London: One where they went through their catalogue chronologically for a small audience of die-hards, and another where they played a lengthy, career-spanning set to a massive crowd in Hyde Park. Both concerts were filmed and will be released this fall as 40 Live Curtion-25 + Anniversary, a box set that will come in a variety of configurations.
The former concert, dubbed Curtion-25: From There to Here / From Here to There, features the band playing a spiraling set list that starts with one of their earliest songs and boasts a song from each album up through their most current release, 2008s 4:13 Dream. The Cure also played a pair of previously unreleased songs and then worked their way backwards to Boys Dont Cry. The performance was part of the 25th annual Meltdown Festival at the Royal Festival Hall last June. The video features HD picture and 5.1 surround sound.
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The Hyde Park show, which Rolling Stone reviewed last July, is branded Anniversary: 1978-2018. It features the Cure playing 29 songs to a crowd of 65,000 concertgoers. The bands longtime film collaborator, Tim Pope, who directed several videos as well as the groups In Orange film, helmed the release. The film also screened in movie theaters earlier this year.
A limited-edition deluxe box set will include either two Blu-Rays or two DVDs along with four CDs and a 40-page book, while a more standard hardbook edition will contain the same video content and a 16-page booklet. Both concerts will also be available as digital releases. All editions arrive on October 18th.
Speaking with Rolling Stone this year, ahead of the Anniversary screening, Cure frontman Robert Smith said he was pleased with how it came out. Its actually quite an overwhelming experience, he said. I thought that Id be a bit blas, but I was actually quite taken aback with the whole thing. Im really pleased we did it because it turned into probably one of the best days weve ever had through a combination of just great weather and Englands football team was doing remarkably well in the World Cup. And I picked the bill for the whole day at Hyde Park. It was just, like, a huge celebration of music.
Curtion-25: From There to Here / From Here to There track list:
1. Three Imaginary Boys
2. At Night
3. Other Voices
4. A Strange Day
5. Bananafishbones
6. A Night Like This
7. Like Cockatoos
8. Pictures of You
9. High
10. Jupiter Crash
11. 39
12. Us or Them
13. Its Over
14. It Can Never Be the Same
15. Step Into the Light
16. The Hungry Ghost
17. Alt.End
18. The Last Day of Summer
19. Want
20. From the Edge of the Deep Green Sea
21. Disintegration
22. If Only Tonight We Could Sleep
23. Sinking
24. Shake Dog Shake
25. One Hundred Years
26. Primary
27. A Forest
28. Boys Dont Cry
Anniversary: 1978-2018 track list:
1. Plainsong
2. Pictures of You
3. High
4. A Night Like This
5. The Walk
6. The End of the World
7. Lovesong
8. Push
9. Inbetween Days
10. Just Like Heaven
11. If Only Tonight
12. Play for Today
13. A Forest
14. Shake Dog Shake
15. Burn
16. Fascination Street
17. Never Enough
18. From the Edge of the Deep Green Sea
19. Disintegration
20. Lullaby
21. Caterpillar
22. Friday Im in Love
23. Close to Me
24. Why Cant I Be You
25. Boys Dont Cry
26. Jumping Someone Elses Train
27. Grinding Halt
28. 10:15 Saturday Night
29. KAA