As we head into the long, steamy three-day weekend (for some), let me make good on a promise: In advance of Rhino Records' June 8 release of the three-disc Disintegration: Deluxe Edition, The Cure is now streaming a hunk of its September 15, 1989, Prayer Tour stop-over at Starplex. And by "a hunk," I mean all 12 songs off Disintegration offered in order -- from "Plainsong" through "Untitled," and that's that. Which means we're missing, oh, about 16 songs from that show, many among the band's best-of.
Ah, well. It's not every day you get a gift like this -- and the performance is, natch, top-notch. "Pictures of You" remains a song I never get tired of; that's one terrific "Fascination Street" (and "Lullaby" and "The Same Deep Water As You" and ...); and even if "Lovesong" 21 years later plays a little like classic rock, back then it was a brand-new thing performed with as much vigor as Robert Smith could muster during that period. Oh, and ... um ... never mind.