Roughly 400 contest winners were treated to surprise performances from Hole and the Cure in London Sunday night, courtesy of the latest "Blind Date" promotion staged by an American beer company. The winners were flown in from around the U.S., and, as in past promotions, not told who they were about to see.
"It was one of the strangest concerts that I've ever done, but at the end it was good fun," said The Cure's Robert Smith.
The London show was the third and final Blind Date event of 1998 and the first one ever in London. According to Britain's "New Musical Express," Hole played for about an hour, mostly offering up tracks from their new album, "Celebrity Skin."
The other Blind Dates this year included the Red Hot Chili Peppers, Garbage & Big Bad Voodoo Daddy's in Chicago in July and a secondary event featuring The Wallflowers in San Francisco in August. Previous years in the States and Canada have featured the Foo Fighters, Soundgarden, Metallica and others, all sticking to the 'big band, small venue' premise.
Meanwhile back in America, a not-so-surprising performance was the much-rumored appearance of Pearl Jam at the 350-seat Crocodile Club in Seattle opening for Cheap Trick on Saturday night. Pearl Jam put in a 40-minute, 10-song set the third night of the veteran band's three-night stand. Cheap Trick's entire tour, which sees them performing three of their old albums in their entirety, will mostly feature unannounced high-profile local openers. The other two Seattle nights saw Fresh Young Fellows and Supersuckers do the honors. As previously reported by MTV News, one of the upcoming Boston shows later this week is said to feature Letters to Cleo.
