One of the biggest bands of all time at one of the most important festivals in the industry… The story of The Cure at Coachella It can be summed up in a couple of presentations, in the 2004 and 2009 editions, which will undoubtedly remain to be remembered.
But just as these appearances by the British group have their epic and brilliant part, they also carry some curious detail, like when the festival even unplugged Robert Smith and company. What a thing, right? Let’s remember a little of those shows.
And taking advantage of the fact that we are talking about the history of The Cure at Coachella, here we remember 10 important festival moments through the years. Come check out the list that was very good.
The Cure at Coachella 2004
The Cure’s story at Coachella begins in 2004, a year that meant a watershed for the event as such. Well, it’s not like the four editions before this one were minor, because they had great headliners… But this one put together perhaps one of the most memorable lineups of all time.
In addition to Robert Smith and company, the cartel had Radiohead, Pixies (reunidos), Kraftwerk, Wilco, The Rapture, Death Cab for Cutie, The Flaming Lips, Air, Belle & Sebastianalong with some still emerging The Killers, LCD Soundsystem, Muse y The Black Keys…. and she could still get better.
In accordance with what the Los Angeles Times reports, the festival had received a brief proposal to add David Bowie himself as headliner, but that meant expanding the event to three days. At that time, Coachella was exclusively two days (although several years later, it was adapted to the third day that we know today). So ruled out.
Even with this, the 2004 edition was a success as it became the first where the barrier of 30 or so thousand attendees was overcome. And he did it for a long time, reaching more than 50 thousand. As of that year, attendance has always remained at least in that range and has been increasing.
The Cure delivered a great set
Well then, The Cure at Coachella 2004 It was everything that was expected: a first class show. The band performed at the festival on May 2, just a month before they are set to release their self-titled twelfth studio album. So the surprises were not lacking.
The set had several live song debuts such as “Lost”, “Before Three” y “The Promise” that were part of the aforementioned disc. “The End of the World” also played her, but that one was already a little more well-known.
“Fascination Street”, “Lovesong”, “In Between Days”, “Lullaby”, “Just Like Heaven”, Why Can’t I Be You?”… The hits of The Cure that you can imagine were there, playing at night adorning the Californian desert and confirming what people already savored: The Cure at Coachella was an unforgettable experience.
You will forgive us because we dived into the internet to look for some cool videos of that presentation, but there aren’t that many. So we leave you a couple of audios and one or another clip here below, and keep going down now it’s time talk about the fateful show of The Cure at Coachella 2009.
From when they pulled the plug on The Cure at Coachella 2009
The story of The Cure at Coachella continued in 2009, again with the British group headlining the bill and touring Indio, California as part of their album tour. 4:13 Dream. And what she painted for a memorable act, yes it was, but in a rather unexpected way.
The band, which was preparing to continue with the gloomy but great vibe that was already felt with the previous show of My Bloody Valentine, He prepared one of those very long three-hour sets (it’s not a complaint at all) which they have been doing for a long time.
The anger? The festival organizers had time on their hands due to a curfew imposed by California authorities. The measure was taken because, as is well known, the Indio area becomes quite catastrophic for its inhabitants on the dates of the event. And The Cure exceeded curfew.
After reaching 30 songs live and past midnight on the third day of the festival, Robert Smith spoke to the audience: “They tell us we can only play one more song… are we going to hell?“, mentioned the vocalist, according to the NME. The Cure played “Boy’s Don’t Cry”, but the main stage’s power went out.
The screens and external sound equipment on the stage were turned off, but the band continued to play to the pure sound of their amps and unmicrophoned drums. Only a few people from the public stayed at the party chanting “Jumping Someone Else’s Train”, to later see how the group’s amplifiers were also turned off shortly after.
Basically, The Cure at Coachella 2009 threw an impromptu mini-unplugged at the end of their set. And it was crooked then, according to what is said out there, Paul McCartney and The Killers –headliner of the other two days– also exceeded the time limit due to the curfewbut they did not apply the ñera.
Still, The Cure at Coachella 2009 gave his fans one of the weirdest but most intimate moments in the festival’s history. And at the same time, for those of us who haven’t been (hehe, how sad), they gave us an anecdote of those that just makes us want to go sometime.
