black spring

I'm listening to a fucking great old Cure bootleg, Paris 1982, the Pornography tour, great setlist and atmosphere. By some bizarre coincidence I'm having a bit of a goth flashback weekend, on one of the first spring weekends too, seeing The Cure tonight and Depeche Mode tomorrow. Both bands mean/meant quite a lot to me:
The Cure were basically my favourite band when I was younger, especially the early stuff, though I don't listen to them that much anymore and that last self titled album really didn't do that much for me, was in fact everything people used to say about them that i didn't really see any earlier, plodding, whining, etc, but maybe it'll be better live. Bloodflowers and that Trilogy Live DVD I both enjoyed a lot though. The Cure in concert is always a wonderful experience, definitely one of the greatest live bands, and it will be interesting to see what they pull out of the bag for this one off set. They haven't played a big show in London for a long time, that last tour basically didn't come here at all apart from this show at the Barfly that was impossible to get into so I was thrilled to score a return ticket the other week. It's a good seat apparently, or so said the guy in the box office at the Royal Albert Hall, I said 'I don't care where it is' as I was coming off the train...
I've had that DM ticket for about six months, and I'm sitting somewhere in Row X Terrace Y or so in the newly refurbished Wembley Arena. Nevermind. I'm so into DM it's ridiculous. I basically got converted about 6 years ago when I was dragged along to their greatest hits tour and then gradually, very gradually got more and more into them. I'm a big fan of all of their Live DVDs (101, Devotional, One Night in Paris), and watch them regularly, they are really relaxing and lush to watch for some reason. I've got a few ace bootlegs too. Apart from that I don't even own all of their records, and I'm certainly not a collector though I know of their obsessive fans. It's one of these things where I don't know why I enjoy it so much right now, and definitely a bit less nostalgia as with The Cure. I guess maybe it's because I got into them late it's still blooming. Weird.

And yesterday I went back to the Electric Ballroom after a brief pint in the Dev, London's slightly ridiculous Goth pub, for my workmate's 30th birthday celebrations. I do love the space and the loopy vibe of the ballroom though I haven't been there since they made the Friday more rock and metal. They used to play a wonderful crossover blend of goth/trance/electro, but apparently people complained after a few years that they were always playing the same records. I miss the music, it wasn't as good as the old days, but it was still good to be back. There's a remote corner in my head that will always remain a part time goth, however small and remote that part maybe, I have to admit, though really I'm a musical omnivore. I just can't explain it.

This is the setlist of that Paris 1982 bootleg :

M
The Drowning Man
A Short Term Effect
Cold
At Night
Splintered in her Head
Three Imaginary Boys
Primary
One Hundred Years
Play for Today
A Strange Day
A Forest
10:15 Saturday Night
The Figurehead
Pornography

Here's hoping they will play a few of those classics tonight. Black>Out!