🎊🎈𝐇𝐀𝐏𝐏𝐘 𝐁𝐈𝐑𝐓𝐇𝐃𝐀𝐘 𝐭𝐨 𝐭𝐡𝐞 𝐥𝐞𝐠𝐞𝐧𝐝𝐚𝐫𝐲 𝐑𝐎𝐁𝐄𝐑𝐓 𝐒𝐌𝐈𝐓𝐇🎈🎊

Today, on April 21st, an iconic musician celebrates his 63th birthday.
⭐️𝑹𝑶𝑩𝑬𝑹𝑻 𝑱𝑨𝑴𝑬𝑺 𝑺𝑴𝑰𝑻𝑯 is an English musician, singer, songwriter, and record producer. He is best known as the lead singer, guitarist, primary songwriter, and only continuous member of the rock band 𝐓𝐇𝐄 𝐂𝐔𝐑𝐄 (which he founded in 1976 as Easy Cure and renamed into The Cure in 1978). He was also the lead guitarist for the band 𝐒𝐢𝐨𝐮𝐱𝐬𝐢𝐞 𝐚𝐧𝐝 𝐭𝐡𝐞 𝐁𝐚𝐧𝐬𝐡𝐞𝐞𝐬 from 1982 to 1984, and part of the short-lived group 𝐓𝐡𝐞 𝐆𝐥𝐨𝐯𝐞 in 1983. During his career, Robert Smith had a lot of brilliant collaborations with other artists.

Photo credits unknown, edit by Olga

▪️Robert was born in Blackpool, Lancashire, UK, and has three siblings. He is still married to the love of his life 𝑴𝒂𝒓𝒚 𝑷𝒐𝒐𝒍𝒆 whom he met at drama class at school when he was only 14. They have no children as the result of a joint decision early in life and in their marriage.


▪️𝑹𝒐𝒃𝒆𝒓𝒕 𝑺𝒎𝒊𝒕𝒉 is known for his guitar-playing style, distinctive voice, and fashion sense, with the latter - a pale complexion, smeared red lipstick, black eye-liner, a dishevelled nest of wiry black hair, and all-black clothes - being highly influential on the goth subculture that rose to prominence in the 1980s.


▪️𝐓𝐇𝐄 𝐂𝐔𝐑𝐄’s debut album Three Imaginary Boys (1979) placed the band in the post-punk and new wave movements that had sprung up in the UK. Beginning with their second album, Seventeen Seconds (1980), the band adopted a new, increasingly dark and tormented style, which greatly contributed to the emerging of gothic rock as a genre.
After the release of their fourth album Pornography in 1982, Smith was keen to move past the gloomy reputation his band had acquired and introduced some pop sensibility into The Cure's music. Songs such as "Let's Go to Bed" (1982), "The Love Cats" (1983), "Inbetween Days" (1985), "Close To Me" (1985), "Just Like Heaven" (1987), "Lovesong" (1989), and "Friday I'm in Love" (1992) aided the band in receiving commercial popularity.


▪️𝐓𝐇𝐄 𝐂𝐔𝐑𝐄 have released 13 studio albums, five live albums, 12 compilation albums, 10 EPs, 37 singles, 10 video albums and 43 music videos. The band sold over 30 million albums worldwide.
⭐️Robert Smith was inducted into the 𝑹𝒐𝒄𝒌 𝒂𝒏𝒅 𝑹𝒐𝒍𝒍 𝑯𝒂𝒍𝒍 𝒐𝒇 𝑭𝒂𝒎𝒆 as a member of The Cure in 2019.

Photo credit: Renaud Monfourny

🖤Concerning the topic of 𝒈𝒐𝒕𝒉𝒊𝒄 𝒂𝒆𝒔𝒕𝒉𝒆𝒕𝒊𝒄𝒔, I have an interesting quote for you from a very 𝒔𝒑𝒆𝒄𝒊𝒂𝒍 𝒊𝒏𝒕𝒆𝒓𝒗𝒊𝒆𝒘 𝒕𝒉𝒂𝒕 𝑩𝒓𝒊𝒂𝒏 𝒅𝒊𝒅 𝒘𝒊𝒕𝒉 𝑹𝒐𝒃𝒆𝒓𝒕 back in 2001.

📢𝐁𝐫𝐢𝐚𝐧: Do you feel responsible for the gothic movement and all those ridiculous aspects? I often laugh at this trend, because we have been sometimes reproached of being Goths and that really gets to my nerves. We are not crows!!!

📢𝐑𝐨𝐛𝐞𝐫𝐭: That’s weird, we’ve never been a gothic band, in the sense that there are no pictures of us with a crucifix or anything else. Instead, we were a band in suits! The Banshees are gothic, in the real meaning of the word. I don’t have any gothic album. I hate The Sisters of Mercy. During the first interview I made for this “Greatest Hits”, the journalist questioned me about that gothic side. I went crazy; “With songs like “Lovecats“, “Let’s Go to Bed“, show me what’s gothic in it, listen to “Friday I’m in Love”! A gothic band wouldn’t do songs like that!”. But anyway, I like the Goths, they’re lovely. If you forget their morbid fantasies, their belief that they’re gonna die if they stay too long under the sun, they can be really funny. Have you ever been in Mexico? The best Goths can be found there. When you see them from the stage, you think they wear Goths clothes; all in black, and when you meet them, you realise they wear shorts of every colour.
(𝐿𝑒𝑠 𝐼𝑛𝑟𝑜𝑐𝑘𝑢𝑝𝑡𝑖𝑏𝑙𝑒𝑠, 2001)


⭐️Brian, as well as the other Placebo members, met Robert Smith in the late 90s and over the years, their relationships have grown to become a sincere friendship full of personal and professional respect.

📢𝐁𝐫𝐢𝐚𝐧: “Obviously, I grew up listening to The Cure, and The Smiths, and they were kind of the soundtrack to every rainy afternoon in Central Europe for me as I was a teenager. And going back to listening to this track [Lullaby], I’m continuously blown away by the instrumentation and the orchestration and the way that it’s actually very very sparse, it’s not a great deal that happens. And to me, it’s just highlights something that I’ve really discovered over the years: that often the space between the notes is equally as important as the notes themselves.”
(𝑇ℎ𝑒 𝑀𝑖𝑥𝑡𝑎𝑝𝑒, 𝑋𝐹𝑀 𝑅𝑎𝑑𝑖𝑜, 𝑂𝑐𝑡𝑜𝑏𝑒𝑟 20, 2013)


For the first time, Placebo and The Cure shared the stage in January 1997, at the great show at 𝑴𝒂𝒅𝒊𝒔𝒐𝒏 𝑺𝒒𝒖𝒂𝒓𝒆 𝑮𝒂𝒓𝒅𝒆𝒏 in New York City at 𝑫𝒂𝒗𝒊𝒅 𝑩𝒐𝒘𝒊𝒆'𝒔 50𝒕𝒉 𝒃𝒊𝒓𝒕𝒉𝒅𝒂𝒚 𝒑𝒂𝒓𝒕𝒚.

In October 2004, during the concert dedicated to the 20𝒕𝒉 𝒂𝒏𝒏𝒊𝒗𝒆𝒓𝒔𝒂𝒓𝒚 𝒐𝒇 𝒕𝒉𝒆 𝑭𝒓𝒆𝒏𝒄𝒉 𝑻𝑽 𝒄𝒉𝒂𝒏𝒏𝒆𝒍 𝑪𝒂𝒏𝒂𝒍+, Robert Smith invited Placebo to perform 𝐈𝐟 𝐎𝐧𝐥𝐲 𝐓𝐨𝐧𝐢𝐠𝐡𝐭 𝐖𝐞 𝐂𝐨𝐮𝐥𝐝 𝐒𝐥𝐞𝐞𝐩 together with The Cure.


𝐏𝐥𝐚𝐜𝐞𝐛𝐨 & 𝐓𝐡𝐞 𝐂𝐮𝐫𝐞 - 𝐈𝐟 𝐎𝐧𝐥𝐲 𝐓𝐨𝐧𝐢𝐠𝐡𝐭 𝐖𝐞 𝐂𝐨𝐮𝐥𝐝 𝐒𝐥𝐞𝐞𝐩, 𝐂𝐚𝐧𝐚𝐥+, 𝟐𝟎𝟎𝟒
➡️ https://bit.ly/3LQYBqU

Screenshot from the Canal+ performance

Only three weeks later, on November 5th, 2004, at the quite significant for Placebo show at the 𝑳𝒐𝒏𝒅𝒐𝒏’𝒔 𝑾𝒆𝒎𝒃𝒍𝒆𝒚 𝑨𝒓𝒆𝒏𝒂 - their dream venue at the time - Robert Smith joined the band on stage to play Placebo's 𝐖𝐢𝐭𝐡𝐨𝐮𝐭 𝐘𝐨𝐮 𝐈'𝐦 𝐍𝐨𝐭𝐡𝐢𝐧𝐠 and The Cure's 𝐁𝐨𝐲𝐬 𝐃𝐨𝐧'𝐭 𝐂𝐫𝐲. Having such a special guest made the night absolutely unforgettable.


𝐏𝐥𝐚𝐜𝐞𝐛𝐨 & 𝐑𝐨𝐛𝐞𝐫𝐭 𝐒𝐦𝐢𝐭𝐡 - 𝐁𝐨𝐲𝐬 𝐃𝐨𝐧'𝐭 𝐂𝐫𝐲 (𝐓𝐡𝐞 𝐂𝐮𝐫𝐞 𝐜𝐨𝐯𝐞𝐫), 𝐖𝐞𝐦𝐛𝐥𝐞𝐲 𝐀𝐫𝐞𝐧𝐚, 𝟐𝟎𝟎𝟒
➡️ https://bit.ly/3Kux1zB


𝐏𝐥𝐚𝐜𝐞𝐛𝐨 & 𝐑𝐨𝐛𝐞𝐫𝐭 𝐒𝐦𝐢𝐭𝐡 - 𝐖𝐢𝐭𝐡𝐨𝐮𝐭 𝐘𝐨𝐮 𝐈'𝐦 𝐍𝐨𝐭𝐡𝐢𝐧𝐠, 𝐖𝐞𝐦𝐛𝐥𝐞𝐲 𝐀𝐫𝐞𝐧𝐚, 𝟐𝟎𝟎𝟒
➡️ https://bit.ly/3vsaKw3

Screenshot from the performance at Wembley

On June 16th, 2018, Placebo performed at the 25𝒕𝒉 𝒆𝒅𝒊𝒕𝒊𝒐𝒏 𝒐𝒇 𝑴𝒆𝒍𝒕𝒅𝒐𝒘𝒏 𝑭𝒆𝒔𝒕𝒊𝒗𝒂𝒍 in London as they were personally invited by invited by Robert Smith, that year event curator. As Brian admitted, it was an honour for them, so Placebo wanted to pay tribute to the legendary band - and their friends! - by covering The Cure’s famous song 𝐋𝐞𝐭'𝐬 𝐆𝐨 𝐓𝐨 𝐁𝐞𝐝.


𝐏𝐥𝐚𝐜𝐞𝐛𝐨 - 𝐋𝐞𝐭'𝐬 𝐆𝐨 𝐓𝐨 𝐁𝐞𝐝 (𝐓𝐡𝐞 𝐂𝐮𝐫𝐞 𝐜𝐨𝐯𝐞𝐫), 𝐌𝐞𝐥𝐭𝐝𝐨𝐰𝐧 𝐅𝐞𝐬𝐭𝐢𝐯𝐚𝐥 𝟐𝟎𝟏𝟖
➡️ https://bit.ly/3O4Fg7m

…And let’s wish the happiest of birthdays to Robert!🎉

Post by Olga

⚡🌠 𝑯𝑨𝑷𝑷𝒀 𝑩𝑰𝑹𝑻𝑯𝑫𝑨𝒀 𝑰𝑵 𝑻𝑯𝑬 𝑺𝑲𝒀… 🌠⚡

… to the one and only 𝑫𝒂𝒗𝒊𝒅 𝑩𝒐𝒘𝒊𝒆, the outstanding English singer, songwriter and actor who would have turned 75 today (he was born on January 8, 1947 in 𝑩𝒓𝒊𝒙𝒕𝒐𝒏, 𝑳𝒐𝒏𝒅𝒐𝒏.) We will always admire him for his endless creativity and ability to reinvent himself in each one of his 26 studio albums. He had a huge impact on the music industry and influenced many artists over the years - and still he does. For all this and more, today we dedicate this post to him with much love. 💗

Photo credits at the end of the post

𝑫𝒂𝒗𝒊𝒅 𝑩𝒐𝒘𝒊𝒆 was undoubtedly very important to 𝑷𝒍𝒂𝒄𝒆𝒃𝒐 and has a very special place not only in their musical career but also in their hearts, on a personal level as 𝑩𝒓𝒊𝒂𝒏 𝑴𝒐𝒍𝒌𝒐 expressed in the following words:

💫 "𝑴𝒚 𝒃𝒂𝒏𝒅 𝒂𝒏𝒅 𝑰 𝒘𝒆𝒓𝒆 𝒕𝒊𝒏𝒚 𝒘𝒉𝒆𝒏 𝒘𝒆 𝒇𝒊𝒓𝒔𝒕 𝒎𝒆𝒕. 𝑵𝒐𝒏𝒆𝒕𝒉𝒆𝒍𝒆𝒔𝒔 , 𝒚𝒐𝒖 𝒕𝒐𝒐𝒌 𝒖𝒔 𝒖𝒏𝒅𝒆𝒓 𝒚𝒐𝒖𝒓 𝒘𝒊𝒏𝒈. 𝒀𝒐𝒖 𝒃𝒆𝒍𝒊𝒆𝒗𝒆𝒅 𝒊𝒏 𝒖𝒔 𝒂𝒏𝒅 𝒈𝒊𝒇𝒕𝒆𝒅 𝒖𝒔 𝒘𝒊𝒕𝒉 𝒔𝒐 𝒎𝒂𝒏𝒚 𝒇𝒂𝒏𝒕𝒂𝒔𝒕𝒊𝒄 𝒐𝒑𝒑𝒐𝒓𝒕𝒖𝒏𝒊𝒕𝒊𝒆𝒔.

𝑾𝒊𝒕𝒉𝒐𝒖𝒕 𝒚𝒐𝒖, 𝒚𝒐𝒖𝒓 𝒕𝒖𝒕𝒆𝒍𝒂𝒈𝒆 𝒂𝒏𝒅 𝒚𝒐𝒖𝒓 𝒘𝒊𝒔𝒅𝒐𝒎, 𝑰 𝒅𝒐𝒏’𝒕 𝒕𝒉𝒊𝒏𝒌 𝑰 𝒘𝒐𝒖𝒍𝒅 𝒃𝒆 𝒘𝒉𝒆𝒓𝒆 𝑰 𝒂𝒎 𝒕𝒐𝒅𝒂𝒚, 𝒂𝒔 𝒂𝒏 𝒂𝒓𝒕𝒊𝒔𝒕 𝒃𝒖𝒕 𝒂𝒍𝒔𝒐 𝒂𝒔 𝒂 𝒑𝒆𝒓𝒔𝒐𝒏. 𝑭𝒐𝒓 𝒕𝒉𝒂𝒕 𝑰 𝒘𝒊𝒍𝒍 𝒃𝒆 𝒆𝒕𝒆𝒓𝒏𝒂𝒍𝒍𝒚 𝒈𝒓𝒂𝒕𝒆𝒇𝒖𝒍."
▪️𝐵𝑟𝑖𝑎𝑛 𝑀𝑜𝑙𝑘𝑜'𝑠 𝐿𝑒𝑡𝑡𝑒𝑟 𝑡𝑜 𝐷𝑎𝑣𝑖𝑑 𝐵𝑜𝑤𝑖𝑒, 𝐽𝑎𝑛𝑢𝑎𝑟𝑦 2016.


Sure we also feel grateful to 𝑫𝒂𝒗𝒊𝒅 for the support and friendship he gave them in those early years of the band. But how did that strong bond between 𝑫𝒂𝒗𝒊𝒅 and 𝑷𝒍𝒂𝒄𝒆𝒃𝒐 come about?

In the chat hosted by 𝑫𝒂𝒗𝒊𝒅 𝑩𝒐𝒘𝒊𝒆 with 𝑩𝒓𝒊𝒂𝒏 𝑴𝒐𝒍𝒌𝒐, 𝑺𝒕𝒆𝒇𝒂𝒏 𝑶𝒍𝒔𝒅𝒂𝒍 and 𝑺𝒕𝒆𝒗𝒆 𝑯𝒆𝒘𝒊𝒕𝒕 on 29 March 1999 via his 𝑩𝒐𝒘𝒊𝒆𝑵𝒆𝒕 website, they shared the story of how they met.

Photo credit:  Kevin Mazur WireImage / Getty Images 

⚡𝑫𝒂𝒗𝒊𝒅 𝑩𝒐𝒘𝒊𝒆: […] SpacegirlBianca asks: "How did you become involved as the opening band for David at his birthday concert?"
🎤𝑩𝒓𝒊𝒂𝒏 𝑴𝒐𝒍𝒌𝒐: Aha!

⚡𝑫𝒂𝒗𝒊𝒅 𝑩𝒐𝒘𝒊𝒆: Well, SpacegirlBianca, we actually go back a lot longer than that, don't we, guys!
🎤𝑺𝒕𝒆𝒇𝒂𝒏 𝑶𝒍𝒔𝒅𝒂𝒍: We do!
🎤𝑩𝒓𝒊𝒂𝒏 𝑴𝒐𝒍𝒌𝒐: Would you like to explain how?


⚡𝑫𝒂𝒗𝒊𝒅 𝑩𝒐𝒘𝒊𝒆: No, you tell the story. But I'll say that I spotted them, I thought they were a really terrific band. And Virgin let me have their very earliest things, including the song "Nancy Boy". I thought, That's a terrific song for a bunch of jacks to sing, I think they'll probably be huge!' (laughter). And we got together, and we were working together what year?
✨(𝑪𝒉𝒐𝒓𝒖𝒔): Ninety Six.

⚡𝑫𝒂𝒗𝒊𝒅 𝑩𝒐𝒘𝒊𝒆: Ninety Six.
🎤𝑺𝒕𝒆𝒇𝒂𝒏 𝑶𝒍𝒔𝒅𝒂𝒍: The "Outside" tour.
🎤𝑩𝒓𝒊𝒂𝒏 𝑴𝒐𝒍𝒌𝒐: We went from playing to three hundred people, maximum, in England, to thousands of people with you in Europe.


⚡𝑫𝒂𝒗𝒊𝒅 𝑩𝒐𝒘𝒊𝒆: Yeah. From three hundred to well over four or five hundred some nights.
🎤𝑩𝒓𝒊𝒂𝒏 𝑴𝒐𝒍𝒌𝒐: Well over eight thousand, I think. (laughter). And you got hold of some of our demos, I think we had started touring with you before we had even started recording the first album.


⚡𝑫𝒂𝒗𝒊𝒅 𝑩𝒐𝒘𝒊𝒆: And I kept on at them like a dog with a bone, excuse the pun, to put out "Nancy Boy", which of course became a very good song. All of their songs, of course, are very good. I think their songs are much better now.
🎤𝑩𝒓𝒊𝒂𝒏 𝑴𝒐𝒍𝒌𝒐: Well thank you.


⚡𝑫𝒂𝒗𝒊𝒅 𝑩𝒐𝒘𝒊𝒆: But it's very consistent, isn't it, it's been a consistent relationship. I mean, it's not been steps and starts, I think we've brought together quite a lot.
🎤𝑩𝒓𝒊𝒂𝒏 𝑴𝒐𝒍𝒌𝒐: We toured "Outside" with you and most of "Earthling".


⚡𝑫𝒂𝒗𝒊𝒅 𝑩𝒐𝒘𝒊𝒆: Yeah, it's been great, it's been a very good relationship, I've enjoyed it a lot. Watching them grow hopefully I shall watch them grow into old age as well. Because I'm never going to die. (laughter).
▪️𝑃𝑙𝑎𝑐𝑒𝑏𝑜 & 𝐷𝑎𝑣𝑖𝑑 𝐵𝑜𝑤𝑖𝑒, 𝑀𝑎𝑟𝑐𝒉 1999.

Photo credit:  Kevin Mazur WireImage / Getty Images

It's impossible not to be moved and some tears come to our eyes as we read that last sentence.... 🥺💗


But today we are not going to be sad because the people who are no longer physically, in my opinion, it's better to remember with love how great they were, all the happy moments and all the good things they left us,💖 so let's go back in time to review…


⭐🎉 𝐓𝐇𝐄 𝐌𝐎𝐒𝐓 𝐀𝐌𝐀𝐙𝐈𝐍𝐆 𝐁𝐈𝐑𝐓𝐇𝐃𝐀𝐘 𝐏𝐀𝐑𝐓𝐘 𝐄𝐕𝐄𝐑 🎂🎉⭐


For his 𝟓𝟎𝒕𝒉 𝒃𝒊𝒓𝒕𝒉𝒅𝒂𝒚, 𝑫𝒂𝒗𝒊𝒅 𝑩𝒐𝒘𝒊𝒆 being the coolest man on this planet could not celebrate in any other way than with a party just as cool as him, announced as "𝐃𝐀𝐕𝐈𝐃 𝐁𝐎𝐖𝐈𝐄 𝐚𝐧𝐝 𝐅𝐑𝐈𝐄𝐍𝐃𝐒: 𝐀 𝐕𝐞𝐫𝐲 𝐒𝐩𝐞𝐜𝐢𝐚𝐥 𝐁𝐢𝐫𝐭𝐡𝐝𝐚𝐲 𝐂𝐨𝐧𝐜𝐞𝐫𝐭" with a list of special guests such as 𝑳𝒐𝒖 𝑹𝒆𝒆𝒅, 𝑫𝒂𝒗𝒆 𝑮𝒓𝒐𝒉𝒍 from the 𝑭𝒐𝒐 𝑭𝒊𝒈𝒉𝒕𝒆𝒓𝒔, 𝑹𝒐𝒃𝒆𝒓𝒕 𝑺𝒎𝒊𝒕𝒉 from 𝑻𝒉𝒆 𝑪𝒖𝒓𝒆, 𝑩𝒊𝒍𝒍𝒚 𝑪𝒐𝒓𝒈𝒂𝒏 from 𝑺𝒎𝒂𝒔𝒉𝒊𝒏𝒈 𝑷𝒖𝒎𝒑𝒌𝒊𝒏𝒔, 𝑩𝒍𝒂𝒄𝒌 𝑭𝒓𝒂𝒏𝒄𝒊𝒔 from the 𝑷𝒊𝒙𝒊𝒆𝒔, 𝑺𝒐𝒏𝒊𝒄 𝒀𝒐𝒖𝒕𝒉 and 𝑷𝒍𝒂𝒄𝒆𝒃𝒐. The big party would take place at 𝑴𝒂𝒅𝒊𝒔𝒐𝒏 𝑺𝒒𝒖𝒂𝒓𝒆 𝑮𝒂𝒓𝒅𝒆𝒏 in 𝑵𝒆𝒘 𝒀𝒐𝒓𝒌 𝑪𝒊𝒕𝒚 on January 9, 1997.


🔹Just on the 𝟓𝟎𝒕𝒉 𝑫𝒂𝒗𝒊𝒅 𝑩𝒐𝒘𝒊𝒆's birthday was broadcast on 𝑩𝑩𝑪 𝑹𝒂𝒅𝒊𝒐, an acoustic set that was recorded in rehearsals for this concert and an interview by 𝑴𝒂𝒓𝒚 𝑨𝒏𝒏𝒆 𝑯𝒐𝒃𝒃𝒔 where several artists and friends such as 𝑹𝒐𝒃𝒆𝒓𝒕 𝑺𝒎𝒊𝒕𝒉, 𝑩𝒐𝒏𝒐 from 𝑼𝟐, 𝑵𝒆𝒊𝒍 𝑻𝒆𝒏𝒏𝒂𝒏𝒕 from 𝑷𝒆𝒕 𝑺𝒉𝒐𝒑 𝑩𝒐𝒚𝒔 and 𝑩𝒓𝒊𝒂𝒏 𝑴𝒐𝒍𝒌𝒐 among others sent their birthday wishes as well as questions for 𝑻𝒉𝒆 𝑻𝒉𝒊𝒏 𝑾𝒉𝒊𝒕𝒆 𝑫𝒖𝒌𝒆. You can listen to it here:

🎧 https://bit.ly/34q1A9n


🔹Here you can also watch an interview where 𝑩𝒐𝒘𝒊𝒆 explains why he chose these artists as special guests.
🎥 https://bit.ly/335iyJo


🔹And here is a 𝑷𝒍𝒂𝒄𝒆𝒃𝒐 interview where 𝑩𝒓𝒊𝒂𝒏 tells what he was planning to give 𝑫𝒂𝒗𝒊𝒅 𝑩𝒐𝒘𝒊𝒆 as a birthday gift. 😉💝
🎥 https://bit.ly/3mYV0No

Photo credit:  Kevin Mazur WireImage / Getty Images

The opening act of the sold-out concert was our dearest 𝑷𝒍𝒂𝒄𝒆𝒃𝒐. For almost half an hour they played a set mainly with songs from their first album plus an early version of "𝑨𝒍𝒍𝒆𝒓𝒈𝒊𝒄 (𝑻𝒐 𝑻𝒉𝒐𝒖𝒈𝒉𝒕𝒔 𝒐𝒇 𝑴𝒐𝒎)" after which 𝑩𝒓𝒊𝒂𝒏 𝑴𝒐𝒍𝒌𝒐 said:

✨🎙️"𝑾𝒆'𝒅 𝒍𝒊𝒌𝒆 𝒕𝒐 𝒘𝒊𝒔𝒉 𝑴𝒓. 𝑫𝒂𝒗𝒊𝒅 𝑩𝒐𝒘𝒊𝒆 𝒂 𝒗𝒆𝒓𝒚 𝒗𝒆𝒓𝒚 𝒉𝒂𝒑𝒑𝒚 𝟓𝟎𝒕𝒉 𝑩𝒊𝒓𝒕𝒉𝒅𝒂𝒚 𝒂𝒏𝒅 𝒕𝒉𝒂𝒏𝒌𝒔 𝒕𝒐 𝒉𝒊𝒎 𝒇𝒐𝒓 𝒊𝒏𝒗𝒊𝒕𝒊𝒏𝒈 𝒖𝒔 𝒕𝒐 𝒑𝒍𝒂𝒚 𝒉𝒆𝒓𝒆 𝒕𝒐𝒏𝒊𝒈𝒉𝒕. 𝑻𝒉𝒊𝒔 𝒔𝒐𝒏𝒈 𝒊𝒔 𝒇𝒐𝒓 𝒉𝒊𝒎 𝒃𝒆𝒄𝒂𝒖𝒔𝒆 𝒘𝒆 𝒌𝒏𝒐𝒘 𝒊𝒕'𝒔 𝒉𝒊𝒔 𝒇𝒂𝒗𝒐𝒓𝒊𝒕𝒆…" ✨

And 𝑩𝒓𝒊𝒂𝒏 began to play 𝑵𝒂𝒏𝒄𝒚 𝑩𝒐𝒚's riff. 🎸🎶

Then it was time for 𝑺𝒕𝒂𝒓𝒎𝒂𝒏 and his band, guitarist 𝑹𝒆𝒆𝒗𝒆𝒔 𝑮𝒂𝒃𝒓𝒆𝒍𝒔; keyboardist 𝑴𝒊𝒌𝒆 𝑮𝒂𝒓𝒔𝒐𝒏; bassist 𝑮𝒂𝒊𝒍 𝑨𝒏𝒏 𝑫𝒐𝒓𝒔𝒆𝒚 and drummer 𝒁𝒂𝒄𝒉𝒂𝒓𝒚 𝑨𝒍𝒇𝒐𝒓𝒅, took the stage to perform "𝑳𝒊𝒕𝒕𝒍𝒆 𝑾𝒐𝒏𝒅𝒆𝒓", the first single from his album "𝑬𝒂𝒓𝒕𝒉𝒍𝒊𝒏𝒈" that would be released just a month later and from which he also premiered a handful of songs during the show. After performing "𝑻𝒉𝒊𝒔 𝑯𝒆𝒂𝒓𝒕'𝒔 𝑭𝒊𝒍𝒕𝒉𝒚 𝑳𝒆𝒔𝒔𝒐𝒏", 𝑫𝒂𝒗𝒊𝒅 𝑩𝒐𝒘𝒊𝒆 greeted to the audience saying:

✨🎙️"𝑮𝒐𝒐𝒅 𝒆𝒗𝒆𝒏𝒊𝒏𝒈. 𝑾𝒆'𝒓𝒆 𝒚𝒐𝒖𝒓 𝒓𝒐𝒄𝒌 𝒃𝒂𝒏𝒅 𝒇𝒐𝒓 𝒕𝒉𝒆 𝒏𝒊𝒈𝒉𝒕. 𝑾𝒆'𝒓𝒆 𝒈𝒐𝒊𝒏𝒈 𝒕𝒐 𝒈𝒆𝒕 𝒑𝒂𝒓𝒕𝒚𝒇𝒊𝒆𝒅." ✨

At another point in the evening he stated:


✨🎙️“𝑰 𝒉𝒂𝒗𝒆 𝒏𝒐 𝒊𝒅𝒆𝒂 𝒘𝒉𝒆𝒓𝒆 𝑰’𝒎 𝒈𝒐𝒊𝒏𝒈 𝒇𝒓𝒐𝒎 𝒉𝒆𝒓𝒆, 𝒃𝒖𝒕 𝑰 𝒑𝒓𝒐𝒎𝒊𝒔𝒆 𝑰 𝒘𝒐𝒏’𝒕 𝒃𝒐𝒓𝒆 𝒚𝒐𝒖.” ✨

During the stunning two-hour concert, special guests gradually appeared to perform alongside the birthday boy, playing 25 songs in total. This show was also a benefit gig for 𝑺𝒂𝒗𝒆 𝑻𝒉𝒆 𝑪𝒉𝒊𝒍𝒅𝒓𝒆𝒏, which was also filmed and directed by 𝑻𝒊𝒎 𝑷𝒐𝒑𝒆 as it would be broadcast on television as a 𝑷𝒂𝒚 𝑷𝒆𝒓 𝑽𝒊𝒆𝒘 event on March 8, 1997 with further reruns until March 15. Part of the proceeds from the broadcast also went to the 𝑺𝒂𝒗𝒆 𝑻𝒉𝒆 𝑪𝒉𝒊𝒍𝒅𝒓𝒆𝒏 organization.

To our delight, there is a very rare footage of the 𝑷𝒍𝒂𝒄𝒆𝒃𝒐 opening set of that night and the 𝑫𝒂𝒗𝒊𝒅 𝑩𝒐𝒘𝒊𝒆 full concert is also available. Enjoy watching soulmates!

Photo credit:  Kevin Mazur WireImage / Getty Images

🎁 𝐏𝐥𝐚𝐜𝐞𝐛𝐨 𝐎𝐩𝐞𝐧𝐢𝐧𝐠 𝐟𝐨𝐫 𝐃𝐚𝐯𝐢𝐝 𝐁𝐨𝐰𝐢𝐞, 𝐍𝐞𝐰 𝐘𝐨𝐫𝐤 𝐉𝐚𝐧𝐮𝐚𝐫𝐲 𝟏𝟗𝟗𝟕 🎶
https://bit.ly/3zxAHLX


🎁 𝐃𝐚𝐯𝐢𝐝 𝐁𝐨𝐰𝐢𝐞 𝟓𝟎𝐭𝐡 𝐁𝐢𝐫𝐭𝐡𝐝𝐚𝐲 𝐂𝐨𝐧𝐜𝐞𝐫𝐭 𝐚𝐭 𝐌𝐚𝐝𝐢𝐬𝐨𝐧 𝐒𝐪𝐮𝐚𝐫𝐞 𝐆𝐚𝐫𝐝𝐞𝐧, 𝐍𝐘 🎶
https://bit.ly/3F3BUvM


📸 After the concert, 𝑩𝒐𝒘𝒊𝒆 got back together with all the special guests backstage for that awesome photo taken by the photographer 𝑲𝒆𝒗𝒊𝒏 𝑴𝒂𝒛𝒖𝒓, which is certainly now one of the most iconic rock and roll images taken in recent times.⚡


✨🎙️“𝑰 𝒘𝒐𝒖𝒍𝒅𝒏’𝒕 𝒉𝒂𝒗𝒆 𝒆𝒙𝒑𝒆𝒄𝒕𝒆𝒅 𝒕𝒐 𝒉𝒂𝒗𝒆 𝒔𝒖𝒄𝒉 𝒂𝒏 𝒂𝒑𝒑𝒆𝒕𝒊𝒕𝒆 𝒇𝒐𝒓 𝒍𝒊𝒇𝒆 𝒂𝒕 𝒕𝒉𝒊𝒔 𝒑𝒐𝒊𝒏𝒕. 𝑰 𝒉𝒂𝒅 𝒂𝒔𝒔𝒖𝒎𝒆𝒅, 𝒍𝒊𝒌𝒆 𝒓𝒐𝒎𝒂𝒏𝒕𝒊𝒄 𝒑𝒐𝒆𝒕𝒊𝒄 𝒉𝒆𝒓𝒐𝒆𝒔, 𝒕𝒉𝒂𝒕 𝑰 𝒘𝒐𝒖𝒍𝒅 𝒃𝒖𝒓𝒏 𝒊𝒕 𝒂𝒍𝒍 𝒐𝒖𝒕. 𝑩𝒖𝒕 𝒏𝒐𝒕𝒉𝒊𝒏𝒈 𝒉𝒂𝒔 𝒃𝒆𝒆𝒏 𝒒𝒖𝒆𝒏𝒄𝒉𝒆𝒅. 𝑰’𝒎 𝒔𝒕𝒊𝒍𝒍 𝒇𝒆𝒆𝒍𝒊𝒏𝒈 𝒇𝒊𝒆𝒓𝒚.” ✨

𝑩𝒐𝒘𝒊𝒆 told the 𝑵𝒆𝒘 𝒀𝒐𝒓𝒌 𝑫𝒂𝒊𝒍𝒚 𝑵𝒆𝒘𝒔 at the time.

To end the big day, There was also a toast at a post-concert dinnerthere was also toasting a post-concert dinner hosted by 𝑰𝒎𝒂𝒏, 𝑫𝒂𝒗𝒊𝒅's wife, at the downtown space of 𝑱𝒖𝒍𝒊𝒂𝒏 𝑺𝒄𝒉𝒏𝒂𝒃𝒆𝒍 (who directed 𝑩𝒐𝒘𝒊𝒆 as 𝑨𝒏𝒅𝒚 𝑾𝒂𝒓𝒉𝒐𝒍 in the film 𝑩𝒂𝒔𝒒𝒖𝒊𝒂𝒕) where a wide variety of celebrities attended like 𝑩𝒆𝒄𝒌, 𝑴𝒐𝒃𝒚, 𝑪𝒐𝒖𝒓𝒕𝒏𝒆𝒚 𝑳𝒐𝒗𝒆, the former 𝑷𝒓𝒊𝒏𝒄𝒆, 𝑪𝒉𝒂𝒓𝒍𝒊𝒆 𝑺𝒆𝒙𝒕𝒐𝒏, and 𝑭𝒓𝒆𝒅 𝑺𝒄𝒉𝒏𝒆𝒊𝒅𝒆𝒓; actors 𝑴𝒂𝒕𝒕 𝑫𝒊𝒍𝒍𝒐𝒏, 𝑴𝒂𝒕𝒕𝒉𝒆𝒘 𝑴𝒐𝒅𝒊𝒏𝒆, 𝑱𝒆𝒇𝒇𝒓𝒆𝒚 𝑾𝒓𝒊𝒈𝒉𝒕, 𝑪𝒉𝒓𝒊𝒔𝒕𝒐𝒑𝒉𝒆𝒓 𝑾𝒂𝒍𝒌𝒆𝒏, and 𝑴𝒊𝒄𝒉𝒂𝒆𝒍 𝑾𝒊𝒏𝒄𝒐𝒕𝒕; and fashion's 𝑫𝒐𝒏𝒏𝒂 𝑲𝒂𝒓𝒂𝒏 and 𝑵𝒂𝒐𝒎𝒊 𝑪𝒂𝒎𝒑𝒃𝒆𝒍𝒍.

Photo credit:  Kevin Mazur WireImage / Getty Images

In the summer of 1997, 𝑫𝒂𝒗𝒊𝒅 𝑩𝒐𝒘𝒊𝒆 invited 𝑷𝒍𝒂𝒄𝒆𝒃𝒐 to open the three concerts he would give in 𝑺𝒑𝒂𝒊𝒏 to promote his new album "𝑬𝒂𝒓𝒕𝒉𝒍𝒊𝒏𝒈". The 𝑺𝒑𝒂𝒏𝒊𝒔𝒉 musical magazine 𝑴𝒐𝒏𝒅𝒐𝑺𝒐𝒏𝒐𝒓𝒐 interviewed him on the occasion of his visit and there he revealed about 𝑷𝒍𝒂𝒄𝒆𝒃𝒐:

✨🎙️"𝑰𝒕'𝒔 𝒄𝒍𝒆𝒂𝒓 𝒕𝒉𝒂𝒕 𝑰 𝒍𝒐𝒗𝒆 𝑷𝒍𝒂𝒄𝒆𝒃𝒐. 𝑰'𝒗𝒆 𝒃𝒆𝒆𝒏 𝒘𝒐𝒓𝒌𝒊𝒏𝒈 𝒘𝒊𝒕𝒉 𝒕𝒉𝒆𝒎 𝒇𝒐𝒓 𝒕𝒉𝒆 𝒍𝒂𝒔𝒕 𝒕𝒘𝒐 𝒚𝒆𝒂𝒓𝒔 𝒂𝒏𝒅 𝒘𝒆'𝒗𝒆 𝒕𝒐𝒖𝒓𝒆𝒅 𝒕𝒐𝒈𝒆𝒕𝒉𝒆𝒓 𝒐𝒏 𝒔𝒆𝒗𝒆𝒓𝒂𝒍 𝒐𝒄𝒄𝒂𝒔𝒊𝒐𝒏𝒔. 𝑻𝒉𝒆𝒚 𝒂𝒓𝒆 𝒂 𝒈𝒓𝒆𝒂𝒕 𝒃𝒂𝒏𝒅 𝒂𝒏𝒅 𝑩𝒓𝒊𝒂𝒏 𝒊𝒔 𝒂𝒏 𝒆𝒙𝒄𝒆𝒍𝒍𝒆𝒏𝒕 𝒔𝒐𝒏𝒈𝒘𝒓𝒊𝒕𝒆𝒓. 𝑰 𝒕𝒉𝒊𝒏𝒌 𝒕𝒉𝒆𝒚 𝒂𝒓𝒆 𝒈𝒐𝒊𝒏𝒈 𝒕𝒐 𝒈𝒐 𝒇𝒂𝒓. 𝑻𝒉𝒆 𝒕𝒓𝒖𝒕𝒉 𝒊𝒔 𝒕𝒉𝒂𝒕 𝒃𝒐𝒕𝒉 𝑴𝒂𝒏𝒔𝒖𝒏 𝒂𝒏𝒅 𝒕𝒉𝒆𝒚 𝒉𝒂𝒗𝒆 𝒎𝒚 𝒄𝒐𝒎𝒑𝒍𝒆𝒕𝒆 𝒂𝒑𝒑𝒓𝒐𝒗𝒂𝒍. 𝑻𝒉𝒆𝒚 𝒂𝒓𝒆 𝒕𝒘𝒐 𝒈𝒐𝒐𝒅 𝒃𝒂𝒏𝒅𝒔, 𝒂𝒏𝒅 𝒆𝒗𝒆𝒏 𝒕𝒉𝒐𝒖𝒈𝒉 𝒕𝒉𝒆 𝒑𝒓𝒐𝒎𝒐𝒕𝒆𝒓 𝒔𝒆𝒍𝒆𝒄𝒕𝒔 𝒕𝒉𝒆 𝒐𝒑𝒆𝒏𝒊𝒏𝒈 𝒂𝒄𝒕𝒔, 𝑰 𝒕𝒓𝒚 𝒕𝒐 𝒑𝒖𝒕 𝒂𝒔 𝒎𝒖𝒄𝒉 𝒑𝒓𝒆𝒔𝒔𝒖𝒓𝒆 𝒂𝒔 𝒑𝒐𝒔𝒔𝒊𝒃𝒍𝒆 𝒕𝒐 𝒈𝒆𝒕 𝒑𝒆𝒐𝒑𝒍𝒆 𝑰'𝒎 𝒊𝒏𝒕𝒆𝒓𝒆𝒔𝒕𝒆𝒅 𝒊𝒏. 𝑷𝒓𝒐𝒃𝒂𝒃𝒍𝒚, 𝒕𝒉𝒆 𝒕𝒐𝒖𝒓 𝒑𝒓𝒐𝒎𝒐𝒕𝒆𝒓 𝒌𝒏𝒆𝒘 𝒑𝒆𝒓𝒇𝒆𝒄𝒕𝒍𝒚 𝒕𝒉𝒂𝒕 𝑷𝒍𝒂𝒄𝒆𝒃𝒐 𝒘𝒆𝒓𝒆 𝒈𝒐𝒐𝒅 𝒇𝒓𝒊𝒆𝒏𝒅𝒔 𝒐𝒇 𝒎𝒊𝒏𝒆 𝒂𝒏𝒅 𝒂𝒍𝒔𝒐 𝒕𝒉𝒂𝒕 𝑰 𝒍𝒊𝒌𝒆 𝒕𝒉𝒆𝒊𝒓 𝒎𝒖𝒔𝒊𝒄 𝒔𝒐 𝒎𝒖𝒄𝒉".
▪️𝐷𝑎𝑣𝑖𝑑 𝐵𝑜𝑤𝑖𝑒, 𝑀𝑜𝑛𝑑𝑜𝑆𝑜𝑛𝑜𝑟𝑜, 𝐽𝑢𝑙𝑦 1997


𝑩𝒐𝒘𝒊𝒆 remained musically active until his death from liver cancer at his home in 𝑵𝒆𝒘 𝒀𝒐𝒓𝒌 𝑪𝒊𝒕𝒚. He died two days after his 69th birthday and the release of his last album,

"𝑩𝒍𝒂𝒄𝒌𝒔𝒕𝒂𝒓" in 2016. As he wished in his will, his ashes were scattered in a 𝑩𝒖𝒅𝒅𝒉𝒊𝒔𝒕 ceremony in 𝑩𝒂𝒍𝒊, 𝑰𝒏𝒅𝒐𝒏𝒆𝒔𝒊𝒂.


𝑫𝒂𝒗𝒊𝒅 was a really charming man, so sweet and with a great sense of humor. Before I finish this post, I want to share with you another excerpt of that chat he had with 𝑷𝒍𝒂𝒄𝒆𝒃𝒐 in March 1999 that I find adorable.


⚡𝑫𝒂𝒗𝒊𝒅 𝑩𝒐𝒘𝒊𝒆: [...]"Placebo, do you consider Bowie to be your mentor or friend?"
🎤(𝑪𝒉𝒐𝒓𝒖𝒔): Our friend.

⚡𝑫𝒂𝒗𝒊𝒅 𝑩𝒐𝒘𝒊𝒆: Of course I'd like to think that you think of me as a friend.
🎤𝑩𝒓𝒊𝒂𝒏 𝑴𝒐𝒍𝒌𝒐: As a very good friend.

⚡𝑫𝒂𝒗𝒊𝒅 𝑩𝒐𝒘𝒊𝒆: I love how you rush to affirm that. (laughter).
▪️𝑃𝑙𝑎𝑐𝑒𝑏𝑜 & 𝐷𝑎𝑣𝑖𝑑 𝐵𝑜𝑤𝑖𝑒, 𝑀𝑎𝑟𝑐𝒉 1999.


Surely 𝑩𝒓𝒊𝒂𝒏 𝑴𝒐𝒍𝒌𝒐, 𝑺𝒕𝒆𝒇𝒂𝒏 𝑶𝒍𝒔𝒅𝒂𝒍 and 𝑺𝒕𝒆𝒗𝒆 𝑯𝒆𝒘𝒊𝒕𝒕 remember him forever, as a great friend. 💖💕

🌠🌟 𝑼𝒏𝒕𝒊𝒍 𝒚𝒐𝒖𝒓 𝒔𝒉𝒊𝒏𝒊𝒏𝒈 𝒔𝒕𝒂𝒓,
𝑯𝒂𝒑𝒑𝒚 𝑩𝒊𝒓𝒕𝒉𝒅𝒂𝒚 𝑫𝒂𝒗𝒊𝒅! 🌟💖🌠

Photo Credits pic 1: Placebo & David Bowie - Frank W. Ockenfels III, NY, March 1999 / DB Birthday Cake & David Bowie with his special guests at Madison Square Garden backstage, January 1997 - Kevin Mazur WireImage / Getty Images // Edit by Rita

Post by Rita

🌟𝐏𝐋𝐀𝐂𝐄𝐁𝐎 𝐀𝐓 𝐓𝐇𝐄 𝐌𝐄𝐋𝐓𝐃𝐎𝐖𝐍 𝐅𝐄𝐒𝐓𝐈𝐕𝐀𝐋 𝟐𝟎𝟏𝟖: 𝐓𝐇𝐄 𝐂𝐔𝐑𝐄'𝐒 '𝐋𝐄𝐓’𝐒 𝐆𝐎 𝐓𝐎 𝐁𝐄𝐃'🌟

On June 16th, 2018, Placebo performed at the 2018 Meltdown Festival in London after being invited by that year event curator 𝑹𝒐𝒃𝒆𝒓𝒕 𝑺𝒎𝒊𝒕𝒉 from 𝐓𝐡𝐞 𝐂𝐮𝐫𝐞. As Brian admitted, it was an honour for them, so Placebo wanted to pay tribute to the legendary band - who also happened to be their friends - by covering The Cure’s famous song 𝐋𝐞𝐭'𝐬 𝐆𝐨 𝐓𝐨 𝐁𝐞𝐝.

⭐𝐏𝐥𝐚𝐜𝐞𝐛𝐨 - 𝐋𝐞𝐭'𝐬 𝐆𝐨 𝐓𝐨 𝐁𝐞𝐝 (𝐓𝐡𝐞 𝐂𝐮𝐫𝐞 𝐜𝐨𝐯𝐞𝐫), 𝐌𝐞𝐥𝐭𝐝𝐨𝐰𝐧 𝐟𝐞𝐬𝐭𝐢𝐯𝐚𝐥 𝟐𝟎𝟏𝟖
https://bit.ly/3DPTpA6

Besides the video, I’d like to bring you excerpts of some very personal and passionate and imaginative 𝐑𝐄𝐕𝐈𝐄𝐖𝐒 of Placebo’s performance at the festival.
If you’ve also been there and can share your own memories and impressions, that would be perfect

Meltdown Festival 2018. Photo credit: Frankowski Photography 

𝐀𝐁𝐎𝐔𝐓 𝐓𝐇𝐄 𝐅𝐄𝐒𝐓𝐈𝐕𝐀𝐋...
Meltdown is an annual festival held in London, featuring a mix of music, art, performance and film. Meltdown is held in June at Southbank Centre. Each year the festival chooses an established music artist or act as director of the event and they pick the performers of their choosing. Previous Meltdown directors have included Elvis Costello, David Bowie, Patti Smith, Lee Scratch Perry, Morrissey, Jarvis Cocker, Nick Cave, John Peel among others. The festival has been held annually since 1993, except in 2006 when the Royal Festival Hall was closed for refurbishment.

𝐏𝐥𝐚𝐜𝐞𝐛𝐨 @ 𝐌𝐞𝐥𝐭𝐝𝐨𝐰𝐧
A Buddhist chant fills the stage.
The anticipation tastes like bubble-gum on ice. Gives you brain freeze.
Let’s begin.
From the start it’s clear we are at Glam Church. The audience are up on their feet to worship their arch-angels. Three chords of ‘Pure Morning’ ring out, my skin puckers up, everyone rushes to the front. My romantic heart rides on those bars, the locks I’d put around my memory rust, fall apart. I am full of dopamine, of oxytocin, of the glory of my younger days – and fuck it, I break into dance with the best of them. This moment is pure perfection. A friend in need’s a friend, indeed. Thanks Brian.
Placebo play for two hours. They play 20 songs, which includes two encores. To accomplish this, they never talk to the crowd between numbers. No time, I guess. Stripped back black skinny jeans on them both, minimal makeup. Guess what? The Placebo you thought were all about image never needed an image at all. Surprise, they’re still heartthrobs. They’re still icons for a certain generation. I’d missed those discordant harmonies. I’d missed that scratchy string noise. My rose-tinted lenses are off, yet – I still feel the same way as I used to about the music. Turns out it does all translate. What was in my head is on the stage in front of me.
[...]
For me, there’s two types of musical heroes. The ones who die young, and the ones who’ll make music till they die. Placebo are the latter, and these are the kind of gigs that convince old-bands to write new material. Velvet Goldmine’s Children of the Revolution are still here, and they’d like their glitter-smeared era revived – Mista BBC. With a feather boa on top.
(𝐷𝑟𝑜𝑤𝑛𝑒𝑑 𝐼𝑛 𝑠𝑜𝑢𝑛𝑑, 𝐽𝑢𝑛𝑒 18𝑡ℎ, 2018, 𝑏𝑦 𝑁𝑖𝑐𝑜𝑙𝑒𝑡𝑡𝑎 𝑊𝑦𝑙𝑑𝑒)

Meltdown 2018. Photo credit unknown

𝐌𝐞𝐥𝐭𝐝𝐨𝐰𝐧 𝐅𝐞𝐬𝐭𝐢𝐯𝐚𝐥: 𝐏𝐥𝐚𝐜𝐞𝐛𝐨 𝐚𝐭 𝐭𝐡𝐞 𝐑𝐨𝐲𝐚𝐥 𝐅𝐞𝐬𝐭𝐢𝐯𝐚𝐥 𝐇𝐚𝐥𝐥
Overlooking the Thames, with the sun setting across the water and the sky a fiery mix of crimson, purple and blue, the Royal Festival Hall was packed with standing, dancing and head-banging music lovers celebrating the 20-year anniversary of Placebo and the release of their retrospective album entitled A Place for Us to Dream – 20 Years of Placebo.
[...]
On Meltdown’s second evening of events, the Royal Festival Hall became a place of hope to those in London looking for a colourful and musical future and Placebo gave many 30-somethings hope for the present by playing iconic songs that the crowd sang along with. They started off – to an ecstatic audience, whose cheers and claps echoed through the hall – with the much-loved Pure Morning. Such an overwhelming interaction between artist and fans, as was demonstrated last night, is a surreal and extremely rewarding experience, and is evidence that well-known music still exists beyond its commercial factor.
The show consisted of a good mix of new, such as Jesus’ Son, and classics like Without You I’m Nothing, which is arguably the band’s most cherished and famous song to date and was re-recorded as a duet with David Bowie, whose friendship with and support of the group is well-documented.
With a quick change of guitars between tracks, Placebo glided through the set, keeping the audience at all times on their feet and the much-anticipated Twenty Years half way through the show made sure everyone was pleased. The magic of the venue and the energy and passion of the crowd made this performance one to be forever remembered.
(𝑇ℎ𝑒 𝑈𝑝𝑐𝑜𝑚𝑖𝑛𝑔, 2018, 𝑏𝑦 𝑀𝑎𝑟𝑖𝑠𝑠𝑎 𝐾ℎ𝑎𝑜𝑠)

𝐏𝐥𝐚𝐜𝐞𝐛𝐨 𝐂𝐨𝐯𝐞𝐫 𝐓𝐡𝐞 𝐂𝐮𝐫𝐞 𝐈𝐧 𝐇𝐨𝐧𝐨𝐮𝐫 𝐎𝐟 𝐑𝐨𝐛𝐞𝐫𝐭 𝐒𝐦𝐢𝐭𝐡'𝐬 𝐌𝐞𝐥𝐭𝐝𝐨𝐰𝐧 𝐅𝐞𝐬𝐭𝐢𝐯𝐚𝐥
They performed 'Let's Go To Bed' over the weekend.
Those lucky enough to be attending the 25th annual Meltdown Festival this month, with the 2018 edition being curated by The Cure's Robert Smith, may have managed to catch an extra special set by Placebo. They performed a stunning rendition of 'Let's Go To Bed', and it was the most perfect tribute.
The London rockers hit the Southbank Centre on Saturday (June 16th 2018) for a set at Robert Smith's Meltdown Festival, having been friends of The Cure frontman for many years now. They played 'Let's Go To Bed'; a non-album single released in 1982 which was originally recorded for The Cure's 'Pornography' album sessions.
It's not the first time Placebo have played a Cure song or vice versa. They previously performed the song 'If Only Tonight We Could Sleep' together live, from The Cure's 1987 album 'Kiss Me, Kiss Me, Kiss Me'. Robert Smith also joined Placebo for a live rendition of 'Without You I'm Nothing' and 'Boys Don't Cry' at Wembley in 2004.
(𝐶𝑜𝑛𝑡𝑎𝑐𝑡 𝑀𝑢𝑠𝑖𝑐, 𝐽𝑢𝑛𝑒 19𝑡ℎ, 2018, 𝑏𝑦 𝐻𝑜𝑙𝑙𝑦 𝑊𝑖𝑙𝑙𝑖𝑎𝑚𝑠)

Post by Olga

𝐁𝐑𝐈𝐀𝐍 𝐌𝐎𝐋𝐊𝐎 & 𝐀𝐌𝐘 𝐋𝐄𝐄 𝐚𝐭 𝟐𝟎𝟎𝟒 𝐌𝐓𝐕 𝐄𝐌𝐀

On November 18th, 2004, Brian took part in the 𝟐𝟎𝟎𝟒 𝐌𝐓𝐕 𝐄𝐮𝐫𝐨𝐩𝐞 𝐌𝐮𝐬𝐢𝐜 𝐀𝐰𝐚𝐫𝐝𝐬 that were held at Tor di Valle Racecourse in 𝑹𝒐𝒎𝒆, Italy. Together with Amy Lee of Evanescence, he presented the 𝐁𝐞𝐬𝐭 𝐀𝐥𝐭𝐞𝐫𝐧𝐚𝐭𝐢𝐯𝐞 nominees. The winners, 𝐌𝐮𝐬𝐞, accepted an award from Brian’s hands.
Other artists nominated as the Best Alternative acts were Björk, Franz Ferdinand, The Hives and The Prodigy.

Photo credit: Jo Hale, 2004 MTV EMA

𝐁𝐫𝐢𝐚𝐧 𝐌𝐨𝐥𝐤𝐨 & 𝐀𝐦𝐲 𝐋𝐞𝐞 - 𝟐𝟎𝟎𝟒 𝐌𝐓𝐕 𝐄𝐌𝐀
https://bit.ly/3zCGwHz

𝐓𝐡𝐞 𝐂𝐮𝐫𝐞 performed a set of nine songs at the pre-show, including Boys Don't Cry and Let's Go to Bed which Placebo once did their covers of.
𝐏𝐥𝐚𝐜𝐞𝐛𝐨 𝐟𝐞𝐚𝐭. 𝐑𝐨𝐛𝐞𝐫𝐭 𝐒𝐦𝐢𝐭𝐡 - 𝐁𝐨𝐲𝐬 𝐝𝐨𝐧’𝐭 𝐂𝐫𝐲, 𝐖𝐞𝐦𝐛𝐥𝐞𝐲 𝐀𝐫𝐞𝐧𝐚, 𝟐𝟎𝟎𝟒
https://bit.ly/3Dn0E2p

𝐏𝐥𝐚𝐜𝐞𝐛𝐨 - 𝐋𝐞𝐭'𝐬 𝐆𝐨 𝐓𝐨 𝐁𝐞𝐝 (𝐓𝐡𝐞 𝐂𝐮𝐫𝐞 𝐜𝐨𝐯𝐞𝐫), 𝐈-𝐃𝐚𝐲𝐬 𝐅𝐢𝐞𝐫𝐚 𝐌𝐢𝐥𝐚𝐧𝐨, 𝟐𝟎𝟏𝟖
https://bit.ly/3mElrsh

𝐓𝐡𝐞 𝐂𝐮𝐫𝐞 – 𝟐𝟎𝟎𝟒 𝐌𝐓𝐕 𝐄𝐌𝐀, 𝐑𝐨𝐦𝐞, 𝐅𝐮𝐥𝐥 𝐬𝐞𝐭
https://bit.ly/3gEwePq

Photo credit unknown

𝑹𝒐𝒃𝒆𝒓𝒕 𝑺𝒎𝒊𝒕𝒉 also introduced Gwen Stefani during the main show of the event.
The Cure’s video for 𝐓𝐡𝐞 𝐄𝐧𝐝 𝐨𝐟 𝐓𝐡𝐞 𝐖𝐨𝐫𝐥𝐝 was nominated at the Best Video category; they didn’t win though.

Linkin Park’s 𝑪𝒉𝒆𝒔𝒕𝒆𝒓 𝑩𝒆𝒏𝒏𝒊𝒏𝒈𝒕𝒐𝒏 together with Natasha Bedingfield and Joe Hahn presented Best Female nominees.
Placebo crossed paths with 𝐋𝐢𝐧𝐤𝐢𝐧 𝐏𝐚𝐫𝐤 quite a few times, they played some festivals together, traveled over the US during Projekt Revolution tour 2007 and just shared a nice friendly attitude towards each other.
I hope you liked this short story behind this beautiful picture of Brian and Amy.

Post by Olga

𝗣𝗹𝗮𝗰𝗲𝗯𝗼 𝗳𝗲𝗮𝘁. 𝗥𝗼𝗯𝗲𝗿𝘁 𝗦𝗺𝗶𝘁𝗵 - 𝗪𝗶𝘁𝗵𝗼𝘂𝘁 𝘆𝗼𝘂 𝗜'𝗺 𝗻𝗼𝘁𝗵𝗶𝗻𝗴

We all know that the single version of “𝙒𝙞𝙩𝙝𝙤𝙪𝙩 𝙮𝙤𝙪 𝙄'𝙢 𝙣𝙤𝙩𝙝𝙞𝙣𝙜” is a collaboration of Placebo with David Bowie, but did you know that there's also a live collaboration of the song with another legendary artist? It's The Cure founder and frontman Robert Smith, style icon and role model for generations of goths.

On November 5th 2004 he was special guest at the concert at Wembley Arena in London. It was the kick-off show of the short “Once more with feeling” tour and also the only gig of that tour that took place outside of South America.
The audience didn't know that Robert Smith would be part of the evening. He entered the stage during the first encore, right after Placebo had played “Twenty years”. Robert and the band performed two songs together. They started with “Without you I'm nothing” which was followed by The Cure cover “Boys don't cry”.

 𝗣𝗟𝗔𝗖𝗘𝗕𝗢 𝗳𝗲𝗮𝘁. 𝗥𝗢𝗕𝗘𝗥𝗧 𝗦𝗠𝗜𝗧𝗛 – 𝗕𝗢𝗬𝗦 𝗗𝗢𝗡'𝗧 𝗖𝗥𝗬
 https://bit.ly/3cMueC4 

But this wasn't the only time they appeared on stage together in 2004. On October 14th they collaborated again at the 20 years anniversary show of French TV channel Canal+. This time they chose a Cure cover again and played “If only tonight we could sleep” from the iconic album “Disintegration”.

Placebo and Robert Smith of The Cure at Wembley Arena, 2004. Photo credit unknown

 𝗣𝗟𝗔𝗖𝗘𝗕𝗢 𝗳𝗲𝗮𝘁. 𝗥𝗢𝗕𝗘𝗥𝗧 𝗦𝗠𝗜𝗧𝗛 – 𝗜𝗙 𝗢𝗡𝗟𝗬 𝗧𝗢𝗡𝗜𝗚𝗛𝗧 𝗪𝗘 𝗖𝗢𝗨𝗟𝗗 𝗦𝗟𝗘𝗘𝗣
 https://bit.ly/3oGTUnI 

In 2018 Robert Smith curated Meltdown festival in London and invited Placebo to play there. The line-up also included Nine Inch Nails, My Bloody Valentine, Death Cab For Cutie, Manic Street Preachers and The Twilight Sad. To honor Smith Placebo put “Let's go to bed” by The Cure on their setlist. They also performed the songs at three more festivals the following month.

 𝗣𝗟𝗔𝗖𝗘𝗕𝗢 – 𝗟𝗘𝗧'𝗦 𝗚𝗢 𝗧𝗢 𝗕𝗘𝗗
 https://bit.ly/36DMET8 

Brian Molko and Robert Smith at Wembley Arena, 2004. Photo credit unknown 

 𝗕𝗥𝗜𝗔𝗡 𝗢𝗡 “𝗪𝗜𝗧𝗛𝗢𝗨𝗧 𝗬𝗢𝗨 𝗜'𝗠 𝗡𝗢𝗧𝗛𝗜𝗡𝗚”
 “You know, that’s about someone I used to go out with really, and that was like me exorcising the guilt or that failing relationship which I was mainly responsible for.“
(NME, December 1998)

 "'Without you I'm nothing' can be seen on three levels, I think. It's us, the band, talking to ourselves; its me talking to certain people in my past; it's also us talking to our fans."
(Chat hosted by David Bowie, March 29th 1999)

 “That song is very misunderstood. It is not a love song, the narrator is suffering from pathological low self-esteem. It’s about co-dependence, feeling like you don’t have an identity without somebody else.”
(Independent, October 17th 2017)

Post by Silke

𝐏𝐋𝐀𝐂𝐄𝐁𝐎 𝐋𝐈𝐕𝐄 𝐀𝐓 𝐖𝐄𝐌𝐁𝐋𝐄𝐘 𝐀𝐑𝐄𝐍𝐀 𝟐𝟎𝟎𝟒

On 5th November 2004, 𝑷𝒍𝒂𝒄𝒆𝒃𝒐 performed a very special and unforgettable concert at 𝑾𝒆𝒎𝒃𝒍𝒆𝒚 𝑨𝒓𝒆𝒏𝒂 in London. After eight-years of career and a rising success with each one of their four albums - up to then -, this was the biggest gig they had made in the UK and the last they would play there until 2006. 𝑩𝒓𝒊𝒂𝒏 𝑴𝒐𝒍𝒌𝒐 had stated that they would never play at Wembley, in the quotes below he explains why they changed their minds:

𝐘𝐨𝐮 𝐩𝐫𝐨𝐦𝐢𝐬𝐞𝐝 𝐧𝐞𝐯𝐞𝐫 𝐭𝐨 𝐩𝐥𝐚𝐲 𝐚𝐭 𝐖𝐞𝐦𝐛𝐥𝐞𝐲. 𝐘𝐨𝐮 𝐰𝐢𝐥𝐥 𝐛𝐞 𝐭𝐡𝐞𝐫𝐞 𝐚𝐭 𝐭𝐡𝐞 𝐞𝐧𝐝 𝐨𝐟 𝐭𝐡𝐞 𝐰𝐞𝐞𝐤. 𝐖𝐡𝐲 ?
I could answer with a line like, "It's just fools who don't change their minds", but no. The truth is, myself, at a time when I was more snobbish than today, I refused to go see my favorite band - The Velvelt Underground- at Wembley because I didn't like the room, that the sound was abominable. But on our tours we played in venues where the sound was much worse, and our sound engineer - we call him the "doctor" - managed to give us decent sound. So we can do it. And then symbolically it's an important passage. We live in London. British musical weekly NME thought we would be dead five years ago. We're going to do Wembley".
𝙱𝚛𝚒𝚊𝚗 𝙼𝚘𝚕𝚔𝚘, 𝙻𝚎𝚜 𝙸𝚗𝚛𝚘𝚌𝚔𝚞𝚙𝚝𝚒𝚋𝚕𝚎𝚜, 2004.

“Of course we never wanted to go there”, Molko jokes. “Only people who are at the top, who are mainstream, play there. We’re not one of them. We’re not Blur or Oasis. We were always on the outside, we were an alternative. We were unfashionable with our sound. We always were - only it happened to become fashionable at one point. That’s why it amused us to give everyone the finger for once and say: ‘Nyah, us, too!’ Somehow we stayed that way until today - we’ve never been hip or trendy. It just appeals to us not to fit into the clichee or the current pattern.”
𝙱𝚛𝚒𝚊𝚗 𝙼𝚘𝚕𝚔𝚘, 𝚅𝚒𝚜𝚒𝚘𝚗𝚜, 2006

Photo credit: Jo Stelmach

“It's something we said we would never do,” Brian explains sheepishly, “but it's partly to annoy and partly to say we've done it. It's going to be a bit like a party. It will be the last concert until 2006. It will be a fun night ”.
𝙱𝚛𝚒𝚊𝚗 𝙼𝚘𝚕𝚔𝚘, 𝚄𝚕𝚝𝚛𝚊𝚜𝚘𝚗𝚒𝚌𝚊.𝚒𝚗𝚏𝚘.

It really was a great party, with sold out tickets and in which they also celebrated the release of their singles collection "𝑶𝒏𝒄𝒆 𝑴𝒐𝒓𝒆 𝑾𝒊𝒕𝒉 𝑭𝒆𝒆𝒍𝒊𝒏𝒈"(2004), so the show was based on the songs featured on the album. One of the highlights of this concert was when the special guest, 𝑹𝒐𝒃𝒆𝒓𝒕 𝑺𝒎𝒊𝒕𝒉 from 𝑻𝒉𝒆 𝑪𝒖𝒓𝒆 appeared on stage. 𝑩𝒓𝒊𝒂𝒏 𝑴𝒐𝒍𝒌𝒐 welcomed him by saying:
"𝑰𝒕'𝒔 𝒂 𝒈𝒓𝒆𝒂𝒕 𝒉𝒐𝒏𝒐𝒓 𝒇𝒐𝒓 𝒎𝒆 𝒂𝒏𝒅 𝒇𝒐𝒓 𝒕𝒉𝒆 𝒓𝒆𝒔𝒕 𝒐𝒇 𝑷𝒍𝒂𝒄𝒆𝒃𝒐, 𝒂 𝒇*** 𝑯𝑼𝑮𝑬 𝒉𝒐𝒏𝒐𝒓 𝒇𝒐𝒓 𝒖𝒔 𝒕𝒐 𝒘𝒆𝒍𝒄𝒐𝒎𝒆𝒅 𝒕𝒐 𝒕𝒉𝒆 𝒔𝒕𝒂𝒈𝒆, 𝒕𝒉𝒆 𝒐𝒏𝒍𝒚 𝒎𝒂𝒏 𝒊𝒏 𝒕𝒉𝒆 𝒘𝒐𝒓𝒍𝒅 𝒘𝒉𝒐'𝒔 𝒂𝒍𝒍𝒐𝒘𝒆𝒅 𝒕𝒐 𝒘𝒆𝒂𝒓 𝒎𝒐𝒓𝒆 𝒎𝒂𝒌𝒆-𝒖𝒑 𝒕𝒉𝒂𝒏 𝒎𝒆. 𝑨 𝒕𝒓𝒖𝒍𝒚, 𝒕𝒓𝒖𝒍𝒚 𝒈𝒊𝒇𝒕𝒆𝒅, 𝒊𝒏𝒇𝒍𝒖𝒆𝒏𝒕𝒊𝒂𝒍 𝒔𝒐𝒏𝒈𝒘𝒓𝒊𝒕𝒆𝒓 𝒂𝒏𝒅 𝒐𝒏𝒆 𝒐𝒇 𝒕𝒉𝒆 𝒎𝒐𝒔𝒕 𝒂𝒎𝒂𝒛𝒊𝒆𝒔𝒕 𝒎𝒆𝒏 𝑰'𝒗𝒆 𝒆𝒗𝒆𝒓 𝒎𝒆𝒕. 𝑷𝒍𝒆𝒂𝒔𝒆 𝒑𝒖𝒕 𝒚𝒐𝒖𝒓 𝒉𝒂𝒏𝒅𝒔 𝒕𝒐𝒈𝒆𝒕𝒉𝒆𝒓 𝒇𝒐𝒓 𝑴𝒓. 𝑹𝒐𝒃𝒆𝒓𝒕 𝑺𝒎𝒊𝒕𝒉!"
And after a deafening applause from the audience they sang together "𝑾𝒊𝒕𝒉𝒐𝒖𝒕 𝒚𝒐𝒖 𝑰'𝒎 𝑵𝒐𝒕𝒉𝒊𝒏𝒈" and 𝑻𝒉𝒆 𝑪𝒖𝒓𝒆's classic, "𝑩𝒐𝒚𝒔 𝑫𝒐𝒏'𝒕 𝑪𝒓𝒚". 𝑩𝒓𝒊𝒂𝒏 and 𝑹𝒐𝒃𝒆𝒓𝒕 ended this epic performance by giving each other a big hug.

Brian Molko and Robert Smith. Photo credit unknown

Another very emotional moment was when 𝑷𝒍𝒂𝒄𝒆𝒃𝒐 played for the first time a slow version of "36 𝑫𝒆𝒈𝒓𝒆𝒆𝒔", this is the video I share with you today and which was included on the 10𝒕𝒉 𝑨𝒏𝒏𝒊𝒗𝒆𝒓𝒔𝒂𝒓𝒚 𝑪𝒐𝒍𝒍𝒆𝒄𝒕𝒐𝒓𝒔 𝑬𝒅𝒊𝒕𝒊𝒐𝒏 𝑫𝑽𝑫 of their first album, "𝑷𝒍𝒂𝒄𝒆𝒃𝒐"(1996). To introduce this new version 𝑩𝒓𝒊𝒂𝒏 said:
"𝑻𝒉𝒊𝒔 𝒊𝒔 𝒂 𝒔𝒐𝒏𝒈 𝒕𝒉𝒂𝒕 𝒘𝒆 𝒘𝒓𝒐𝒕𝒆 𝒂𝒃𝒐𝒖𝒕 𝒕𝒆𝒏 𝒚𝒆𝒂𝒓𝒔 𝒂𝒈𝒐 𝒃𝒖𝒕 𝒕𝒉𝒆𝒏 𝒘𝒆 𝒂𝒄𝒕𝒖𝒂𝒍𝒍𝒚 𝒅𝒆𝒄𝒊𝒅𝒆𝒅 𝒓𝒆-𝒘𝒓𝒐𝒕𝒆 𝒊𝒕 𝒍𝒂𝒔𝒕 𝒘𝒆𝒆𝒌. 𝑰𝒕'𝒔 𝒔𝒖𝒑𝒑𝒐𝒔𝒆𝒅 𝒚𝒐𝒖 𝒄𝒂𝒍𝒍 𝒊𝒕 𝒐𝒖𝒕 𝒂 '𝒓𝒆𝒎𝒊𝒙' 𝒃𝒖𝒕 𝒘𝒆 𝒄𝒂𝒍𝒍𝒆𝒅 𝒊𝒕 𝒂 '𝒓𝒆𝒎𝒂𝒌𝒆', 𝒂𝒏𝒅 𝒕𝒓𝒖𝒔𝒕 𝒎𝒆 𝒕𝒉𝒊𝒔 𝒊𝒔 𝒖𝒏𝒍𝒊𝒌𝒆 𝒂 𝒄𝒊𝒏𝒆𝒎𝒂, 𝒕𝒉𝒊𝒔 𝒓𝒆𝒎𝒂𝒌𝒆 𝒊𝒔 𝒇𝒂𝒓 𝒃𝒆𝒕𝒕𝒆𝒓…"

Then, 𝑩𝒓𝒊𝒂𝒏 was interrupted by a fan who shouted from the audience:
𝐒𝐨𝐦𝐞𝐨𝐧𝐞: F**k me!
𝐁𝐫𝐢𝐚𝐧: Excuse me?
𝐒𝐨𝐦𝐞𝐨𝐧𝐞: F**k me!
𝐁𝐫𝐢𝐚𝐧: Later honey, I'm working right now, you know what I'm saying?
(LOL!)
𝑩𝒓𝒊𝒂𝒏 continued:
"𝑨𝒏𝒚𝒘𝒂𝒚, 𝒘𝒆 𝒉𝒐𝒑𝒆 𝒚𝒐𝒖 𝒂𝒑𝒑𝒓𝒆𝒄𝒊𝒂𝒕𝒆 𝒊𝒕 𝒂𝒏𝒅 𝒍𝒊𝒌𝒆 𝒊𝒕 𝒂𝒔 𝒎𝒖𝒄𝒉 𝒂𝒔 𝒘𝒆 𝒅𝒐. 𝑨𝒏𝒅 𝒂𝒄𝒕𝒖𝒂𝒍𝒍𝒚 𝒘𝒆 𝒉𝒐𝒑𝒆 𝒚𝒐𝒖 𝒓𝒆𝒄𝒐𝒈𝒏𝒊𝒛𝒆 𝒊𝒕…"

Photo credit: Jo Stelmach

 If you want to watch the full concert you can do it here: https://youtu.be/1mhxQO0VmpM
The quality is not the best, but you can see that the band was very happy and grateful for the affection that the audience showed them that night.

Post by Rita

À Cure Ouvert - Brian Molko & Robert Smith

November 2001 Robert Smith interview by Brian Molko 

Les inrockuptibles n º 315

27/11 a 3/12 de 2001

BRIAN : It's interesting to be the other side, it's the 1st time i play the role of the journalist. When i was a kid, i used to watch you on tv, to read your interviews. Now I ask you some questions. What is your oldest memory ? 
ROBERT : My father had a video camera super-8 and he used to film us a lot, ma mother, my sister, and i. and i saw all the films. I am born in 1959 and i grew up in Blackpool, in north-east england, at the border of the see. There are a lot of films where i can be seen running like a crazy man, with some asses in the back. my 1st memory is : seeing my sister eating worms, and to be honest, i dig them up and she ate them. i was about 3 and she 2. And my mother punished me. i must be one of the few times i had been hit. i remember also the smell of the asses. One of my 1st memories is bound to the noise of the sea. When i left london 10 years ago, i was ready to go anywhere but somewhere near the sea.. I wanted to be able to wake up and hear the sea. It's bound to my childhood, to pure happiness, to innocence. I love the music and the perfume of the sea. so i moved in the south of england and i feel myself completely different. In london i had a feeling of hate against the whole world. 

BRIAN : as asphyxiated ? 
ROBERT : Yes, and now i breathe. the noise of the sea comfort me. i live in london during 10 years, and at the end i was wasted. a human rags. i lived in a basement, like in a roman polanski film, the walls crumbling, yelling in the 3rd floor, i was always tense. after a year spent far away from london, i was completely transformed. because i left the past behind me, i left the temptations. i live in a lost place, neart brighton. brighton became a in-place, but it's still a pleasant town. 

BRIAN : What frightens you most ? for me, i'd say to get imprisoned because of a drug affair. because of my size, some would abuse of me, as they would be bored. i couldn't stand being raped in a cell. 
ROBERT : i hope you don't think about that too often ! i don't like flying. each time i get in a plane, unless i'm completely drunk, i wonder if it's gonna be ok. i did a lot of stuff in my life, to push away my limits, to test myself, but i don't know if i could parachuting. Actually, i'm afraid to die. you are afraid to suffer on a long time. i'm scared that everything stops. during the 80's i was afraid to become crazy, because i burned my neurones. i was afraid to wake up one morning and don't recognise anybody anymore. 


BRIAN : musically and visually, is david bowie also a part of your 1st memories ? 
ROBERT : I was immediately fascinated by the character, like a lot of people of my generation. i discovered him with "starman", end 72 - early 73, i was about 13-14 years. Each of my friends who were interested in music, were talking :"have you seen the weird guy yesterday night on tv ?" he personified another world. when you are 14 you feel a frustration. bowie, showed us that a fanciful world existed. i have been obsessed during 2 or 3 years. and then, i bought "heroes" and i criticised it because i began to have my own opinion. it was weird, like to question his own parents. but i turned away from david bowie.. the punk movement began in 1975-76 and that's what attracted me. but when i heard "earthling" in 1997, i came back to bowie. I was really moved to play with him for his 50th birthday in new york. he left a message on my answerphone. As my phone number is not listed, nobody knows it, i thought it was a joke from a friend. i left a message on his answerphone : " i'll call you back, i'm not sure". but deeply in myself , i was euphoric. 

BRIAN : do you share his fascination for internet ? 
ROBERT : concerning the downloadable music, i think the debates are far away from the essential, that is to say that the artist have to be always paid for his work. otherwise, he can't live. the problem is that music is too expensive. it's a naive vision to think that internet is free: there's always somebody who pays, somebody who get the money, somebody who owns the infrastructure. offering your own music freely is playing the game of the big business groups. the money gets to those groups. internet is simply a new way to distribution. in the states, some artists don't even own their own work. 

BRIAN : would you be ready to be in the stock exchange, like bowie ? 
ROBERT : no. when i talked about it with him, we disagreed on almost every point. actually i had drunk too much and i was quite aggressive. but i'm not naive. Cure at the beginning hadn't any manager, so i learnt to analyse the contracts, to discover how people would try to cheat with us. that's why we decided not to sign another contract with a major company after this "greatest hits". 

BRIAN : chris parry has never been your manager. but with his label "fiction" he did a great job with and for you. 
ROBERT : at the beginning, he was the only one believing in us. i think the 1st song on the cassette was "10:15". and in the 10 first seconds he wanted to sing us. he was incredibly enthusiastic. at this time, we couldn't ask for more. even if our friend believed in us, it was hard to let us be known. i wanted a small label, i wanted a only one interlocutor i didn't want to be said : "this one doesn't work here anymore". we had no written engagement. we knew that if something went wrong, we could shake our hands and go away. so, the end has been a little disappointing. our new album "bloodflowers" had no hit and some found it wasn't that good. it's hard to know that your label isn't enthusiastic anymore. i had already suffered from the critiques about "galore" 3 years before. the single "wrong number" didn't get the sucks it deserved, except in the USA, no radio played it in UK. i even wondered if it wasn't a conspiracy ! that's what killed the band as a pop band. so i decided to give up this part of the band. when we re-recorded "just say yes", i was unable to sing, that's why i ask Saffron (singer of republica) to do it. i was unable, i had tears in my voice. 

BRIAN : people tend to think that somebody like you doesn't have any stage fright. 
ROBERT : in the studio, everything is based on the emotional. In general, I don't sing on the demos. Sometimes, I'm really a crap in the studio. If I drank too much, I can't articulate and when I'm in a bad mood, or when I'm tired, I sing like serge gainsbourg ! the 1st recording is rarely good. For "bloodflowers", it's one of the rare times it worked quickly. 

BRIAN : most of your videos have been directed by tim pope. Did he have a special vision, a visual interpretation in harmony with your universe ? 
ROBERT : when we met, we had the feeling we've have known each other for a long time. He succeeded to bring to evidence he human side we tended to hide. He did a great job for cure. 

BRIAN :at the beginning you had an image of darkness, of obscurity, of decadence, of perversion, of despair, and then you wrote love songs, more pop, with a certain sense of humour. Is there something in particular in the origin of this evolution ? 
ROBERT : the 1st album doesn't enter in this logic. It was born during we were at school, I don't consider it like a personal album, but like an album made in community. Until "pornography", I was in a vicious circle. The inspiration was endless we were about 20, we were at full tilt. During the tour we were wondering who would die 1st , we abused of everything. . weirdly, I was happy to live in the excess, it was an obsession, I had forgotten everything else. But at the end, we couldn't stand each other anymore, it was really violent, we didn't see each other during a year and a half. Then I went on holiday with my wife Mary to a walk ride on the north of England and then I realised, while suffering because of the physic efforts, that I didn't want to abandon everything. Chris parry, the boss of our label fiction, had been very important in that matter as well. I had written the demo of "let's go to bed" which could have been in "pornography" with its very slow gimmick. And chris said : "come on, do a pop song". And I answered, "ok, but not under the mane of cure". But he refused it. He said that a posteriori, in then years, I would understand why. He were ten years older than us, he had a real clear global vision. Then I worked with siouxsie and the banshees and I developed that pop thing, with "lovecats" and "the walk". Without it, I wouldn't have dared it. The problem is, that with "pornography", we were stuck into this image and people around us wanted to see in me that very dark person. It was a horrible period of my life. 

BRIAN : do you feel responsible for the gothic movement and all those ridiculous aspects ? I often laugh at this trend, because we have been sometimes reproached of being Goths and that really gets to my nerves. We are not crows !!! (I don't know how to translate that last sentence, it may be a typically French expression) 
ROBERT : that's weird, we've never been a goth band, in the sense that there are no pictures of us with a crucifix or anything else. We were instead a band in raincoats ! the banshees are gothic, in the real meaning of the word. I don't have any gothic album. I hate the sisters of mercy. During the 1st interview I made for this "greatest hits", the journalist questioned me about that gothic side. I went crazy; "with songs like lovecats, let's go to bed, show me what's gothic in it, listen to friday I'm in love ! a gothic band wouldn't do songs like that !" but anyway, I like the Goths, they're lovely. If you forget their morbid fantasies, their belief that they're gonna die if they stay too long under the sun, they can be really funny. Have you ever been in mexico ? the best Goths can be found there. When you se them from the stage, you think they wear Goths clothes; all in black, and when you meet them, you realise they wear shorts of every colour and they have tongs on their feet ! 

BRIAN : what do you think of the neo-metal ? slipknot, limp biscuit, linkin park .... 
ROBERT : I like some part of guitars. The problem is that, with this kind of bands, I don't like the voices. It's like with the gothic band they believe they have to conform into an aesthetic, to scream the same way. It's a kind of rebellion which is normalised, mainstream. The real rebellion is the one which doesn't fit in definite form, which goes off the stray of the beaten tacks, individually, not collectively. And I got the feel that the neo-metal is horribly cynical. I suppose that those guys live for their bands, they really believe in it, but they must be too dumb to understand they're victims of a huge marketing plan. I know a little of that because my nephew makes me listen to some stuff. "fuck you, motherfucker, blablabla". and I say : "ok, do you have the t-shirt?" slipknot, they look like alice cooper, but they can't hold him a candle to him. That sense of theatrality, cult of pain, of degradation..... and then they go back home and everything is alright. 

BRIAN : So, what do you listen to for the moment ? 
ROBERT : my favourite band, this last few years, except yours, of course, is mogwai. I had a small correspondence with their leader steward. I said him that "young team" was one of the best debut album ever, he thanked me, etc. and one day I talked about hem to the nme, the journalist interpreted my words and put them on their site. I try to explain steward that was wrong, but he stopped writing me. They have energy, spirit, you can hear it in their music. It's full of power, a band that believes in those values. 

BRIAN : thanks to the cartoon "southpark" you were given some goods points, for your nephews. You saved the planet ! 
ROBERT : and stan at the end says : "desintegration, the best album ever !" I didn't know how it would be. They send me a video cassette, the one where they discuss whether the dog is gay or not. I really laughed, but at the same time I found it ignoble. They sent me something to read, I trusted them. I had the script, but there were some blank/ space to keep the surprise. They didn't want anybody to know, they wanted to shock. When I saw myself, I found it surrealistic. I would have liked to be more implicated in the project. 

BRIAN : for the "greatest hits" how did you manage to select the songs ? Did you set a poll or a vote among the fans ? 
ROBERT : that's what the label wanted, but i only accepted to promote this album only if i could chose the songs and if a second cd could be offered with the best of. they agreed. because to add up 2 songs isn't enough. the idea to make an acoustic album came after. I thought that, as a fan, i would like to hear the songs played differently. i was the only one who really wanted that acoustic album. we are the 1st band which had required a free cd with a greatest hits. the majors will hate us because now, people will want a free cd with every best of. artists will also hate us because they will have to create something more. until now, best of were only for the money. i know that in the states, they wonder how we manage, financially speaking : they don't know what the word "free" means. that was the only way so i could look at the fans directly in the eyes. then we met, the 5 members of the band. we had 10 songs in common. i wanted that this "greatest hits" was a commercial success, but i didn't want to put away what we did in the beginning. "a forest" has never been a hit, but it would have been a pity to let it aside, if this song could please the fans and the band. so i abandoned to impose some of my favourite songs, like "a letter to elise", "charlotte sometimes" and "hot hot hot". i wanted that this cd would make a "whole", something complete. a lot of people asked me why we didn't choose "killing an arab" of the 1st album. what i don't like is that they think we didn't dare after the 11 september events. this song is pursuing me because of its title. the gulf war, the terrorist attacks in the sates.... that's the n° 1 of the anti arab songs. if i could change only one thing, i would go back in the past, that day at school, when i chose the title and i'd change it. but i'd keep the song. 

BRIAN : How many times did you think to stop ? 
ROBERT : the band formed in school had exploded. the next trio, the one that made "pornography" split up. After the tour of "disintegration", i was truly about to give up everything. i was on my knees, i thought i had to take my distances with all that. so i stayed at home a few months. after "galore" in 1997, i thought it was over. but i feel really better with the band today than 10 years ago. 

BRIAN : there are some artists for who the music is as much essential than to breathe or eat, they create constantly, they can't help with it. i think you are a part of this kind of persons. 
ROBERT : it's not always simple to assume, i realise i'm still with mary only because she has ever been incredibly tolerant towards that fire in me. i only live for the music, the rest has no importance.

Sources: LesInRocks