Sick of overpriced gig tickets? Here’s the Cure | Stewart Lee

Robert Smith, defiant leader of the post-punk stalwarts, has shown that secondary markets can be bypassed, enabling ordinary people to benefit from culture

The first time I saw the Cure was on 29 April 1984. The Birmingham Odeon show opened with a set from rural Worcestershire's pre-Raphaelite goths And Also the Trees, whose early albums remain a guilty pleasure, and about whom I once sent a self-aggrandising letter to ZigZag magazine. The Cure's set drew heavily on the dark post-punk fundamentalism of Seventeen Seconds, Faith and Pornography, but previewed eight songs from the unreleased The Top, evidencing a worrying drift towards melody, not what the 15-year-old me wanted at all.

The ticket cost 4.50 and I bought it before Andy Anderson, who was black, was announced as the new drummer. This was lucky, as my family discouraged me seeing bands with black members. I remember making the case for Big Country, despite them having a black bassist, because of their reliance on a bagpipes-styled guitar sound. I think UB40 slipped under the net because even gran loved that Neil Diamond cover. Different times!

Stewart Lee's 2025 tour Stewart Lee vs the Man-Wulf begins at London's Leicester Square theatre in December, with a July Royal Festival Hall run just announced