Showing posts with label troubadour. Show all posts
Showing posts with label troubadour. Show all posts

Thursday, December 10, 2009

Ode to the Troubadour

The Cure's Myspace Secret Show at the Troubadour on Saturday, Dec. 13th, 2008 is a day that will live forever for those of us lucky enough to be there! I personally consider it to be one of my Cure miracles, of which there were many in 2008, but this show shares the top miracle slot only with my experience of meeting the Cure in person for the first time.

Looking back, it's hard to believe that a year has passed since this fateful weekend. As so many of our lives have entwined with this show, I have created this blog post as a way to collect everything that I could find or think of to post about it, so that we can keep all of this info in one place. If I'm missing anything, please let me know and I'll be happy to add it here.

I also want to say again that I am eternally grateful to the wonderful Cure fans that I met there in Los Angeles and for those of you from the CoF boards that I had the opportunity to meet before that weekend. You all are the reason that this will be my number one show ever, from the support that we offered each other to the memories we shared, I will cherish all of you as my Cure family. The only thing that could make experiencing a gig like this even better is the knowledge that you have good friends to talk about it with for the rest of your lives.

Without further ado, here is my little digital shrine to the Troubadour show.


Myspace Secret Show @ the Troubadour

Audio Downloads

BC recording in 24 bit or 16 bit

My blog posts about the show



Other blogs / posts about the show

Comingsoon.net (forum post, pics) / Coachella (forum post, lots of pics)

CoF Live Show Commentary

Articles about the show


Articles about the Live Album Release


Video



Youtube accounts with Troubadour Videos



Photos

My pics - Troubadour / Curemas Weekend (all)
MySpace Secret Shows / Day 19 / Getty Images / COF
KelBel / Myspace Secret Shows on Flickr / Shesaidboom
marcusdarling (crowd photos only) /phot0matt (wristbands)
glyphic / Traci

The Troubadour

It goes without saying that this legendary club would be the perfect setting for this secret show. It seems that are pretty proud of this event as well, and have updated their History page on their website to include The Cure's set.

For those who are reading this who are unaware of the history of the Troubadour, this small unassuming club in West Hollywood, California has been around since 1957 and has helped to launch some of modern music's biggest, most influential and best-known acts. Read that history page linked above for the whole scoop.

CoF Peeps who went to the Troubadour show
(I'm sorry if I forgot anyone, I don't know every CoF peep,
so please let me know if I missed your name and I'll be glad to add you in here!)

Rev. / Sean / Sugargirl / CrowbiWan / AutumnJade / Andythecurefan
Clockwise Cat / curejunkie / Sara B / Brandon / Steph / Debi / JeffLove
Laura / ThatCrazyCureGirl / Xyla / Maggie

Celebrities at the show

Kirsten Dunst / Gerard Way / Trey Parker "Disintegration is the best album ever!"
Leonardo DiCaprio / Ryan Gosling / Davey Havok (spotted, no photos found)

Paparazzi / Photographers

Day 19 / Frank Micelotta


The Concert Poster


Series of 450 (I have #278) - 3 color on 100# Natural paper
Created by Vahalla Studios - http://www.vahallastudios.com/

Looks like you can buy one at their site too! The poster artist has told me that the posters that they have for sale on their are the artist proofs that they received from Myspace. They are part of the same series as the ones given away at the show, but they are labeled with "AP" instead of being numbered as part of the 450. They were printed during the same run as the ones given out.

12:08 Dream Teeshirts


















Available at the Troubadour event as well as at the KROQ Almost Acoustic Christmas show the next day, 12/14. You can see more detailed photos of the shirts in my Flickr set here.

Event Staff Teeshirts

(Photo courtesy of and thanks to Kelly R. Photography)

Teeshirts with the poster lightbulb on the front and "12:13 Dream, an evening with The Cure" printed on the back were given to the staff at the event as well as to a very FEW LUCKY fans! It has been reported through the grapevine that only about 50 of these teeshirts were printed. If anyone has one of these they would like to sell, please contact me as I am an avid teeshirt collector! :D

The Swag Bag


















Given away after the concert, these bags mostly contained promotional items for the Toyota Matrix, one of the show's sponsors, a magazine and CD from Filter and a new copy of The Cure's 4:13 Dream CD which had a small hole drilled in one corner to disable retail selling of the CD. You can see more detailed photos of the swag bag contents in my Flickr set here.


The Wristband


A beautiful sparkly metallic glitter red with The Cure and Myspace logos printed on it in white. Word of mouth reports estimated between 130-150 wristbands given out, the exact number is not confirmed. Once we received the wristband, we were told to scatter and not come back until 7 pm or our wristband would be cut off (said menacingly by a large man bearing scissors).



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Monday, December 22, 2008

12:13 Dream - An Evening with The Cure

Part 1-2 | Part 3

So there we were, finally allowed in to the Troubadour at the Myspace Secret Show, and with a mad dash we took our places on the rail and just behind, to settle in for the long wait before the show. I confess that I was very dazed with how surreal it was, that I was actually in a tiny, legendary club in Hollywood, California, and that I was about to be just a few feet away from The Cure as they played a show. For a lifelong, diehard fan, this was a complete dream come true, and for me it was something that only ever happened to other people, and never to me! So I apologize to my friends who were there if I seemed extremely ditzy or hyper, as I was!

The bar grew ever more crowded, the excitement level went up and up and up, and by the time that the Cure took the stage, I was in a complete tizzy. We were directly in front of Robert, and many of my CoF peeps were on the rail either to the left or right of us, and in my area there was Yvonne the fan VIP and her daughter Zyla, Kel, sugar*girl, Midnight and Steph. We all held space for each other so we didn't get too crushed by the crowd, and Midnight and Kel took turns with us so that we all got a spot on the rail for a little bit of the show. Thank you so much ladies and Kel I am so sorry about your arm!! =)

Having attended the 4Tour shows where they played Underneath the Stars, the show prelude of the waves crashing was a huge part of my experience of the song, much like other intros such as "Adagio for Strings" or "Intro", so it was a little jarring to have the Cure come out and launch into Underneath the Stars without hearing the crashing waves first. However, I was very charmed when Robert came out and told us "It's taking me back before we even start", presumably referring to the intimacy of the venue reminding him of the early days of The Cure. When they launched into the first strains of the music, though, we were swept up in the magical atmosphere of this song, and swayed along with the crowd as the waves of sound washed over us. The band sounded very relaxed and yet so together. It seems to me that sometimes it takes them a song or two to really get into their groove, but this night there was an immediate connection with each other and the audience that felt so warm and welcoming, and having this song be the opener was the perfect way to capture the ambience of the night.

Once the warm strains of Underneath the Stars had faded away, the chimes of Pictures of You brought a rousing response from the crowd, and I was taken right back to Dodger Stadium in 1989, the very first time that I heard it played live. I was struck by the disparity between hearing the song in this club vs. a stadium with 50,000 others, and also realized how nearly twenty years had passed between these two shows, and how timeless the song really is.

An animated version of Lullaby was a real crowd-pleaser as usual. Robert seems to very much enjoy enticing whoops and screams from the crowd with his performances during Lullaby, and of course we all loved seeing him dance and have fun as well.

A short pause and then "Another new one" introduced a lovely version of the new single "The Perfect Boy". Robert sounded great, very smooth and the band was very tight and together on this song. Following this song, Robert spoke to his sound people about the levels briefly before they launched into alt.end, the most notable thing about this song was when Robert told us at the end of it something about not thinking that he would be "singing it 4 years later, and yet, here I am".


The Reasons Why was really great to hear live, and sounded pretty similar to the album version. It did not get a great response from most of the crowd, but for those of us who are already familiar with the new album, it was a nice treat. It was very amusing afterward when Robert did a fairly long commentary on being able to remember the new songs. He says (as well as I can transcribe) "It's a f'is (to) remember that one. Particularly if you've been drinking. It's difficult anyway to remember. It's hard, like the new songs cause we've only done em a couple of times, it's like, normally you get into a groove, and so coming out of nowhere and doing these ones is a bit weird though . It's good though. I mean I'm singing the right words in my head, they're just not coming out my mouth. It was much better when none of you knew them." Then he launched into The Walk by saying "You'll know this one", which of course, we did, and sang joyfully along until he segued without any comment into "The End of the World".

After TEOTW, the familiar strains of Lovesong came along, and for once, I was completely enthralled with this song. Not so much so with the song itself, as it is not my extreme favorite in Cure love songs, but I was completely taken with the change in Robert's body language when he sang it. Understanding a little of the history behind this song, it was extremely interesting to me that his posture and face changed so much while he was singing Lovesong. For most of the other songs, he was very interactive with the crowd while singing, glancing around, dancing or tapping his toe on stage, smiling and generally enjoying the audience. However, when Lovesong started, it was as if we all suddenly vanished for him. He closed his eyes almost for the entire song, and seemed very lost in his own private world. It almost seemed like he was in a sort of a trance, from which he awakened as the song was ending, and after looking around for a moment, couldn't quite work out why we were all there.

From the blissful trance of Lovesong to the gutter of The Real Snow White was quite the transition, but I can tell you that from the album, this song does not have the justice done to it that a live version can do. It's a much more powerful song in person, and has a great rollicking feel that moves the story along without dwelling too much on the narration. The buildup of tension in the song is very skillfully done, and as on the album, they went straight into the alternate universe of "The Hungry Ghost" which had a really strange tempo and subdued presentation as compared to the album. Interestingly, they did a very similar version of the song when they played it at the Jimmy Kimmel taping, so perhaps it's a slightly reworked version from the album. One thing that I noticed is that Robert sounded much more intense and angry on this song live as compared to the studio version.

When The Hungry Ghost was over there was a bit of a lengthy pause, but when the first bars of "From the Edge of the Deep Green Sea" came out, I just about died and went to heaven. I'm sure you understand. This is one of my all time favorite live songs, and one of my top 5 all time fave Cure songs, so it was really wonderful to hear it played at this intimate show. The crowd was very into the song, throwing their hands in the air at all the right places and generally having a blast.

A very sensual version of The Only One (and I LOVE, I LOVE, I LOVE, I LOVE the live ending to this song!) was followed by a rousing Wrong Number which must be one of Robert and Porl's favorite songs to play live. The following series of songs was a very bouncy set which encompassed old and new songs alike, proving that the pop sensibility of The Cure's music is firmly entrenched. Starting off with the new/old song, Sleep When I'm Dead, slamming into Push, jumpstarting the slackers with Friday I'm in Love, picking up the pace with Inbetween Days, roping in anyone left over with Just like Heaven and finally topping out with the legendary pop classic Primary, anyone in the Troubador who was not dancing after that series must have been either near death or terminally boring.

After this very dance-y interlude, the mood in the house shifted dramatically with the introduction of The Scream, one of the most intense songs from 4:13 Dream. This became the first song of a 1-2-3 punch that included 100 years and It's Over, with the Cure striding offstage afterward, leaving the main set hanging on a strident, angry , headbanging note that diluted the sugary pop aftertaste of the prior series like a rough whisky shooter after a pina colada.

The first encore brought The Cure back onstage with Robert saying "The last Myspace thing we did was a soundcheck in Sydney, and it was like, 5 songs, that's it. That's what were just out there reminiscing. (something) Right, we'll do some pop. It's Saturday night, Simon wants pop music" and then launching into their 4-Tour "Pop Encore" starting with Freakshow, and then continuing up the dance beat with Let's Go To Bed followed by Close to Me and finishing it up with Why Can't I be You. The guitar effects that Porl has created for YCIBU are really wonderful and I always look forward to hearing them.

A second encore brought out the best in Simon as he attacked his bass during the end of A Forest, with Robert making a quip about running the last two encores together so they didn't have to go up and down the stairs! Finally, I nearly rubbed poor Kel's arm raw as I bounced along to the third and final "Old Skool" encore. The classic sounds of Boys Don't Cry started us off and then we jumped on the train! I was SO ready for the 1-2-3-4 transition into Grinding Halt! It was so punk, angry, and raw! The spare desolation of 10:15 never fails to bring the crowd along as it drips , drips drips, and then finally, Killing An Arab (Another) brought the night to an end. It's still unbelievable to me that a song written so long ago can still completely and totally rock out without a bit of over-the-hill datedness. And yet, it does. Robert finished the night saying "Thank you very much, that's it. Thank you, this f-ing rocked!"

With the show over, there was little left to do but stumble in a haze and a daze out to the streets of LA. Some of our CoF peeps were upstairs in the VIP lounge, some were around back watching the van driver polish his windows incessantly, and some were wandering hither and yon, looking for warm clothes and a drink. After a bit of time out front, we joined the crowd waiting for the band out in back of the club. The Cure were in no mood for socializing after two hours spent being mobbed in the VIP room at the club, so they went straight from the club to the van without stopping. One fan shoved a poster in the van and the boys signed it and gave it back, but that was the only contact with the fans out back. Speaking of the schwag, there were some gift bags given out just after the show along with the great lithograph posters, but I was in such a daze immediately afterward that I completely missed the posters. However, my Cure angel that was with me all weekend was sitting on my shoulder once again as I stood on the street after the Cure had departed, talking with with Midnight and Steph a good two hours after the concert ended. Just as the words left my mouth "I didn't get a poster, I completely missed getting one." a man happened by just at that precise second, overheard me, turned around and said "You didn't get a poster? Here." and handed me one. A-MAZ-ING. Just like the rest of the weekend. Thank you, whoever you are, for my treasured memento of the evening. Thank you to The Cure for an unforgettable night. Thank you to Myspace for the Secret Show. Thank you to all my Cure friends who were there with me and helped make it something we'll talk about for the rest of our lives.


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Sunday, December 21, 2008

A Curemas Miracle (Part 3)

Part 1-2 | Part 4


Very early in the morning on Saturday, Dec. 13th, we had finally checked into our hotel and were unwinding from the excitement of the previous day. I had descended to the lobby of the hotel to retrieve something from my car, and I was checking the Chain of Flowers front page on my phone in the elevator. At the same time, in our hotel room, Sean was checking his Myspace account. Various other people were getting the news as well, and my phone rang practically nonstop for about 15 minutes until it was apparent that all who were in our group had been informed. It was something that I never thought would ever happen to me. The Cure had announced that they were going to be playing a Myspace Secret show at the Troubadour club in Hollywood! As excited as we were, we were also in desperate need of a few hours of good sleep, so instead of heading out to sleep on the streets of LA, as some others did, we got about 5 hours of shuteye before awakening at 7 am to head out to the line at the club.

Upon arriving at the line "near" the Troubadour, I was so excited that I literally flew out of the car without turning it off and went to get my "unofficial" line number of 23. This brilliant idea, courtesy of Midnight, allowed people to be able to move in and out of line without fear that they would have to fight for their place in line and also made sure that when the time came, there was absolutely no question as to who was there first.

After I settled down a bit and re-parked my car (remembering to turn it off this time) we got out our red chairs from the day before and whiled away the time by chatting to the other fans in line. There were a lot of folks that were in the Carson Daly line from the day before, and some who were also at the Leno taping from Thursday. I finally remembered to send some pics to Craig as well! Soon after we arrived, there was a bit of unexpected excitement when a small accident occured in the nearby intersection. An older lady in a car had run the red light and struck a man on a moped. Fortunately, he did not seem to be too injured as he promptly got up from the pavement and began chewing out the lady in the car! The fans in line were the first to call 911 and run over to check out the accident, since we even had a nurse in the crowd.

Once the hubbub over the accident had subsided a bit, Sean and I went to the cafe around the corner from the Troubadour to get some breakfast. About halfway through our meal, I pulled out my phone and checked in at the CoF blog, where I found the report about needing a printout of your Myspace account in order to get into the show. We were pretty concerned about this and hurried through the rest of our meal, all the while strategizing about where I could go to print out a page from my laptop. As it turned out, on our way out of the cafe, we ran into Keith Uddin and Ricky who were getting coffee there also! The crew had just arrived to do setup for the show and of course the cafe was the nearest place to go. We stopped and chatted with Keith for a moment and asked him about what we had just read, but he reassured us that it was not true and that no printout was needed. He also told us that someone would come out around noon and distribute wristbands, and that these would be the ticket to get into the club. We were very relieved and went back to the line to distribute the information to the others who were waiting, and discovered that some had already left to try to print out their pages.

People trickled into the area bit by bit all morning, and just before noon there were well over 180 people in line, with most of those arriving after 11-11:30 am because they read on the announcement that no line-ups would be allowed before noon. Well, we were unofficially lining up LONG before that, so my bit of advice to anyone who wants to get into a show like this is to get there as early as you possibly can, and your patience will be rewarded. Waiting in line for a few hours for an opportunity like this is something you will never regret!

The anticipation grew as the morning wore on, and there were a lot of people milling around and waiting and asking questions. Finally, about 10 minutes after noon, some people came out of the club with a few handfuls of wristbands, and the security guard shouted for everyone to line up according to their number! This was a great vindication of Midnight's idea and it was awesome because there was no pushing, no fights, and you really could not claim you had been there before someone else if your number was higher. Unfortunately for those arriving later, there were only about 130 wristbands given out initially so there were quite a few disappointed people. I have heard that a few more wristbands surfaced some time later in the day, but I haven't been able to confirm that. We were instructed to hold out our right wrists for the bands and when we got them we were told NOT to touch them or take them off, not to cut off the loose end or ANYTHING! They were very stern about this and when they saw my camera hanging off my shoulder I got a big lecture about getting kicked out if they even saw a ghost of a camera in my possession. So of course in balancing out the idea of smuggling my camera in to record the historic occasion vs. getting kicked out completely and not getting to witness said occasion at all, you can tell which option I chose in the end.

We were then instructed in no uncertain terms to scatter and not show ourselves again prior to 7 pm, lest we risk the loss of our wristband or be pushed to the back of the line to get in. So most people chose to scatter. Having brought my "club" clothes with us when we left the hotel in the morning, there was no reason to go back, so we ended up driving a few places with Crowbi-wan and even went out to the Santa Monica Pier which was pretty and crowded but also extremely cold and windy so we did not stay long. Arriving back in the vicinity of the club, I camped out at a coffeehouse a few blocks away and took the opportunity to charge my phone a tiny bit and also upload some photos to my flickr account. Later in the evening, we had dinner at a small Indian restaurant near the Troubadour and ended up meeting Autumn there which was wonderful, being an admirer of picturesofyou.us for several years. She was warm, funny and kindly even helped me in the ladies room to zip up my corset :D, so thank you again to Autumn!

It was getting close to the magic hour of 7 pm, so heading back The Cure Myspace Secret Show @ The Troubadourover to the area of the club, I found a strange sight. It seems that the club people preferred that the 100-plus fans who actually had wristbands should wander in and out through traffic and nervously wait in the median as opposed to waiting in an orderly fashion on the actual sidewalk by the club. Since we were strictly NOT allowed to line up, it ended up that all the fans collected themselves on the median of the street in order to be as close as possible to the line, since we were not allowed to step foot on the sidewalk which the club touched. In my opinion, they should have simply honored the numbering system already in place and let people wait just as we had that morning. As it was, exactly at 6:59 pm, there was a mad dash across the street, literally through the cars waiting at the light, for the "survival of the fittest" fight for the front of the line. Once in line, we still had another hour to wait before we would be allowed in the club at 8 pm, and security came down the line several times, checking that all in line had wristbands and tossing out the few people who were in line without them.

Before we even knew it, an hour had passed and the line began to move! Read all about Part 4 - 12:13 Dream, An Evening with The Cure on the next post.

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