40 years ago, on a day like today, May 30 in 1982, The Cure performed for the first time live in Switzerland. It was in Montreux, on the occasion of the promotional tour for the album Pornography. The iconic album had been released just a few weeks earlier, precisely on May 4, becoming later a cult album. Without a doubt the Cure’s darkest and most depressing album.
The Cure – Pornography album / Promotional art (album and tour) 1982
It is said that there were some reports of the event by some print media, which we are trying to obtain. But anyway, we didn’t want to let this date go by without mentioning the exact 40 years of that day of the concert.
The concert poster. Taken from The Cure Clinical Prescriptions / Experiences 76 – 87 (La Voix du Silence 2002)
The concert took place at the former Maison des Congrès, today Montreux Music & Convention Center 2m2c (Le Miles Davis Hall / Auditorium Stravinski @ Montreux Jazz Festival). The event was organized by the label Les Âmes. The tickets cost 20 CHF and were on sale in legendary record stores that exist to this day: DISC-À-BRAC (Lausanne), Sounds (Genève), Jamarico (Zürich)…
La Maison des Congrès in the early 80s
Robert Smith and Simon Gallup on stage at Maison des Congrès in Montreux. 30 May 1982 (thecure.cz)
Until mid ’82 Robert and co. had recorded 4 albums: Three Imaginary Boys (1979), Seventeen Seconds (1980), Faith (1981) and Pornography (1982). Being clear that with that repertoire their concerts at that time were the most sinister and depressing in the history of the band. Just look at the setlist of that night or watch the following footage of The Cure performing live a few days after Montreux.
Setlist Montreux: “The Figurehead”, “The Drowning Man”, “A Short Term Effect”, “Cold”, “At Night”, “The Hanging Garden”, “Siamese Twins”, “Three Imaginary Boys”, “Primary”, “Splintered in Her Head”, “One Hundred Years”, “Play for Today”, “A Strange Day”, “A Forest”, “Pornography”. Encore: “10:15 Saturday Night”, “Killing an Arab” and “All Mine”.
The Cure live at Davout Studio in Paris for the French TV show L’Echo des Bananes. 11 April 1982
Nowadays we could say that the songs that appear in the setlist are very well known, with the exception of the enigmatic “All Mine”. A song The Cure never officially released and doesn’t play live. They played it a few times in 1982 and then never again. The history of “All Mine” is somewhat complex because there are several versions with different lyrics that evolved based on the song “Forever” (Peel Session) which in turn evolved from “Three” (Seventeen Seconds). In various Bootlegs “All Mine” also appeared with other unofficial names like “Face” or “All I Have to Do Is Kill Her”. This due to the changing lyrics that Robert Smith improvised live.
The Cure – All Mine. Cassette Curiosity (Cure Anomalies 1977 – 1984)
This memorable first concert of The Cure in Switzerland was about to be cancelled due to a fist fight between Robert and Simon during the tour in Strasbourg 3 days before the date in Montreux. According to Robert in the book Ten Imaginary Years, the fight was due to a misunderstanding on the part of Simon who did not want to pay the bill for his drinks at the club where they had played. He mistakenly thought that Robert had not paid for his drinks either. Robert demanded Simon to behave, but Simon, who was already furious over the discussion with the club workers, punched Robert in the face. So Smith reacted the same way, setting up a big fight.
Immediately after the fight, Robert thought about leaving the Cure and took the first flight to London. Then Simon would do the same, so that the concerts of May 28 and 29 in France were cancelled, but not the 30th in Montreux. And this because Robert’s father convinced them to behave professionally with their audience and resume the tour in Switzerland.
Pornography Tour France 1982 (Montreux 30 May)
Another final fact of the event is about the support band that opened the show that night. We are referring to Zerra 1, an eighties new wave band from Ireland that produced 3 albums in its 5 years of existence before disbanding in 1987. An interesting band especially for those who like Psychedelic Furs, U2, Echo and the Bunnymen, Simple Minds…
