# In 1980, 13 armed policemen arrived to arrest The Cure naked in the Netherlands

- URL: https://talkfuse.com/story/in-1980-13-armed-policemen-arrived-to-arrest-the-cure-naked-in-the-netherlands/
- Published: 2026-11-01T15:30:56+00:00
- Updated: 2026-11-01T17:50:01+00:00
- Original publisher: Far Out
- Original article: https://faroutmagazine.co.uk/in-1980-13-armed-policemen-arrived-to-arrest-cure-naked-in-netherlands/

## Key points

- Robert Smith was arrested after swimming naked at a Dutch beach.
- About 13 armed police officers responded to a caller’s report.
- The incident followed a Rotterdam show during The Cure’s 1980 tour.

## Summary

The Cure’s Robert Smith and lighting director Angus “Mac” MacPhail were arrested for public indecency after stripping off and swimming at a Dutch beach in 1980. The episode, during a tour promoting the band’s sombre post-punk album *Seventeen Seconds*, offers a contrast with their serious image at the time.

After a show in Rotterdam on 25 May, the band visited a drinking spot where drummer Lol Tolhurst reportedly mistook a phone booth for a toilet and urinated there. The group was thrown out, then Smith and MacPhail went swimming at Hoek van Holland Beach around 6.30am, while the others slept in the van. A passer-by called police, and about 13 armed officers arrived; Smith later said the pair went peacefully because they had no clothes on. The officers took some of their cassettes and released them.

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Summarised by TalkFuse (https://talkfuse.com/). Quote the original publisher for the reporting and link this page for the summary and discussion.