"Burn," the Cure's contribution to 1994's The Crow original soundtrack, is a fan favorite on arguably the greatest movie soundtrack of all time, but remarkably, the band never played the song live until 19 years after its release.
The big day came on November 3rd, 2013, at the Voodoo Music Experience in New Orleans, a fitting location, as the Cure's Robert Smith pointed out. "Here's another song about New Orleans," he said, introing the song. "One we've never played." The band's set that night also saw the live debut of Head on the Door-era B-side "Stop Dead." Watch above.
As the story goes, the Cure were originally going to contribute their devastating Pornography cut "The Hanging Garden" to The Crow soundtrack since the lyrics to the song had been appeared in the original comic book, but Smith liked the comic so much that he opted to write and record an original song instead. He did so quickly: The Cure's lineup was in flux at the time, so Smith and drummer Boris Williams turned around their contribution, "Burn," on their own over the course of just two days, as Smith told Radio 104.5 in 2008. "I had the idea, and we just recorded it, me and him, in the studio," the singer says. Interesting, the song was also the last thing that Smith and Williams ever put on wax together; the drummer split shortly thereafter.
