Cure live covers

The Cure always appeared like a band whose influences were difficult to tell. There aren't that many artists R. Smith confessed being inspired by and when they did, the result was quite different in sounding anyway.

The band pretty much started to learn how to play music by covering Hendrix, Bowie, Alex Harvey, Thin Lizzy songs. By experimenting their own ideas, those covers were certainly not so close to the originals. Like proves the recording of Foxy Lady on the first studio album.

Covering other artists live then became an exercise for no other reason than fun. The first one they did on that impulse as "The Cure" was Do You Wanna Touch (Gary Glitter) in October 1980. The song would be played during the Head Tour in 1985 as well.

Worth mentioning are the Joy Division's tunes Robert often played during A Forest's guitar solo. Of course that was just a few notes, calling to mind. That happened first on November 1980 with She's Lost Control and also in 1987 with Love Will Tear Us Apart and The Eternal as well. Robert did Isolation's tune once in 1996 too.

You Really Got Me (The Kinks) is one of his favorites even if they rarely played it on stage (1985, 1987). This song also appeared during the soundchecks in 1989, 1992 and 1996.

There are several songs Robert did on his own (voice and guitar) while soundchecking : Hanging Around (Stranglers), Another Girl Another Planet (The Only Ones), English Rose (The Jam), Mirage (Siouxsie & The Banshees)...

During the Wish Tour, a few chords from other songs would be played on guitar before starting In Between Days : Hello I Love You (Doors), Girl From Ipanema... And for some reason I'm Free (The Who) chords once ended One Hundred Years live in 1987 as well.

There were special occasions for trying covers in front of audiences. Like Wild Thing (The Troggs) in New York's Ritz in 1987. That was certainly a joke as the song was played in 1976 with Lol on vocals. The last 1987 concert, in London, saw them doing an appropriate version of Merry Xmas Everybody (Slade) under snowflakes !



	The Cure always appeared like a band whose influences were difficult to tell. There aren't that many artists R. Smith confessed being inspired by and when they did, the result was quite different in sounding anyway. The band pretty much started to learn how to play music by covering Hendrix, Bowie, Alex Harvey, Thin Lizzy songs. By experimenting their own ideas, those covers were certainly not so close to the originals. Like proves the recording of Foxy Lady on the first studio album. Covering other artists live then became an exercise for no other reason than fun. The first one they did on that impulse as "The Cure" was Do You Wanna Touch (Gary Glitter) in October 1980. The song would be played during the Head Tour in 1985 as well. Worth mentioning are the Joy Division's tunes Robert often played during A Forest's guitar solo. Of course that was just a few notes, calling to mind. That happened first on November 1980 with She's Lost Control and also in 1987 with Love Will Tear Us Apart and The Eternal as well. Robert did Isolation's tune once in 1996 too. You Really Got Me (The Kinks) is one of his favorites even if they rarely played it on stage (1985, 1987). This song also appeared during the soundchecks in 1989, 1992 and 1996. There are several songs Robert did on his own (voice and guitar) while soundchecking : Hanging Around (Stranglers), Another Girl Another Planet (The Only Ones), English Rose (The Jam), Mirage (Siouxsie & The Banshees)... During the Wish Tour, a few chords from other songs would be played on guitar before starting In Between Days : Hello I Love You (Doors), Girl From Ipanema... And for some reason I'm Free (The Who) chords once ended One Hundred Years live in 1987 as well. There were special occasions for trying covers in front of audiences. Like Wild Thing (The Troggs) in New York's Ritz in 1987. That was certainly a joke as the song was played in 1976 with Lol on vocals. The last 1987 concert, in London, saw them doing an appropriate version of Merry Xmas Everybody (Slade) under snowflakes !		Robert also started singing Frank Sinatra's lyrics on extended versions of Why Can't I Be You ? in 1987 : Young At Heart, Witchcraft, Fools Rush In... And not only that, but on following tours, lots of different songs lyrics would be also added : Stone Free (Hendrix), Over The Rainbow, The Aristocats (Disney's !), Moon River. Those extended versions also had several musical interludes like the Ode To Joy (Beethoven), New York, New York in 1996... Roger sometimes tried the Mission Impossible theme during soundcheks. The Swing Tour soundchecks had very surprising moments : Thieves Like Us (The Clash) was played and sung once in Spain. It's probably a favorite of Simon. Others included Elephant Walk, bits of Quicksand (Bowie). And what to think of the cheesy Country Road lyrics sung at the beginning of Close To Me once in 1992 ? Another weird song the band used to cover (for television reports only) was Home on the Range in 1985/86. The last batch of covers the Cure did live was Faith Healer (Alex Harvey) and Don't Believe a Word (Thin Lizzy) in 2002. These were amongst Robert's favorite bands as a teenager. The rarest cover of all is certainly Time Has Told Me (Nick Drake) done on the Unplugged show in 1991, as it wasn't broadcast and no recording ever surfaced. Maybe the band thought it wasn't good enough and refuse it to be shown ? As obviously, it can be awkward to cover songs from an artist that holds a special place in people's lifes.