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Crawley · Willesden · Beachy Head · Orange · Sydney
The CureOpen a drawer. Mind the edge.
Robert Smith once dreamed he was shut in a wardrobe that fell off a cliff into the sea. Here the wardrobe holds fifteen real places, from a Crawley school hall in 1976 to the Troxy in 2024.
Fifteen places · 1976 to 2024
Fifteen drawers. One cliff.
Each drawer holds a real place, in time order. Every one you open tips the wardrobe a little nearer the edge.
Every drawer is shut. Open one.
Pick a drawer. Malice is in the top one.
Crawley, then Hyde Park
Sixty-five, then sixty-five thousand.
0
The Cure’s first show under that name was at The Rocket on Sunday 9 July 1978, in front of about 65 people.
The Rocket is empty.
Sources
Near the end Smith said that, at The Rocket, he would have guessed badly what he would be doing 40 years later.
St Wilfrid’s Catholic School, Crawley, in 2004. Michael of Crawley · CC BY-SA 2.0 20 December 1976
St Wilfrid’s Catholic School
On 20 December 1976 a band called Malice made its first public appearance at St Wilfrid’s. Robert Smith, Lol Tolhurst and Michael Dempsey had all just left the school.
A working school. Look from St Wilfrid’s Way; there is no public access to the grounds.
Sources
The bandstand in Memorial Gardens, Crawley, in 2020. Paul Farmer · CC BY-SA 2.0 9 October 1977
The Queen’s Square bandstand
Robert Smith sang lead there for the first time, on 9 October 1977. Crawley Museum says the bandstand has since moved to Memorial Gardens.
The bandstand now stands in Memorial Gardens, a few minutes’ walk from Queen’s Square. Free, open ground.
Sources
The pub by Crawley station in 2013, when it was the Railway. Hassocks5489 · CC0 1977 to 1978
The Rocket
Easy Cure played semi-regular gigs at The Rocket, a Crawley pub, in 1977 and 1978. A local history of the band puts The Rocket by Crawley station, in the pub later called the Railway, and says they hung out there too.
Still a pub, now O’Farrell’s, an Irish-themed bar. Open from 11am most days; check before you go.
Sources
Morgan Studio One, Willesden · January 1980
Seven flangers
The album was recorded and mixed in seven days, for an estimated £2,000 to £3,000.
Seventeen Seconds was made in Studio One. The control room was up some stairs at one end, its desk by a window looking down on the band. The band played the backing tracks together in the room: drums against the back wall, bass on the left, guitar on the right, keyboards under the window.
A Forest was one of the last songs recorded and the most produced. Mike Hedges ran up to seven flangers on it, and tape loops of bass and drums went round the room on pencils taped to mic stands.
Sources
All seven off. A forest, clean.
The studios were sold off in the 1980s. You can stand on the street; there is nothing to go into. The first studio opened in 1967 in a warehouse on Maybury Gardens, off the High Road. Studios 1 and 2 were sold in 1984 and renamed Power Plant.
Beachy Head, East Sussex · 1985
Let it go
Robert Smith based it on a dream of being locked in a wardrobe that fell off a cliff into the sea, and suggested a wardrobe on a clifftop because of how uncomfortable it felt.
The video for Close to Me was filmed at Beachy Head. Tim Pope directed it. Smith said the video had a big impact and helped fix the song in the band’s canon.
The wardrobe stands on the edge.
Walk up from Meads at the western end of Eastbourne seafront. Free clifftop access. Keep well back from the edge; in an emergency call 999 and ask for the Coastguard.
Sources
Orange, Vaucluse · August 1986
In Orange
Tim Pope filmed The Cure in Orange here in August 1986, during the band’s run of shows in the Roman theatre.
The shows were for The Head on the Door, with Smith, Porl Thompson, Boris Williams, Lol Tolhurst and Simon Gallup on stage.
Warm or blue. Mostly warm.
The stage wall is 37 metres high and 107 metres long. Louis XIV is said to have called it the finest wall in his kingdom.
Sources
Théâtre Antique d’Orange
Théâtre Antique d’Orange
Orange, Vaucluse · From €11.50
The Roman theatre where The Cure in Orange was filmed. Open every day; 9.30am to 5.30pm in October, to 5pm from November to February. An audio guide in ten languages is included.
Plan a visit1986 to 1996 · four private houses
Four houses, room by room.
Pick a house, then a room. All four are private, so none is on the map; the photographs show their villages or a public church.
Studio Miraval · The studio
Kiss Me, Kiss Me, Kiss Me was started at Studio Miraval in Provence, the band’s first recording outside England. Most of the songwriting and vocals were done there.
Château de Miraval, Correns, Var, France: a private estate. A private estate and home. Named here, never mapped.
Sources
Sydney Opera House · May 2019
Five nights. One house.
The Cure played five shows here in May 2019 for the 30th anniversary of Disintegration.
Light a night.
Sources
Rockfield, Monmouthshire · 2024
A farm in Wales
The official store credits Rockfield as the studio for Songs of a Lost World, produced and mixed by Robert Smith and Paul Corkett. Rockfield says it was recognised in 1965 as the first residential recording studio in the world.
A working studio on a farm. Guided tours for up to 18 people, £50, booked by email; the Coach House sleeps groups.
Sources
Rockfield Music Group
Rockfield studio tour
Rockfield, near Monmouth · £50 per person
About an hour and a half round the Quadrangle and Coach House studios and the echo chambers, led by a member of the Ward family, with tea afterwards. No more than 18 people; booking by email is essential.
Book a tourTroxy, Stepney · 1 November 2024
A 1933 cinema in Stepney
On 1 November 2024 The Cure played Songs of a Lost World here to just over 3,000 people. More than a million watched the free stream. Royalties from the live album went to War Child. The remastered film of the night reached cinemas on 11 December 2025.
The Troxy opened as a cinema on 11 September 1933 with King Kong. It was a bingo hall until 2005 and became a music venue in 2006.
A working venue: you see inside with a ticket. Five minutes’ walk from Limehouse station.
Sources
Visit
The Tree, 103 High Street, Crawley · 2018
Crawley still wants its band.
Crawley Museum held The Cure Exhibition either side of the band’s Hyde Park anniversary show in 2018.
In 2023 it asked for objects from the band’s Crawley years. It had only copies of photographs and memories, and wanted a permanent collection.
In The Tree, on the corner of the High Street and The Boulevard. Open Thursday to Saturday, 10.30am to 4pm.
Sources
Where it is now
11 places you can visit. Studio Miraval, Hook End, Shipton Manor and St Catherine’s Court are private houses: named, never mapped.
Pins mark public places; private homes are named but not pinned.
General reference · Restricted access · Coordinate precision: site · Not an exact scene or camera position; not a visitor route. A working school. Look from St Wilfrid’s Way; there is no public access to the grounds.
General reference · Public access · Coordinate precision: area · Not an exact scene or camera position; not a visitor route. The bandstand now stands in Memorial Gardens, a few minutes’ walk from Queen’s Square. Free, open ground.
General reference · Public access · Coordinate precision: building · Not an exact scene or camera position; not a visitor route. Still a pub, now O’Farrell’s, an Irish-themed bar. Open from 11am most days; check before you go.
General reference · Public access · Coordinate precision: building · Not an exact scene or camera position; not a visitor route. In The Tree, on the corner of the High Street and The Boulevard. Open Thursday to Saturday, 10.30am to 4pm.
St Wilfrid’s Catholic School, Crawley, in 2004. Michael of Crawley · CC BY-SA 2.0 St Wilfrid’s Way, Southgate, Crawley, West Sussex
St Wilfrid’s Catholic School
On 20 December 1976 a band called Malice made its first public appearance at St Wilfrid’s. Robert Smith, Lol Tolhurst and Michael Dempsey had all just left the school.
A working school. Look from St Wilfrid’s Way; there is no public access to the grounds.
Sources
The bandstand in Memorial Gardens, Crawley, in 2020. Paul Farmer · CC BY-SA 2.0 Memorial Gardens, Crawley town centre
The Queen’s Square bandstand
Easy Cure played the bandstand in Queen’s Square, one of their best-remembered early gigs; the earliest footage of the band was filmed there.
The bandstand now stands in Memorial Gardens, a few minutes’ walk from Queen’s Square. Free, open ground.
Sources
The pub by Crawley station in 2013, when it was the Railway. Hassocks5489 · CC0 2–4 Brighton Road, Southgate, Crawley, by the station
The Rocket
Easy Cure played semi-regular gigs at The Rocket, a Crawley pub, in 1977 and 1978.
Still a pub, now O’Farrell’s, an Irish-themed bar. Open from 11am most days; check before you go.
Sources
The Tree, 103 High Street, Crawley, home of Crawley Museum, in 2013. Hassocks5489 · CC0 The Tree, 103 High Street, Crawley
Crawley Museum
Crawley Museum held The Cure Exhibition either side of the band’s Hyde Park anniversary show in 2018.
In The Tree, on the corner of the High Street and The Boulevard. Open Thursday to Saturday, 10.30am to 4pm.
Sources
Stay
A room on the farm.
The Coach House at Rockfield, where musicians from one of its studios once slept.
Rockfield Leisure
The Coach House at Rockfield
Rockfield, near Monmouth
Self-catering rooms on the Rockfield farm where Songs of a Lost World was made, in a building that once housed musicians from one of its two studios: seven en-suite rooms, two with jacuzzi baths. Prices by email.
Ask for datesGo there
A studio, a Roman stage and an opera house.
Rockfield’s own tour, the theatre at Orange and the Opera House’s tours, with London music walks and clifftop day trips on the marketplace.
Rockfield Music Group
Rockfield studio tour
Rockfield, near Monmouth · £50 per person
About an hour and a half round the Quadrangle and Coach House studios and the echo chambers, led by a member of the Ward family, with tea afterwards. No more than 18 people; booking by email is essential.
Book a tourThéâtre Antique d’Orange
Théâtre Antique d’Orange
Orange, Vaucluse · From €11.50
The Roman theatre where The Cure in Orange was filmed. Open every day; 9.30am to 5.30pm in October, to 5pm from November to February. An audio guide in ten languages is included.
Plan a visit
Sydney Opera House
Sydney Opera House tours
Sydney
The house where they played Disintegration five nights running. Guided tours in seven languages, plus architecture, backstage and tour-and-dine options.
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Seven Sisters and Beachy Head tours
East Sussex
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Orange and Provence tours
Provence
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Compare toursWhat’s on
A tour slot at Rockfield.
No Cure show after today has been announced; Rockfield publishes dated studio tours, and the next ones are here.
Checking current event dates…
Take it home
One poster, two books, four records.
An original 1989 poster from our own store, Lol Tolhurst’s memoir, a band biography and four records made in the places on this page.
Printed Originals · Our poster store
The Cure, Oakland Coliseum (1989)
An original 1989 poster for The Cure at the Oakland Coliseum, the year of Disintegration, art by Arlene Owseichik. 13.7 × 18.7 in, rolled, mint.
In stock
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Bookshop.org UK · Ad / affiliate
Cured: The Tale of Two Imaginary Boys
Lol Tolhurst
The drummer’s memoir of Crawley, Robert Smith and the early Cure. Quercus, 2016.
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Never Enough: The Story of The Cure
Jeff Apter
A band biography from Crawley to the 2000s. Omnibus Press, 2006.
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Seventeen Seconds
The Cure · Vinyl LP, Fiction FIX 004, 1980
Seven days in Morgan Studio One, A Forest included.
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The Head on the Door
The Cure · Vinyl LP, Fiction FIXH 11, 1985
The record with Close to Me on it, and the set they played in Orange.
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Disintegration
The Cure · CD, Fiction 839 353-2, 1989
Recorded at Hook End after a fire on the first night.
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Songs of a Lost World
The Cure · CD, Fiction, 2024
Made at Rockfield; played whole at the Troxy the night it came out.
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Find a copyDates, prices, rooms and stock change: confirm with the provider before you travel or buy. A stay or tour is described as a filming location only where the card says so.
The sources
Every place and moment behind this page, with sources.
15 of 15 places · 16 of 16 Moments
St Wilfrid’s Catholic School
St Wilfrid’s Way, Southgate, Crawley, West Sussex
Malice
Malice, the band that became The Cure, plays its first public show at the old school.
The Queen’s Square bandstand
Memorial Gardens, Crawley town centre
The first lead vocal
Robert Smith sings lead for the first time, on the Queen’s Square bandstand.
The Rocket
2–4 Brighton Road, Southgate, Crawley, by the station
Sixty-five people
The first show as The Cure, at The Rocket, to about 65 people.
Crawley Museum
The Tree, 103 High Street, Crawley
The Cure Exhibition
Crawley Museum’s exhibition, either side of Hyde Park.
Morgan Studios
Maybury Gardens, off High Road, Willesden, north-west London
An audition
Easy Cure audition at Morgan Studios.
Seven flangers
Seventeen Seconds made in seven days in Studio One; A Forest the most produced track.
Beachy Head
Western end of Eastbourne seafront, East Sussex
The wardrobe
Tim Pope films Close to Me with the band in a wardrobe on Beachy Head.
Théâtre Antique d’Orange
Rue Madeleine Roch, Orange, Vaucluse, France
In Orange
Tim Pope films the band in the Roman theatre.
Studio Miraval
Château de Miraval, Correns, Var, France: a private estate
Out of England
Kiss Me, Kiss Me, Kiss Me begun on a Provençal vineyard estate.
Hook End
North of Reading: a private house and studio
The fire
Disintegration recorded at Hook End after a fire on the first night.
Shipton Manor
Shipton-on-Cherwell, Oxfordshire: a private house
Go-karts and canal paths
Wish recorded at The Manor in Oxfordshire.
St Catherine’s Court
Near Bath, Somerset: a private house
A ballroom for a studio
Wild Mood Swings recorded in a Tudor house near Bath.
Rockfield Studios
Amberley Court, Rockfield Road, near Monmouth, Wales
Songs of a Lost World
The album recorded at Rockfield, produced by Smith and Paul Corkett.
Hyde Park
Hyde Park, central London
Sixty-five thousand
Forty years of playing live, in Hyde Park, to about 65,000 people.
Sydney Opera House
Bennelong Point, Sydney, Australia
Five nights
Disintegration at 30: five shows at the Opera House.
Troxy
490 Commercial Road, Stepney, east London
Show of a Lost World
The new album played whole to 3,000 people and streamed free.