JANUARY

26th
Join the Dots (the complete B sides collection) was released. The 4-CD box set even included 10 unreleased songs or remixes as well as a 75-page booklet commenting the history of the band and giving notes and anecdotes from Robert and Simon about the songs.

Olympic Studios, London
The band entered the Olympic studios to record the new album for good over the course of the six following weeks. They used a vintage EMI analog desk (belonging to Mike Hedges). Working with Ross Robinson was different and unusual : he would intentionally create tension in the studio to let the reactions from the musicians raise up and serve the music. But that became a methodology some in the band began to have difficulties to accept (expecially when their parts weren't very interesting or under mixed). The cohesion as a group suffered a bit from that.

The songs were recorded live in a candlelit room (apart from some vocals) and then they were mixed very loud in the dark (the rough mix was the "final" one). In the end, there were 20 songs in total from which 17 would be officially released.


MARCH

05th
London, Barfly
Part of the "back to the bars" charity concert series (for the Shelter/War Child fundation). A competition was set up to attend (200-people capacity bar) and five pairs of tickets were auctioned online (officially) to raise money. A pair even reached the price of £2750 ! As for the show that was simply one of the best of the year. Great mood. Robert answered to three questions from the audience instead of leaving for the encore. And Porl Thompson + Frank Bell joined the group on stage for I'm A Cult Hero / I Dig You !


APRIL

30th
Hollywood, Rockwalk on Sunset Boulevard
The Cure were inducted into the Rock Walk of Fame : a sidewalk gallery dedicated to honoring "those artists who have made a significant impact and lasting contribution to the growth and evolution of Rock 'n'Roll." Later that day, the Cure also appeared on American TV (Tonight Show) for the world's premiere of The End Of The World.


MAY

02nd
Indio, Coachella Festival
A one-off festival in California. Three new songs were played : Lost, Before Three and The Promise. One Hundred Years sounded a bit different due to guitar strings getting loose. But that didn't ruin the song actually.

22nd
Washington DC, HFStival
Another one-off, even shorter (less than an hour) than the previous concert. The three new tracks were played again. The show was filmed and two songs would air on American TV.

The following day, the band travelled to Toronto and started to shoot The End Of The World's video there (Floria Sigismondi came up with the concept and directed it as well).


JUNE

19th
The Cure embarked on a festival tour across Europe for the next four weeks : Italy, Germany, Belgium, France, England, Ireland, Spain and Portugal playing all the songs from the new record. And as the European football champships started, the band had English flags on their guitar amps. They also gave a short electro-acoustic concert in Paris for a radio (invite only audience) with a memorable version of Shake Dog Shake.

The repertoire (45 songs) was the following : 10:15 Saturday Night, Boys Don't Cry, Three Imaginary Boys, Play For Today, A Forest, M, The Drowning Man, Faith, Charlotte Sometimes, One Hundred Years, The Figurehead, A Strange Day, The Lovecats, Shake Dog Shake, In Between Days, Push, Close To Me, A Night Like This, Sinking, Why Can't I Be You ?, Just Like Heaven, Plainsong, Pictures Of You, Closedown, Lovesong, Lullaby, Fascination Street, Disintegration, High, From The Edge of the Deep Green Sea, Friday I'm In Love, Jupiter Crash, Maybe Someday, Lost, Labyrinth, Before Three, The End Of The World, Anniversary, Us or Them, alt.end, (I Don't Know What's Going) On, Taking Off, Never, The Promise, Going Nowhere.

28th
"The Cure" album was released with different tracks in several countries (a record company's strategy apparently). The final tracklisting was chosen by Robert Smith who felt concerned about the dark and pop balance of the record. This resulted in some of the most emotional tracks of the session being left off : Please Come Home, Strum, A Boy I Never Knew. These unreleased songs would leak on the internet four years later somehow.


JULY/AUGUST

After a week of rest since the last concert in Europe, the group got to North America for their own intinerant festival called "Curiosa". The idea for a festival tour came up in September 2003 at the Inland Invasion festival while playing with a lot of other bands the group liked. The other groups on the Curiosa bill were : Interpol, The Rapture and Mogwai. A second stage was also be part of the "traveling road show" with Muse, Thursday, Cursive, Melissa Auf Der Maur, Cooper Temple Clause and Head Automatica rotating as performers.

The only drawback for the fans was that the Cure's show wouldn't last more than an hour and fourty minutes most of the times (instead of the regular two hours and a half Cure show). But Robert Smith explained he'd prefer shorter and more intense concerts. All the more that, similar to the Swing Tour, they often completely changed the setlists. To the 45 songs already played in Europe, they added 4 tracks to the live repertoire for Curiosa : Forever, Siamese Twins, Let's Go To Bed, The Walk.

On August 23rd, while being on tour in California, the group shot two new videos on their days off : Taking Off and alt.end. Rather video effects oriented.

31st
Everett, Events Center
This concert was added at the last minute to replace the Curiosa one cancelled at The Gorge (originally on August 21st). The Cure were on their own and delivered an extra long set for the last night in America including some surprises : Grinding Halt, 39, Bloodflowers (not played before).



GO TO 2004 PART 2