Live album released in 1984 – features Robert Smith on guitar, Steve Severin – bass, Budgie – drums, percussion, Siouxsie Sioux – Vocals
- Intro – Rite of Spring
- Israel
- Dear Prudence (only recently a single)
- Paradise Place
- Melt!
- Cascade
- Pulled To Bits
- Night Shift
- Sin In My Heart
- Slowdive
- Painted Bird
- Happy House
- Switch
-=-=-=-
Encore:
- Spellbound
- Helter Skelter
- Eve White / Eve Black
- Voodoo Dolly
Okay this is really interesting – the concerts this album was recorded at were a year after the departure of guitarist John McGeoch whose skills are across the three albums that make up the bulk of this set, Kaleidoscope (1980), Juju (1981), and A Kiss in the Dreamhouse (1982). The Cure’s Robert Smith was drafted and played guitar on the entire Dreamhouse tour.
Those three albums aren’t necessarily orchestrated, but lean heavily on instruments outside of the guitar/bass/drums they keep to in concert. Sioux’s voice is in prime form throughout – her range is often diminished in live recordings, but she was in top form on these nights, especially on songs like Melt and Slowdive.
The drumming on Dear Prudence elevates it beyond the single version. Budgie is in top form and Smith’s guitar takes the lead on Paradise Place and he wails. Severin’s bass intro to Cascade, which feels a bit like The Cure’s A Forest, pulls the listener right in.
Pulled To Bits is an interesting choice – they rock it hard, but it’s only appearance at that point was as the b-side to standalone single Playground Twist.
Night Shift sounds appropriately cavernous for a song about serial murder. Siouxsie sounds appropriately embedded in the character of the Yorkshire Ripper. It’s truly disturbing in a way the studio version doesn’t match. Sin In My Heart which follows Night Shift on Juju also follows it here. Budgie and Smith’s interplay is really impressive as the song opens. Severin’s bass is quite restrained. However, it’s a real joy when Slowdive kicks in next – the variety of percussion and something screechy from the guitar bring the goods. As they do for Painted Bird, Happy House (another recent single at the time), and the main set’s closer, Switch (from debut album The Scream).
And then there’s the encore:
Spellbound, Helter Skelter, Eve White/Eve Black and the closing Voodoo Dolly.
Spellbound had been the first single from Juju in 1981 and had been something of a hit. I know when I saw them on the Hyaena tour in ‘84, that was the main song I was waiting for. And as with the rest of Nocturne, they’re absolutely on top of it. Helter Skelter made its first appearance on The Scream and had been in their set from very early on. It ratchets up the intensity of the performance beautifully. Eve White/Eve Black was the B-side of Christine (released in 1980, a few months before Kaleidoscope) and takes on that song’s same subject, Christine Sizemore, a woman with multiple personalities (whose story is told in The Three Faces of Eve. It’s another song that’s mostly played at 11 which makes the opening of Voodoo Dolly a little jarring, but live, Voodoo Dolly starts quietly, but the instrumentation – especially Budgie’s toms – gets more and more intense. Smith inhabits the increasingly violent guitar parts with occasional bursts of feedback until it feels like the strings might come off. At almost nine minutes, it’s a most fitting close to the show.
And someone has kindly posted a playlist of the full concert on YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/playlist?list=PL5BFJgXr2uDDvQnN-h-iNEzMj7Rp7MKOL
Next up: Hyæna
