Robert Smith
Robert Smith dislikes air travel. Or not. But that was the reason given for The Cure's journey to New York on the Queen Elizabeth II in 1989 for the beginning of their Disintegration tour. Bassist Simon Gallup claimed that they spent their time at sea "playing shuffleboard and learning how to fold napkins." I was one of a small gang of reporters who was waiting when the band disembarked, and I tried to capture something of Smith, who seemed reticent and faraway, even though he later rallied and told an MTV reporter that he was looking forward to wearing short pants (!) in the US. I met him again nearly ten years later and gave him a copy of this photo. He blinked, mumbled and may have smiled, but I can't be certain of that.