| paris bataclan 06/11/1996 |
| subway song grinding halt play for today m primary the funeral party the figurehead the hanging garden let's go to bed the walk dressing up piggy in the mirror push inbetween days catch just like heaven lullaby prayers for rain high from the edge of the deep green sea treasure bare 10.15 saturday night killing an arab |
| the cure plays the bataclan club in 1996, where the band had played their first show in paris many many years before... this is the "cure history" concert...during the 1996 swing tour, the band actually played this show in the smaller club where they had played years and years before--and to mark the occasion, the band plays two songs from every album starting w/two from "three imaginary boys" and ending the set w/two from "wild mood swings," and encoring w/two cure classics... the sound is excellent, good sound--there's a great mix, and the sound actually has a good shine to it...w/some pop in the drums as well...excellent, and robert speaks mostly in french introducing songs. the shows starts (strangely enough) with "subway song" ticking along thru the night...kinda ineresting start, and whenever robert plays the harmonica the crowd goes crazy. robert has said afterwards that he was actually given a harmonica that was in the wrong key for the song (!!) and when he brought this up, someone told him just to not play so hard...but that it still sounded wrong. the performances of the early stuff are more subdued and kinda greyish feeling..."play for today" and "m" are not as tight, but kinda misty..."primary" picks things up a bit, but given that roger doesn't switch over to guitars or anything here...some of the driving power isn't there. good and solid, just not over the top great. the subdued feel makes for a nice version of "the funeral party." "the figurehead" and "the hanging garden" are both quite good--the sounds and mix on "the hanging garden" make it really vibrant and colorful...simon's bass has a really sharp/cutting effect that sounds great, and when the drums and bass are hooked up w/the biting guitar lines it really sounds excellent. after the darker and more atmospheric studies of "the drowning man," "the figurehead" and "the hanging garden," robert says "and then suddenly...what happened..." the cure went from the dark rooms of "pornography" to the dance floors of "let's go to bed" and "the walk." everything sounds good, as does "dressing up," but "piggy in the mirror" sounds very cool and much more colorful--nice. the more regularly played songs follow and sound good--perry kinda muffs the first pass thru the little guitar lines in "just like heaven," but that happens... "lullaby" and "prayers for rain" are good--so with only two songs taken from each album--no "fascination street" in the show, probably the only time since 1989 that this happened...but not bad choices from "disintegration," both "lullaby" and "prayers for rain" sound great. "high" is ok, "from the edge of the deep green sea" is a good mid-tempo take, and the sounds are pretty sweet--"treasure" and "bare" close the set nicely, more great sounds--the band shows a great touch w/more gentle stuff...great work in both songs, very moving take of "bare." they come back--of course--to finish things off w/"10.15 saturday night" and "killing an arab." this is a unique performance, what must have been a brilliant night--luckily captured on a great recording--another piece of cure history for fans to pick up, this one is really something to have! |