The essential deep dive on The Cure's Songs of a lost world

In anticipation of The Cure's upcoming album Songs of a lost world due out November 1st 2024. I've made a spotify playlist of some of my personal favourite songs from The Cure which you can dig into here as you have a read if you like!

What's ironic about writing this article after my previous Coldplay article is that I actually discovered The Cure's music through Coldplay.

How you ask? Well..... back in the days of Coldplay's A Rush of Blood to the head era Circa 2002 or so ... Coldplay had a very awesome band website at the time.

I don't remember all the details of the layout, but what stands out in my memory is the presence of a flash music player on the website known as the "Coldplayer". This Coldplayer showcased the band's favorite music, which I found to be a brilliant way of introducing fans to their influences, both past and present.

I can't remember all the songs on the Coldplayer playlist, but two tracks that stand out in my memory are The Cure's "A Forest" and The Streets' "It's too late" from the now iconic Original Pirate Material album, which instantly turned me into a fan of both bands.

I had seen and heard some of The Cure's music on the periphery growing up through seeing their music videos on Much Music (Canada's MTV) but "A Forest" was the first song by the band that truly connected with me and made me a fan ever since.

Since that time, I have acquired extensive knowledge of their music and formed numerous close friendships based on our shared appreciation of their music and discography.

As is typical with exceptional bands, the most enjoyable aspect of our discussions is that each of us has distinct favorite albums and songs for various reasons, yet ultimately we simply love it all!

As far as complete albums go, my personal favourites in chronological order are:

1. Disintegration (seems to be one that we all seem to agree on) 1989

2. Seventeen seconds (featuring "A forest" of course) 1980

3. Dream 4:13 2008

4. Songs from a Lost World ? (if the first two singles "Alone" and "A fragile thing" are any indication, this album is certainly going to be worth the 16 year wait for new material from Robert Smith and the band.

What's your favourite album by The Cure?

• Three Imaginary Boys (1979)
• Seventeen Seconds (1980)
• Faith (1981)
• Pornography (1982)

See All Options

To celebrate the release of The Cure's Songs of a lost world they have JUST (literally as I am writing this) released a deep dive interview about S.O.A.L.W with Robert Smith filmed at Abbey Road Studios.

To my delight, there is a question asked specifically about the same shady ticketmaster practices that us fans are all aware of but also Robert Smith's side of things on how he has gone up against them in his career . Watch this fascinating section from the interview.

Later in the interview, the interviewer asked Robert Smith what his favourite songs were by The Cure. Robert Smith instead proposed to instead state his favorite songs from each album that he though could fit on the newest album (So much more fun!)

I have turned that into a playlist for your listening pleasure as well. *Disclaimer, one song is not on here which was "Treasure" from Wild Mood Swings, not available on spotify unfortunately.

If you have the time and you are a true fan of The Cure's music, check out the full interview where he also goes into more detail of each song on the album and an eerie story regarding the album artwork.

Now, if you had the opportunity to read my previous article about my frustrating experience with sale and resale of tickets for the upcoming Coldplay concert through ticketmaster ... you know that I have been calling for some sort of justice on the sale and resale of tickets. Suggesting that there should caps on the prices of sale and verified resale tickets. At the moment tickets can be resold for basically any price you can imagine which is uniquivickley taking advantage of music fans.

In comes The Cure, to my delight, swooping in with the exact sort of solution I was hoping to see from a major artist.

To commemorate the release of their brand new 8 song album, the Cure will be playing a live show November 1st Live in London, UK at the Troxy which will also include a free Live Stream over youtube for fans around the world as well.

Tickets for the show were not through ticketmaster but instead through dice.fm. Knowing full well the day in age we are living in, of course tickets for that special show had already hit the resale market. Nuh-Uh says The Cure.

Stay tuned for more leading up to the highly anticipated release of Songs of a lost world, and not 1 but 2 live streams. The band will be doing a live stream on BBC Radio 2 on October 30th but it appears that only UK residents can apply for tickets. The band will then play the show at the Troxy on November 1st which is release day and the live stream of the show at the Troxy will be streaming on youtube for free for fans.

In the meantime, I simply would like to say thank you to Robert Smith and The Cure for getting it right in regards to their ticket sales and the sale of their merchandise. If you haven't already, you can pre order the new record in various formats here

And to Coldplay, thank you too, I still love your music and I may not have got into the Cure's music if it weren't for you guys. Now please follow these business practices for your ticket sales of the Music of Spheres Tour :D

P.S This picture was from The Cure's amazing concert last time they were in Toronto, previewing some of the new material. June 14th 2023.

Set list from that concert here

written by Brad Gardner

Sunday, October 20th 2024.

Coldplay rules, Ticketmaster does not and Rogers Stadium isn't built yet!

Hey there, friends and fellow music enthusiasts! I want to share a story that delves into my passion for Coldplay's music, while also shedding light on Ticketmaster's controversial practices at present day in the year 2024. Do you recall when ticket scalping used to be illegal? Fast forward to today, where Ticketmaster not only tolerates but actually promotes ticket scalping through its "verified resale" program.

It's time to take a stand! As you go through my account of what trying to acquire tickets was like this week, please reach out if you've faced a similar situation – I'm eager to hear your perspective. To complement the Coldplay vibe, I've put together a playlist featuring some of my favorite songs over the years by the band. Please feel free to listen to the playlist on Spotify here while you have a read through!

As a musician, music teacher, and devoted music enthusiast, I have been to more than 300 concerts since I was 14 years old, keeping nearly every concert ticket, including digital ones. These concerts have undoubtedly been some of the most special and unforgettable moments in my life.

I'm sure you can relate to the magic of attending a concert by your favorite band or group, creating cherished memories with friends and loved ones, and singing along at the top of your lungs with thousands of other fans who share your passion. It's a truly special experience that brings people together through the love of music and community. Hold that thought, never forget it, and now on to Coldplay.

Coldplay commenced their Music of the Spheres tour on March 18th 2022 and is soaring high with the release of the highly inspirational release of Moon Music otherwise known as Music of the spheres vol ii with plans for a break from the epically long tour as of September 8th 2025.

Live Nation released a rental of Coldplay's "Music of the Spheres: Live at River Plate" on May 11, 2024, available for rent through Veep. I was truly impressed by the incredible performance they delivered and how enjoyable it can be to watch a concert from home with today's technology. Concert films have certainly evolved significantly since U2's "Rattle and Hum." Which was the first concert film I remember seeing at a young age. After watching the stunning footage from that concert in Buenes Aires multiple times, like many others I'm sure, I was eagerly looking forward to their next show in Toronto.

I have attended 2 or 3 Coldplay live performances in the past. The first time I saw them play live is a memory that will always stay with me. It was on Saturday, September 21, 2002, around 4 months after they released their amazing second album A Rush of Blood to the Head.

Back then, the concert only filled half of the Air Canada Center. They used to set up a divider halfway down the arena, giving the Air Canada Center a more theatrical appearance. My ticket for that 2002 show costed me $42.50.

As for their latest album, Moon Music, I was fortunate to acquire one of the signed editions in July of this year through their website. It stated that the Eco Record would be arriving a week or so after the release date of the release date of October 4th 2024. At the time of purchasing, October seemed very distant. I was very excited.

After much anticipation, I joyfully received the exquisite eco Vinyl the day before tickets for the new announced Toronto Shows went on sale! It truly felt like the music gods were smiling upon me and everything was really falling into place beautifully, meanwhile Coldplay's latest album is sounding better and better after every listen and is a serious mood booster!

One of my fellow longtime concert going friends Laura and I strategized on the phone the night before that we would both try for a set of tickets starting at 9 am on Friday. Looking at the seating plot for the not yet built Rogers Stadium, we had agreed that we're getting older and sitting would be nice, but we would totally stand on the floor if not ..."I just want to be there" I believe I had said multiple times to which she completely agreed!

After a restful night's sleep, enjoying my morning coffee around 8:30 am, I checked my phone and saw a message from Laura saying she was in the queue for the presale. An hour or so later, she called to inform me that there were 46,000 people ahead of her in the digital Ticketmaster lineup for the concert at the yet-to-be-constructed Rogers Stadium.

I must admit, this was a new experience for me. Reserving seats for a stadium that doesn't even exist yet felt oddly reminiscent of the real estate market rather than a Coldplay concert.

Her wait turned into one that took her about an hour and a half or 2 hours and I was still waiting to get in. She gave me a call me saying "Hi! So i'm in, the seats on the sides are $400 a ticket"

Me: "Yeah, fuck that." hahaha. We quickly acknowledged that general admission (standing room) would be the best route to go as they were priced at a far more familiar, acceptable $130 some odd dollars. As we agreed, and proceeded over the phone I heard the click of the mouse..... followed by silence over the phone *Poof* "the tickets are no longer available."  

"Oooh but it's okay!" she said "They've just announced 2 more dates on the Friday and Saturday. Not to worry we thought, two more dates have been added, we were DEFINATELY going to get tickets this time. We both queued up for them (digitally on ticketmaster.ca) in these now digital lineups at our separate homes and computers. 

After patiently waiting in line behind 35,000 people for one date and 8,900 for the other, we encountered the same recurring issue: we would select a suitable ticket, click proceed, only to receive a prompt stating that the tickets were no longer available.

This swift disappearance of tickets was not a result of indecisiveness on our part; rather, it occurred within seconds, highlighting the challenges of navigating the digital realm of ticket sales, as we are both well aware of the competitive nature of platforms like Ticketmaster.

The only tickets I did have a chance at were at the sides of the stage which I would obviously be missing out on any visuals on the screens of the stage and screens etc. and those tickets were priced at $300. Or there was also the Kaotica Lounge experience or the Kubik experience priced way out of my price range.

Again, it's very hard to visualise what things will look like for the not yet built stadium but based on the below seating chart I simply had to say no. To quote the legendary Darryl Hall and John Oates, "I can't go for that (no can do)".

5 hours later from our collective efforts and multiple phone calls back and forth at 2:00pm Friday, we both surrendered (temporary) defeat! I say temporary because we are still determined to hopefully get some tickets between now and the show in July.  

Moments later, as if spotify got a digital wiff of the recent defeat, I hilariously opened Spotify only to receive this glowing message for my patreonage to Coldplay. Thank you to the good folks at spotify making this fruitless ticket mission even more harsh!

The next morning, Saturday at 3:24am in the morning I received an automated email from ticketmaster stating "that my tickets were waiting for me".

Out of curiosity, I clicked through the prompts to see if maybe some more tickets had been released only to find out they were still very much sold out.

Today, on Canadian thanksgiving Monday morning I received another email from ticketmaster stating that tickets were now “within my reach and to act now”.

Curious, I once again clicked on. Oh good, the tickets are here folks, the verified resale tickets have entered the gauntlet and these prices would suggest paying 13 times more than what they were worth on that initial date and a whopping 94 times what I paid to see them play for that first and oh so magical time in 2002.

I know I am not the only one with this experience, but really. What is happening here? Can we all give this a moment? Remember lining up at a physical location and getting tickets? I think that needs to happen again folks. Also I think artists and ticketmaster need to have caps on resale simply not selling for more than they were initially worth. Let's get real here.

I call on you the fans, CBC, Ticketmaster, Coldplay and the not yet built Rogers stadium. Over the weekend I have now talked to four other friends who all went through the same misfortunes and read through other fans experiences on reddit and some scenarios were even more extreme 90,000 people ahead of some folks.

Remember when ticket scalping was illegal in this Country? Well it is now completely endorsed by ticketmaster with verified resale and I have a sneaking suspicion that true fans aren’t getting the opportunities to see their favourite bands or to maybe bring their children to their first concert experiences, and if they are it could be the only concert they see in their lives at these prices!

Coldplay I love you, I love your music, I love your forward thinking ways of cutting emissions and giving a shit about this planet. I love this album, and the ones before it but! Live nation / ticketmaster and ticket flippers please stop this absolute madness!

Concerts are some of the most unifying experiences we can have and these practices go directly against the love and inclusion that Coldplay seem to stand for. Also if all 4 shows sold out with no verified resale this article would not be written. I would just say okay, that sucked.

What do I want? Why Am I writing this? Simply to bring awareness and for us to have a discussion. I would love to hear from the band or ticketmaster and of course what your experiences were with this.

I'm still determined to hopefully acquire general admission tickets for myself and my friends and family who are all true fans of the band. And I sincerely hope that other fans get some sort of other chance, because this rollout was painful, awful and gross feeling.

Also, please remember that for every person who agrees to pay these prices is also part of the problem, I say enough is enough! As Daft Punk said " Bring the Music back to life, bring the life back to music."

How Do you feel about Ticketmasters verified resale?

• This needs to stop, it's gross and unfair to music fans
• I like verified Resale

written by Brad Gardner Monday, October 14th 2024.

#livenation #Coldplay #Rogers #Rogersstadium #Toronto #2025 #ticketmaster #verifiedresale #Moonmusic #Musicofspheresworldtour

The Music of Damien Rice, Glen Hansard and Markéta Irglová

I have put together a soundtrack for you to enjoy while reading:

Immerse yourself in this curated mixtape I made of these artist's on this playlist for favourable reading.

The latest Glen Hansard LP “All that was east is west of me now” has just arrived at my house.

The album was initially released October 20th of last year. I've been meaning to purchase the album for a while but for one reason or another I just got around to it now. While spinning this album for the first time, I can’t help but sit down and gush about this artist for a moment and write some of my thoughts down.

I initially discovered Glen Hansard’s music when I went to see Damien Rice play in Toronto for the first time. The gig was held at Convocationall Hall April 23rd 2004 which would mean I was about 20 years old at the time.

Damien Rice’s album “O” had just been released in North America about 3 years after it's original release in Ireland. His song “Blowers Daughter” was featured in a trailer for the film “Closer” and he was becoming quite well known for his beautiful debut record. 

Anyway, a week or two before the concert my friend Sarah asked me if I had ever heard of a band called The Frames. I hadn't, and she told me that they were opening for Damien Rice!

Sarah had discovered their music when she was on a trip in Ireland and assured me that their music was incredible. She sent me what she considered to be some of their best songs at the time. Those songs included “Star, Star” “What happens when the heart just stops?” and ”God Bless Mom” to name a few. 

Needless to say I was LOVING the music of The Frames and I got myself familiar with their music before the show. 

Upon our arrival at the concert, Sarah and I were hanging out at a spot with a tour bus parked not far from there. A short distance away from the bus, we noticed a guy sporting what looked like tattered bell-bottoms made of all kinds of different fabrics. He was engaged in a solo game of hacky sack on a nearby patch of grass, with his vibrant pants flowing in the air with every kick of the hacky sack. I saw his face and noticed something.

“That’s Damien Rice.” I said to Sarah.

“Shut up! Are you sure?” She said.

“Yep.” I was sure.

I then walked up to him and told him what a massive fan of his music I was. He kindly thanked me and was willing to sign my concert ticket. I panicked because I didn't have a sharpie or anything on me, but he found a red pen and signed the ticket for me.

On the ticket he drew me this stick figure dude who was holding a guitar and I couldn’t think of anything cooler. The guitar in the drawing has sadly faded away over time, I think I may have spilled some water on the ticket once.

Following our brief conversation, he bid us farewell and proceeded to board the tour bus. I think it would have been hilarious had he walked in the opposite direction and turned out NOT to be Damien Rice.

Thankfully it was. And as you can imagine Sarah and I’s spirits were pretty high at this point and the show hadn’t even started yet. What an entrance!

What followed was a roller coaster set from frontman Glen Hansard and the Frames. I don’t think anything could have prepared me for it really. The set was so tight, so brooding and emotional. And yet, all very comforting every step of the way. You really got the sense that the band had been playing together for a very long time and that you were in their care. They were a force, they were incredible.

After the Frames blistering set, Damien Rice graced the stage with a remarkable performance, marked by his unique storytelling and ultra dynamic delivery, leaving the Toronto audience totally in the palm of his hand. Since then, I have been a dedicated fan. *After a little google search I discovered you can actually listen to the full performance here! https://archive.org/details/damo2004-04-23.aud.

Flash forward a few years after that concert.

I’m at the movies with my girlfriend at the time in a small movie theatre in Toronto. A trailer began to play and light music was started to twinkle in the background. It was taking me a second to realize it but then it hit me ...

“HEY! That’s a song by The Frames! I know this song.” However, I noticed it was sounding different. I recognized the song but noticed that now there was a female lead singing with him doing harmonies and playing piano. The movie trailer continued ... A moment or two later I thought ... “Hey! That’s the singer of The Frames too! OK, so he’s acting in the movie and doing the music??!” I was really thrilled by what I was seeing and hearing. Above all else, the movie was called “Once” and it looked really good.

A month or so later, we went to the one tiny theatre in Toronto that was playing the movie. It was an independent movie from Ireland and was only playing in select theatres at the time. I don't think I've ever really tracked down a movie like that before or since. I was just following my instincts I guess knowing what a talent Glen Hansard was.

Both the movie and music was outstanding. The whole thing was so natural and powerful. This movie was a musical I guess but not in an over the top theater way. I had never really seen anything like it before. This take on a musical had so much raw emotion in the acting and music that there didn’t appear to be any acting in sight really.

"Once" is a remarkable depiction of a busking musician's journey of living, loving, and losing while the spirit of music remains a constant companion. The movie resonated with me in a way that few others have. It kind of redefined my perception of what a "musical" can encompass in terms of it's intimate real life situations and music.

A year or so later, Glen Hansard and Markéta Irglová won an Academy Award for their song "Falling Slowly". Following this achievement, the film "Once" became a successful play worldwide.

The Broadway adaptation of the play also received a Grammy Award for Best Musical Theatre Album in 2013. Building on the success of the movie and its soundtrack, Glen Hansard and Markéta Irglová, who were now a couple, recorded two studio albums under the name The Swell Season. They later released a concert film that delves into that period, which can be found at IMDb.

From 2012 - 2023 Glen Hansard has gone on to record 5 solo albums. Markéta Irglová has also made music with 4 albums to her name with her most recent album "Where you belong" (2024) having just been released.

Last year, the Swell Season released their first new music together in years with the single "The Answer Is Yes". And the best news? An instagram post from February of this year revealed that Glen and Markéta are working on brand new music together in studio.

Ten years have passed since Damien Rice released his last album "My Favourite Faded Fantasy." (2014) Despite this, he was actively involved in the completion of Leonard Cohen's final album, "Thanks For The Dance," in 2019. Watch this video.

Since my initial time seeing The Frames and Damien Rice play live in 2004 to me ultimately performing "Falling Slowly" as a duet for my sister and brother in law's wedding to this very moment where I'm currently listening to Glen Hansard's latest album.

I simply want to state that I am forever in awe of the power of music and the art of songwriting, creativity and live performance. I have learnt and experienced so much simply from being a fan of their music collectively. What a group of songwriters! Fan for life.

Photo 1: Glen Hansard - All that was East is west of me now

Photo 2: My signed ticket from Damien Rice before the show in Toronto in 2004.

Photo 3: Tickets to Damien Rice, the Swell Season (Glen Hansard / Marketa Irglova) and Glen Hansard concerts over the years. 

Photo 4: Glen Hansard and Markéta Irglová winning an Academy Award in 2008. During the ceremony, when Markéta Irglová went up to accept her award, her microphone was rudely cut off, the music began to play, and the broadcast cut to commercial. Thankfully, I think the following artist that won brought her back up on stage to complete her speech!

Photo 5: In the last few years I also randomly discovered that Glen Hansard portrayed the guitar player in the movie "The Commitments" (1991). Ironically, that soundtrack played regularly in my household growing up. Life is pretty amazing that way. "Mustang Sally" anyone?

Written by Brad Gardner July 1st 2024