What says “sunny, bucolic, green and serene” more than the Cure? Well, possibly lots of things, given the dark and anxious undertones to much of the British band’s music. But the group will be coming to southern California in the most peaceful large-scale setting possible: the picturesque, tree-filled, golf-course grounds outside the Rose Bowl, where Goldenvoice’s Arroyo Seco Weekend found great favor with festival-goers the last two summers.
The Cure will both headline and curate the Pasadena Daydream Festival, being held at Brookside at the Rose Bowl on Labor Day weekend. It’ll be in the Arroyo Seco, but it won’t involve a full weekend: The festival goes down in a single day on Saturday, August 31, with tickets going on sale Monday at noon PT.
Joining the group on multiple stages are such compatible acts as the Pixies, Deftones, Mogwai and Throwing Muses. The bill is rounded out by the Joy Formidable, Chelsea Wolfe, the Twilight Sad, Emma Ruth Rundle and Kaelan Mikla.
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Playing a huge venue in the Los Angeles area is nothing new for the Cure. They headlined Dodger Stadium all the way back in 1989 — and guess who headlined that show? You guessed (or fondly remembered) it: the Pixies.
The Cure are choosing to make their big peaceful outdoor touchdown in Pasadena this year after having made a 40th anniversary appearance at Hyde Park in London last summer. Said frontman Robert Smith in a statement: “Hyde Park was a fabulous experience, the whole day was really magical, and we wanted to create something with a similar celebratory vibe for this summer.”
The band comes to Pasadena with an honor it didn’t have going into Hyde Park: a recent induction into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame.
General admission prices are $150 plus fees, with VIP passes (which presumably allow access to a shadier, fenced-off area to the side of the main stage) going for $300.
The adult-oriented Arroyo Seco Weekend proved highly popular in 2017 and 2018, but as the possible on-sale dates for a June 2019 reprise of that festival came and went, observers have wondered if ASW fell off Goldenvoice’s agenda for the year or was merely being pushed back into the fall (especially given the oppressive heat at the inaugural fest two years ago). It would appear as if the Cure’s Daydream Festival is popping up as a replacement for Arroyo Seco this year — especially considering the limited number of days the city of Pasadena allows any large-scale events at or around the Rose Bowl each year. Goldenvoice declined comment when asked whether ASW might still be on the books for this year or not.