A few photos from last night's Cure concert in Montreal.

The set list

Growing up, live concerts wasn't really an option for me. Even if I hadn't lived in the middle of nowhere, I couldn't have afforded it.

This show was everything my teen goth heart could have wanted - a set list that combined their most popular songs with some newer tracks, and some deep cuts that don't usually make it to their live shows. The stage set up was basic but effective, with multiple screens divided by lights that were very effectively used to convey mood and tone. The merch was great too, each city has its own poster design. Montreal's was this adorable cat design.

The audience ranged from small kids with their parents, all the way up to the grey haired set, with everything in between. And for the most part, people weren't stuck to their phones filming - there were moments of snapping pics and taking short clips, but no one spent the entire show filming with their phones. I took maybe a dozen photos and 3 short clips of video, which is about standard from what I could tell.

The band also made the choice to price tickets fairly, disabled the bullshit "dynamic" and "platinum" ticketmaster mechanics, didn't allow reselling for more than face value, and restricted the tickets to mobile only so there was no resellers' market. I wish every band did this looking at you, Depeche Mode. Tickets in Montreal started at $31 Canadian, which meant it was accessible to just about anyone. My floor show seats were $175, well worth it to see one of my "bucket list" bands up close and in person.

Robert Smith made this show for me. He kept up some light-hearted banter in between songs, did some silly dancing while playing, and just seemed to be enjoying himself. At 64 years old, he's put on a little weight and has grey hair, but who hasn't by that age? He (and his bandmates, including Simon Gallup on bass!) performed an entire 2.5 hour set with only a few brief moments between encores, and his voice sounds as good as it ever has.

If you have a chance to get tickets and are wondering if you should, do it!

As somebody who loves live music and audience recordings thereof more than almost anything, I've always been quite a fan of listening to ROIOs—recordings of independent origin. I spend time every day finding new recordings, as well as making, mastering, and distributing my own.

Of course, the community of people that do this is very large indeed! And yet, I rarely see people discussing how they listen thereto in this digital era. It's hard to avoid being advertised one of the uncountable software solutions for listening to one's favourite albums, but no software seems to specifically cater to fans of live music to my knowledge, with the only options being either to bodge some metadata for every single live recording one has and treat each like an album, which drowns out actual albums (do I really want hundreds of live recordings of Godspeed You! Black Emperor or black midi amid their respective small number of released work?), takes a lot of work, and feels a bit silly, or one can navigate through a file manager and open a directory of a live performance in, say, VLC Media Player, which is functional if awkward and unglamorous.

I've always wondered how others approach this issue: how do you?

I'd love to see live vs not live versions of your favourite music.

Here are some of mine.

Free Throw - Two Beers In. The crowd love this, and the intensity reaches almost scary levels.

Live: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Zz7Wq0pqV_Q
Not live: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=VNcc4PTZDAg

Skegss - New York California. Skegss look like the kind of band I want to watch live and the audience look like they're having a blast.

Live: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=OOQdWSkeEZI
Official video: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=CNFkrK54m8o

Wet Leg - Chaise Longue. There are loads of live versions and it's hard to pick one, but I chose this because the audience is full of women and they're fully into the performance. Hester and Rhian make it look effortless, and I love that they give the appearance of not caring what people think.

Live: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=tTvUR940L5M
OMV: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Zd9jeJk2UHQ

Title Fight: Head in the Ceiling Fan. Way too loud in a small sweaty room seems like the best way to watch them live. Overwhelmed by a wall of noise. The closest I got to something like this was either Jesus and Mary Chain in 86, or Wedding Present a bit later, and they weren't really comparable. (Although, I have tinnitus and I do want to give them all decent ear plugs because wow tinnitus sucks).

Live: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Gb1S1wUWG7o
OMV: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Tu9KgGqXDyw