The Cure’s very first U.S. show was in Cherry Hill, NJ on April 10, 1980. Recordings of this show were thought to be lost… until now.

Their first American tour to support their album, Seventeen Seconds, consisted of six east coast shows, one being in the Philadelphia suburb of Cherry Hill.

That night’s show was recorded on a cassette recorder by Van Gosse, a journalist with Melody Maker, a UK weekly music newspaper that went out of business in 2000. Gosse was on assignment to tour with The Cure and write about them. Their publicist took him to their U.S. debut show and he taped it. The cassette was just recently found by Gosse himself. He posted the audio and his articles on his blog.

Courtesy of A Foolish Arrangement

Below is the set list. A small image of the set list was also found, (pictured above) but it is hard to read.

Setlist: The Cure, Emerald City, Cherry Hill, NJ, 4/10/80

SIDE A
1. “Seventeen Seconds”
2. “Play For Today”
3. “Three Imaginary Boys”
4. “Fire In Cairo”
6. “Grinding Halt”
7. “In Your House”
8. “Subway Song”
9. “M”

SIDE B
1. “10:15 Saturday Night”
2. “Accuracy”
3. “At Night”
4. “Boys Don’t Cry”
6. “Jumping Someone Else’s Train”
7. ” Another Journey By Train”
8. ” A Forest”

9. “Secrets”
10. “Killing An Arab”

[photogallerylink id=101885 align=right]The band is currently on a European tour, with stops in Russia, Sweden, Germany, Belgium and France coming up in June. Check out these photos of concerts over the last few years.

[Sources: slicingupeyeballs.com, Chain of Flowers, vangosse.com, afoolisharrangement.com]

- FK, 92.9 dave fm / Liz Bradley, 92.9 dave fm