Itโ€™s probably a couple of decades too late, but Robert Smith is finding that his deepest fears are coming true. Now aged 65, he recently fretted about whether heโ€™d make it to 70 โ€“ and still be around to celebrate the 50th anniversary of The Cure. Certainly, the coal-black angst and existential melancholia that has become the bandโ€™s stock-in-trade has taken on an additional potency in the last few years: health scares proliferated, loved ones have died. We have become used to venerable artists like Dylan, Neil Young and Springsteen ruminating on ageing and mortality, now it seems that itโ€™s Smithโ€™s turn to manage the problematic business of growing old.

THE CURE, BRYAN FERRY, THE MC5, RADIOHEAD, KIM DEAL, PAUL WELLER AND MORE STAR IN THE NEW UNCUT โ€“ ORDER A COPY HERE

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When Seventeen Seconds came out in 1980, it gave The Cure their unique voice, setting them on a path that took them from tortured post-punk doomsayers to alt-goth superstars with 1989โ€™s Disintegration โ€“ an album which included some of the bandโ€™s sweetest songs (โ€œPictures Of Youโ€, โ€œLovesongโ€) and their most fraught (โ€œDisintegrationโ€, โ€œFascination Streetโ€). On the title track, Smith was already predicting โ€œhow the end always isโ€; he was just 30.

Songs from both Seventeen Seconds and Disintegration feature significantly in tonightโ€™s show โ€“ as if Smith is deliberately showing us his workings, tracing a specific throughline that leads to their new album, Songs Of A Lost World. The โ€˜lost worldโ€™ is the promise and optimism the Apollo 11 Moon landing represented to the 10-year-old Smith. In โ€œEndsongโ€, one of Smithโ€™s most straightforwardly autobiographical songs, he is โ€œoutside in the dark staring at the blood red moon / Remembering the hopes and dreams I had and all I had to do / And wondering what became of that boy and the world he called his own / Iโ€™m outside in the dark wondering how I got so oldโ€.

Powered by Jason Cooperโ€™s hypnotic drum tattoo, โ€œEndsongโ€ is a highlight of the bandโ€™s first set โ€“ Songs Of A Lost World played in full. This allows us to take stock of The Cure in 2024, a band partly changed by the events of the last few years, but coming back together to usher in their latest milestone, their first album of new music for 16 years. There are other reasons to celebrate, too. Smith takes a moment to reveal that he and Simon Gallup are celebrating 45 years of performing live together. Essentially Smithโ€™s consigliere, Gallup, dressed tonight in a leopard-skin overcoat, offers a more dynamic and dramatic stage presence than his capo, prowling the stage, delivering low-slung basslines that run from teeth-rattling heaviosity to alienated funk. Elsewhere, Roger Oโ€™Donnell returns to keyboards following his battle with lymphoma while another old face, multi-instrumentalist Perry Bamonte, has been back in the band since 2022. As much as it is a celebration of music, tonight also feels like a testament to enduring friendships. Of the โ€˜juniorโ€™ members, Reeves Gabrels (now a mere decade into his tenure with the band) is more naturally inclined to stretch out in the songs โ€“ no doubt his expansive solos on โ€œA Night Like Thisโ€ and โ€œFrom The Edge Of The Deep Green Seaโ€ dovetail with Smithโ€™s unabated love for Hendrixian flourish.

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When the band reach the Seventeen Seconds section โ€“ โ€œAt Nightโ€, โ€œMโ€, โ€œSecretsโ€, โ€œPlay For Todayโ€ and โ€œA Forestโ€ โ€“ they build on the wintry minimalism of the original album, underscoring the keen melodies that power Smithโ€™s songwriting. A triumphant, hit-laden home stretch โ€“ โ€œLullabyโ€, โ€œThe Walkโ€, โ€œFriday Iโ€™m In Loveโ€, โ€œClose To Meโ€, โ€œWhy Canโ€™t I Be You?โ€, โ€œBoys Donโ€™t Cryโ€ โ€“ reinforces both the celebratory nature of tonightโ€™s show and the unspoken camaraderie that exists between Smith and his bandmates. The resilience of these songs and the resilience of The Cure are there for us to marvel at.

The Cure setlist:

Alone

And Nothing Is Forever

A Fragile Thing

Warsong

Drone:Nodrone

I Can Never Say Goodbye

All I Ever Am

Endsong


Plainsong

Pictures Of You

High

Lovesong

Burn

Fascination Street

A Night Like This

Push

Inbetween Days

Just Like Heaven

From The Edge Of The Deep Green Sea

Disintegration

At Night

M

Secrets

Play For Today

A Forest

Lullaby

The Walk

Friday Iโ€™m In Love

Close To Me  

Why Canโ€™t I Be You? Boys Donโ€™t Cry