Robert Smith wasnt ready for the full 4K experience when he sat down to watch a concert film of the Cures stunning 2018 Hyde Park concert. The first close-up of a human face I saw was me, he says. It was quite terrifying.
The recent Rock and Roll Hall of Fame inductee says he was initially on the fence about making the film, which is titled Anniversary 1978-2018 Live inHydePark London and will get a special screening in movie theaters around the world on Thursday, July 11th. People tend to be more self-conscious when they know theyre being filmed, but he decided it was ultimately worth it since it was a momentous occasion.
The gig took place 40 years to the weekend from when the Cure played their first gig in Crawley, and hed jammed the set list with favorites like Just Like Heaven, Lovesong and Boys Dont Cry. So he asked the bands longtime videographer, Tim Pope, to direct the film on the sly with 16 cameras and didnt tell his bandmates, who had enough to worry about with playing for some 65,000 people that day. Despite his initial fright with the close-up, hes happy he did it.
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Its actually quite an overwhelming experience, he says of the picture. 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.
The show came after the Cure played another gig in London as part of the Meltdown festival, so he worked hard to differentiate the two experiences. For the Meltdown show, dubbed Curtion, he played a set that started with the bands earliest material, progressed to their most recent, and returned to the earliest. For the 40th anniversary show, he picked nearly 30 songs that an audience would want to hear.
Knowing that wed sold 65,000 tickets, you think, This isnt a normal show,' he says. Weve got to acknowledge that a lot of people are going there for the whole day. So we approached it more as a festival. Certain clusters of songs I just know work really well together. I thought theres no point in trying to shoehorn B sides or obscure songs into the set, because we would lose people in five or six minutes. So I think we knew the set was going to work before we walked out onstage.
Beyond the performance, the other reason Smith likes the film so much is because he had some distance from making it. Other than working on a 5.1 surround sound mix with his Bloodflowers co-producer Paul Corkett, he left the rest to Pope. According to Smith, all he had to do was field questions like, Do you think we should open with this? Do you think this shot works? and, Do you think you look too hideous in this shot for me to keep it in? The space has made it so he was able to appreciate it more, and now he wishes hed done more, such as filming openers Interpol, Goldfrapp and Ride, among others. But hes happy things worked out as well as they did for his set.
The only problem he had during the day was facing off with the sun. It was nearly 90-degree heat, and hes used to performing in the dark. I really honestly cant talk until the sun goes down, he told the crowd. Its taking up all my energy not to dissolve into a pile of dust. Looking back on it now, he says he just wasnt prepared for so much light, which finally set about halfway into the gig.
It was a bit shocking actually walking out because we were backstage the whole time, just kind of hanging out with everyone, he says. Its all under covers, parasols, chilled drinks and so forth. So walking out onstage was really the first time Id realized how hot it was. They had portable fans and stuff around us backstage, so walking onstage was like, Whoa. We walked directly into the sunset, and it was quite dramatic. It was like the best light show in the world if you can bear it. If wed been 20 years younger, it might have been a little easier.
But in a way, it gives it all a theatrical feeling, he continues. It gives the film itself what Tim would call a narrative or an arc. Theres a natural progression, and we end up right back where we started with a cluster of the very early songs and that very frantic, manic lighting. I think it would have been a lot less good in a funny way, if wed walked on in darkness, and it had just been another concert film.
He also likes how the sunlight makes the whole thing look rubbish and that people can see all the junk on the side of the stage and backstage. It kind of makes you feel like youre onstage, he says, which, for me, was the most important part of the film.
And thats a funny thing in and of itself, because Smith says when hes onstage, he likes to lose himself. For all the times he looks like hes surveying the crowd, such as in the footage of Friday Im in Love, he says hes actually trying to forget everything from the moment he sets foot onstage.
For the first two or three songs, Im adjusting, he says. Im not one of the performers that constantly reminds themselves that, Hey, Hyde Park, how you doing? I dont really want to remember where I am. Im just onstage, playing these songs. Thats why I dont talk onstage. Ive kind of lost the ability to communicate with words. Its very odd. When Im singing and playing, Im just kind of transported and thats what I feel like doing. It sounds hippie-ish, but its always been like that with me. I just feel like if Im getting lost in the songs, theres a fair chance everyone else is as well.