It ws a wet and autumnal Tuesday for the march along the Clydeside Expressway from Partick Station to this venue, increasingly crucial to the mid-level gig market. Joining a fairly big queue it became clear after a couple minutes that BM was actually in the line for Mel C – certainly the most talented of the five Spices and tempting though it was, a quick switch was required to a somewhat smaller line, for the upstairs Warehouse venue.
Pretty quiet initially, the audience did build until it must have been maybe two thirds full – not sure this shows a diminishing audience as BM hadn’t seen this band since maybe 2002 in King Tut’s but they had been playing Garage-sized venues in recent years. Anyway, to the delight of the fairly large numbers of Gothically-inclined in the audience, the support act was founder Cure drummer Lol and his power three-piece playing a set of “old” Cure songs. Bit discombobulating (was this a “covers” band or not, well as he made clear he played his part in writing these tracks, and even stated that ‘All Cats Are Grey’ is about his mother, so there!).
Among the highlights was ‘The Hanging Garden’ with its tribal drum patterns (Lol also deployed a wee keyboard at the side of his kit while the two other blokes twanged away on guitar and bass). Vocals were Smith-like without trying to ape his distinctive tone, and at times maybe the voice was a bit strained, but it’s hard to emulate some of these early-ish tracks, written when Smith was in his 20s and had a pretty high register. Has to be said that Lol looked pretty chipper, a silver fox sitting centre stage at the kit with a smartly trimmed full head of hair and a mildly amused expression as they went through their paces. It was bloody loud as well, and several tracks haven’t been on the actual Cure’s setlist for decades (‘Three Imaginary Boys’, anyone?). They closed with the classic ‘10.15 Saturday Night’ and the audience, enthusiastic throughout, roared their appreciation.
The headliners came on around 8.45pm and played for a good 2+ hours with no real breaks, hugely impressive given the age of Mark “Vox” and Reg, the two original members (the three others are probably somewhat younger). BM just checked previous Glasgow appearances and they have been here annually since 2022, first at Oran Mor then three times at The Garage. Before that not so much, a Chameleons Vox appearance in 2015 and then two KTWWH dates in 2000 and 2001 (one of which BM attended), before the online trail fades into obscurity (BM thinks she saw a version at Broadcast or N&S around 1996 or so but they must have played bigger venues in the 80s, answers on a postcard please readers).
Starting with ‘Where Are You?’ from the newish ‘Arctic Moon’ album it really looked and sounded as if the decades were peeled away, Mark a man possessed, prancing around the stage, doing wee twirls, singing with passion as he twanged the living daylights out of his bass, leading from the front. Reg and the other guitarist Stephen formed a twin attack while Todd bashed away on the drums and Danny provided more subtle keyboard lines. They then went straight into ‘The Fan, The Bellows’, from fucking 1983 (ie 43 years old!) with just as much gusto – and so it went on, and on, mixing ‘Arctic Moon’ tracks (‘Lady Strange’ sounded especially upbeat, Mark like a man finding, or refinding, love, again) with classics from those first three crucial albums.
Hard to pick highlights but they were all delivered with passion, fury at times, and it is hard not to think that this lot are the true Mancunian originals, with so many others gone corporate (Oasis) or gone dead (RIP MES). Maybe they were always outsiders (is Middleton really Manchester?), and it is pretty clear that Mark B likes to do things his way, but hearing them do things like ‘Soul In Isolation’ (a real centrepiece tonight) and the minor hit (although bigger in US College Radio) ‘Swamp Thing’ (did Dave Ball pay them a royalty for his subsequent huge hit?).
As has often been the case Mark started acknowledging influences, adding bits of ‘Eleanor Rigby’ and ‘There Is A Light…’ to ‘Soul…’, then some of ‘Rain’ to ‘Swamp Thing’. Bits of ‘Please, Please Me’ were added to ‘Second Skin’ and ‘Don’t Fall’ was aided by bits of ‘Rebel Rebel’ – they must have played around 20 tracks, and looked as if they could have done more but with the curfew first approaching they left it at that – a compelling and hugely impressive by one of the truly great groups then, and still now.
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