The Cure - Festival 2005 - Dark Publications

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Product Description
One of modern rock's most enduring acts the Cure proves it's still able to put on a great live show in THE CURE FESTIVAL 2005. Former guitarist Porl Thompson returned to The Cure's fold in 2005 and he takes a cross-continental tour with the three other band members (Robert Smith Simon Gallup and Jason Cooper). The band played nine different festivals from Spain to Turkey and this title combines the best footage from the shows. Songs include "Never Enough" "Just Like Heaven" "Inbetween Days" and "Disintegration."Format: DVD AUDIO Genre: MUSIC DVD/CONCERTS UPC: 602517143951 Manufacturer No: B000809409

Customer Reviews: Read 27 more reviews...

5 out of 5 stars

I wish I knew of more DVDs like this! December 8, 2006
34 out of 39 found this review helpful

I'm a stichler and cynic with live concert dvds, and I assure you that this one shines. I am always looking to find the dvd that really wows me, but most are only good for a few songs here and there and then they collect dust. Ironically, I bought this one ASSUMING it was going to be just another gimmick (like "Trilogy"), but I was wrong. This DVD is what concert DVDs are SUPPOSED to be all about. It's a friggin EXPERIENCE.

Let's get the "negatives" out of the way. Much of the shots are smoky looking and hazy, and just about all of the shots are done with less-than-state-of-the-art cameras. So, if this bugs you, you don't get to enjoy one of the best concert dvds money can buy. That's your punishment for being too focused on stuff that is not important! :) The reason I put "negatives" in quotation marks is that the unique camera work really adds to the experience of the concert (or combination of concerts).

The biggest plus to the dvd, and quite possibly the main reason I am in love with it, is the fact that the video wasn't spliced and edited by an idiot, which is unfortunately the case with many recent live dvds (examples: Depeche Mode, R.E.M., Devo). You actually get to enjoy each of the shots for more than a couple of seconds. With one song, the camera just stays in one spot in the center. It works!

A good concert DVD shows you what was at the show. A great concert DVD sorta leaves you feeling like you saw the show. THIS beautiful gem makes you feel like you are at shows from all different time periods and exotic concert locations, floating around in your chair, like a ghost - sort of like ebenezer scrooge going to visit his past, present, and future. I can't really describe it. I am embarassed to say, watching this dvd kind of makes me emotional...

The setting for many of the shows is dazzling, most notably Sicily, and there is one venue where there were actually carnival rides set up! (Maybe it's just me, but many Cure songs remind me of carnivals...)

And the song list! Oh, the glorious song list! You can feel the energy when "M" is playing. I think, for once, the BAND was even a little surprised at the positive reaction of the crowd. It is worth the price of the dvd just to see people crowd surfing to this song - and Robert Smith SMILING as the crowd cheers during the first chords. The people at the show are going nuts, and for good reason. What a sweet live tune. "The Drowning Man" is another rather sweet one, and EVERYTHING from "The Head on the Door" sparkles, shimmers, and gives me goose bumps. Really, REALLY good stuff.

This was a much-needed refresher on why I love the Cure.

P.S. I didn't even notice until three quarters of the way through that they didn't have synthesizers. You won't miss them.

3 out of 5 stars

A Wonderful Setlist Overwhelmed by Bad Presentation December 22, 2006
9 out of 12 found this review helpful

The "Festival 2005" DVD is a live compilation of performances taken from their string of performances before huge European crowds that Summer. The shows are the first recorded glimpse of their current lineup, which features the return of Porl Thompson on guitar but also the departure of multi-instrumentalist Perry Bamonte and keyboardist Roger O'Donnell. The resulting DVD is sadly limited by both this pared-down lineup and also the frighteningly bad videography/editing. Still worthwhile for Cure completists, it will nonetheless leave both them and more casual fans frustrated by poor presentation.

PERFORMANCE - 3.5 stars

Despite an ever-changing lineup, The Cure has always been one of the most cohesive live acts in popular music. Their shows faithfully recreate their studio material, displaying the members' prowess with instruments while also leaving the bulk of the energy and interpretation to Smith's unmistakable voice.

However, this decision to scrap all keyboards from the live act is a blatant mistake. Smith's aim is clearly to project a more muscular tone onto familiar material and in some cases it works well ("The Kiss", "alt.end", "Shiver and Shake"). But in reality, those tracks were the ones that never had much keyboard anyway. The unfortunate tracks that rely on keyboards are dreadfully incomplete. "Just Like Heaven" sounds like a bad cover of itself. "Fascination Street" and "A Forest" are missing critical melodies. But worst of all, the majestic lead melody of "Plainsong" performed on guitar makes it sound like a parody of the instrumental closing theme to "Top Gun". The lack of keyboards truly ruins a number of these tracks to the ear of any longtime fan.

Smith's vocals sound as good as ever, although by the time he reaches the tracks at the end of the nightly setlists, he seems genuinely fatigued. For instance, the first half of "End" is basically mumbled rather than sang. The reintroduction of Thompson's guitar style is a big plus - as always, he mixes walls of fuzzed-out feedback with nimble virtuosity (the solo for "The Blood" is a highlight for him). I've never been a fan of Jason Cooper's hyperactive style of "the more drum fills, the better", but he is finally settling into a decent impression of Boris Williams' rhythms. Simon Gallup continues to be one of the most rock-solid bass players to ever grace the stage; also, he particularly seems at home with the more aggressive, minimalist lineup.

VIDEO - 1 star

Remember how bad the "Mixed Up?!?" album was? Well, this DVD is to your eyes what that remix collection was to your ears. And by the closing credits, it's apparent why: both are Robert Smith vanity projects. In a classic example of overstepping one's capabilities, Smith co-directed and -edited the piece, and the result is utterly maddening.

From the first track, you notice that in some shots the colors are so grossly oversaturated that it degrades the picture quality to roughly that of a VHS tape. Every other amateurish video trick gets thrown in as well: posterization, chroma keying, digital black-and-white, etc. But the most infuriating of all is the use of motion trails - think of how really bad movies depict "drunk vision". Ugh. All of this overblown video trickery might still be cool for the midnight showing of "The Song Remains the Same", but here, it's wholly unnecessary.

The camerawork is also spotty. First, there is too much reliance on two static angles. First, a wide shot of the entire stage taken from a good distance back into the crowd. Second, an overhead shot from the behind the drum kit looking down on the band and into the crowd - this one has all of the visual allure of a convenience store security camera. The manual cameras also try too many cheesy tricks which distract from the power of the performance. There's enough emotional punch in the opening lines of "The Kiss" that it wasn't necessary to choose a shot where the camera jerks and spins in faux mosh-pit fury.

AUDIO - 3 stars

The disc offers both a 5.1 and a DTS mix. Both sound very good, with fine separation. The DTS mix could be regarded as unnecessary since so much of the music is bathed in distortion, reverb and/or feedback.

EXTRAS - 1 star

Simply put, there are none.

CONCLUSION

For the price, the "Festival" DVD does deliver a lot of solid Cure content. The consolidated setlist is nearly perfect - by the time the encores wrap, even the most jaded longtime fan will be pleased. Unfortunately, the videography is so engrossed in its own cheap trickery that it becomes a continual distraction from the performance. Also, the current synth-free lineup shows its limitations on many of the staple tracks. Ultimately, it just made me wonder why neither of their prior live videos, "The Cure in Orange" (their definitive live show) or "Show/Paris", have been put on DVD yet.

1 out of 5 stars

snore.... January 1, 2007
7 out of 12 found this review helpful

As a musician I hate to see it when one of my all time favorite bands is up their just going through the motions, unfortunalty this is one of those moments and this DVD does an admirable job of capturing the train wreck. Smith rarely if ever pushes his voice during these performances, fat finger stumbles over notes during the intro of If Only Tonight We Could Sleep as well as playing half heartedly through some of their greatest songs. Drummer Jason Cooper has to count off the beginning of almost every song as well as count off the breaks during the middle sections which is annoying and manages to fall a whole beat behind coming out of drum rolls and transitions not to mention how dead his kit sounds, hey change the heads and tune that thing!!! I won't even talk about how bad Simon Gallops bass tone is. Former band member Perry Bamonte complained that on the last tour the band sounded like a horrible Cure cover band, I couldn't agree more! Every song on this is played too slowly, tempos drag and limp along like a wounded buffalo, it's embarassing!!! The mix is horrible and both Robert and Porl's guitar tones are way too thin and wimpy. Don't waste your money on this travesty, buy the Trilogy DVD or a nice used VHS copy of Show and
pretend this release didn't happen, it's a stain.

3 out of 5 stars

Could have been much better December 7, 2006
6 out of 7 found this review helpful

Well, I'm not one to normally complain about anything The Cure puts out but this DVD could have been much better. The song selection is overall very good, mixing songs from every studio release except for TIB and WMS, I believe. They play heavy on material from the era when Porl was previously in the band. As a four-piece, the songs that normally require keyboards are unique here with Porl filling in the keyboard parts on guitar and there has been no other "official" live releases for more than a few songs on this DVD such as "Shiver and Shake", "M", "The Baby Screams" or "Signal to Noise." I can't complain about the sound quality, although the packaging did not indicate that that the 5.1 surround was DTS only and not Dolby. I prefer DD over DTS but the stereo surround mix was fine. The fact that the press release and the packaging do warn you that the video is essentially of the guerilla/audience/amateur quality still does not prepare you for the actual picture quality. My God, I just could not continue to watch the DVD. It hurt my eyes. Going for the crappy camera/grainy out of focus quality angle was a poor choice. The cheesy blurring and double images nonense was worse than watching an old Black Sabbath video on VH1 Classic. I've got better quality (even today after multiple viewings) of a VHS recording of The Cure I made 15 years ago from a concert from Germany that MTV aired! This DVD is just plain unwatchable. I will simply turn off the video and listen to the audio. This only makes the absolute need for re-releasing "In Orange" and "Show" onto DVD sooner rather than later. Too bad. This could have been a much better release for Cure fans.

5 out of 5 stars

Cure Prove They Rock February 10, 2007
6 out of 6 found this review helpful

Throw away the synthesizers and crank up the amps. That's what Robert Smith and The Cure chose to do in the Summer of 2005. The result: a sound I like to refer to as 'rock'. No synth-pop or new wave dance stuff here. Robert Smith has always nodded to Jimmi Hendrix from time to time and in this compilation of festival appearances shows off Smith's guitar chops like no other live DVD available. The guy can play guitar.

Snooty video-philes and industry experts will tell you how horrible the editing job is and how terrible the video effects in this compilation turn out. I don't get it. After reading some of these reviews I expected some tortured, terrible creation that was barely watchable. Quite the contrary. The myth of its poor quality is just that - hardly relying on much of the 'amateur' footage from cell phones and what-not, the filming and effects capture the mood of each song nicely. If you have a Phd in film studies, you will not agree since you know oh so much better than the rest of us philistines.

Anyway, if you like The Cure, the price is nice and there is absolutely no reason you do not want this item. I'm glad I ignored the naysayers. You will be too.

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