The Cure - Red Light District (2024)

MAGNIFICENT BROADCAST FROM THE CURE’S FIRST EUROPEAN TOUR • Formed in Crawley, West Sussex, in 1978, from the ashes of their forerunner Easy Cure, by Robert Smith, Michael Dempsey and Lol Tolhurst, the Cure’s debut album, Three Imaginary Boys was issued in May 1979. It was this along with several early singles that placed the band in the post-punk movement which had sprung up in the United Kingdom that same year. An early demo-tape found its way to Polydor Records scout Chris Parry, who signed the Cure to his newly-formed Fiction label - distributed by Polydor - in September 1978. ‘Killing An Arab’ the Cure’s first single came out in December ’78. • 1979 found the band touring the UK frantically, and they put in the odd European festival date during the summer months too. On December 10th The Cure travelled across to continental Europe to play their first show there in Utrecht that night, followed by a gig in Eindhoven on the 11th. • The following evening, they took the stage at Amsterdam’s magnificent Melkweg venue for a concert that remains a firm favourite among fans. Recorded for live FM radio broadcast across the Netherlands, the show has nevertheless never been issued on CD previously. That all changes however with this new release which captures the entire set the band played that cold winter evening more than 40 years ago.