1986-08-09 Orange - Théâtre Antique d'Orange (France)

 

Robert Smith
Simon Gallup
Boris Williams
Porl Thompson
Laurence Tolhurst

Songs played: 23  (14 | 3 | 2 | 4)

Day of the week: Saturday
Tour: 'The Beach Party Tour'

Attendance:
Capacity: 7.000

event:	Concert
hosted by:
recording:
broadcast:
performance:

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During August, The Cure played one show in Spain and four in France, finishing up on the 9th and 10th, in an 8,000 capacity Roman amphitheatre in Orange, Provence. The venue had been especially chosen for Tim Pope to shoot live footage of the band on film - his first attempt at a full length feature.
Robert: "I don't think it was a risk working with Pap just because he wasn't really an experienced film director. We could have got in a 'real' director to make a film of the concert, but he wouldn't have known what the band was about and I wanted it to be a Cure film about The Cure. It's actually very cleverly done and it doesn't look like any other live film I've ever seen. Initially we were going to make a film that was very abstract. We wanted to do something like an hour and half of us playing characters like some old Beatles film, but, as it turned out, mainly through time and money, it ended up being purely live performance. You're probably only going to be interested in it if you're interested in The Cure, but Pap definitely recorded a very special event in his own style and with his own perspecctive on what happened. You'd never get that shakey, hand-held stuff in a normal big budget film because people just wouldn't take the risk. It's like Pap running across the stage, trapping my mike wire - only he'd do something like that, anyone else would have been too concerned with camera angles. Watching the film is like being on stage, not just like watching the group - you see it from both points of view. Many people who've seen it have felt that they now know what it's like to be onstage and face an audience. It's a shame there was no other kind of off-stage imagery or behind the scenes stuff but, as a record of that one performance, it sums it all up perfectly."
Porl: "It's aggressive and powerful and you feel like you're in the group when you watch it. When I watch it, it makes me want to play!"
Pope: "You could actually draw a little map of the roles in The Cure and I shot the film to illustrate that, to filmically establish their relationship. It's like the way they sit on the tour bus - Robert has the best seat, Simon sits opposite him, Porl sits behind, Boris sits at the back and Lol sits up front and is persecuted. But, without Lol, The Cure really wouldn't exist, there's obviously a great love between him and Robert and I think it's got something to do with security because they've been together so long. It's a fascinating structure. Like, there's a bit in the film where Simon goes over and whispers something to Robert and it looks like he's saying something about the music but he's not at all, he's actually telling him some sort of joke! The other thing about the film is that it redresses the balance. I mean, obviously the videos did them a lot of good, redressing the doomed-out sort of thing, but, in a sense, we had to be very careful not to make The Cure too wacky and, at one stage, around 'Love Cats', we did. The Cure aren't about videos. Seeing them live, I realised I'd reduced them, put them into a tiny box which is not necessarily what they're about. I think the film represents more the way they really are. What's amazing is the diversity of material. It starts off with 'Shake Dog Shake', really metallic-sounding, then they go into 'A Forest', then 'Sinking', which is really emotional, then Robert's in his 'Close To Me' and 'Let's Go To Bed' clown character, then there's 'Faith' and 'Give Me lt'.... the changes are brilliant. They're ideal for film because they're just like different scenes. There's another film to be made of them too, like a perverse, modern-day Beatles because, to me, they are the perfect pop group and yet they're not - there's something desperately wrong with them. But I don't think I could have made a bad film for The Cure - there's just something about them..."AUGUST 1986
The Cure play a string of festivals in Spain and France. The last, on August 9, at the Roman Amphitheatre in Provence, is filmed in it's entirety by Tim Pope, the first rock concert at the venue since Dire Straits two years previous.

"We wanted to film it ... because every concert we do now reaches a point that has seemed unattainable in the past and I wanted it captured for ever, before we move on or give up. I don't think it's a risk working with Pap because he isn't really a director. We could have got in some proper director to make a film of any old concert but he wouldn't know what the band was about and I want this to be a Cure film about The Cure." ...

Tim Pope: "This one's absolute psychedelic madness." To heighten the obvious comparsions with Pink Floyd's Live At Pompeii, the band play 'Set The Controls For The Heart Of The Sun' at soundcheck. And, reports Melody Maker, they play it perfectly.

"The risks, of course, are many. Because of the limited budget, all the live filming had to be done on Saturday, at the concert, with close-ups following during Sunday's mock up. Rain on one or both days would have scuppered the whole thing - £150,000 literally down the rain because they couldn't comprehend their cheapest insurance quote: £50,000. I didn't rain until Monday."

unknown whether there was an opening act

Rue Madeleine Roch
84100 Orange

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