It’s my final show of the year, and it was an incredible one. Night two of three sold-out shows from post punk legends The Cure at the equally impressive Wembly Arena; it was epic. What was initially supposed to be a tour supporting the much anticipated new album became a celebration of the band’s entire catalogue.
Songs Of a Lost World will be the band’s first batch of new songs since 2008’s 4:13 Dream, and from the three songs played live, it’s not only going to live up to the hype, but far surpass it. While I don’t think anyone expects the album to be released within the remainder of the year, who knows, maybe we’ll get an unexpected Christmas gift. I imagine is Robert ready to push the button at any given moment.
Until then, we’ll just have to replay the bootleg videos from YouTube and dive into the anticipation of the show coming back around next year. Long-serving members Simon Gallup, Roger O’Donnell, and Perry Bamonte, were joined by former Bowie guitarist extraordinaire Reeves Gabrels, and drummer Jason Cooper brought the wall of sound that is The Cure to life with exquisite attention to detail.
Robert Smith slowly walked the entire length of the stage, taking a moment to pause and gaze into the crowd of twelve thousand plus. He was certainly grateful, and it was a bit ceremonial before he got behind the mic and unleashed that signature voice. Opening with a new song is certainly bold, but Jesus, “Alone” was drenched in that brilliant, lush slow burn of a rhythm that reminds us all that these guys invented the genre.
The setlist was pretty epic—twenty-eight songs spanning nearly three hours. I think only Springsteen is known to do sets of this magnitude. Although the setlist is similar each night, they mix it up a bit and throw in a surprise or two. This night saw six songs from the magnum opus that is Disintegration with “Pictures of You” arriving early as the second song in the set.
But the biggest surprise was the number of new songs—four new songs were introduced throughout the set: “Alone,” “Endsong,” “I Can Never Say Goodbye,” and “And Nothing is Forever”—the standout being the latter. “And Nothing is Forever” was magical; this was the song of the night for me. A perfect mix of Disintegration era Cure crossed with just a touch of the brightness of Wish. This is the sound that I think everyone is expecting for the new album, and it feels like The Cure are going to deliver.
While you might think that a Cure show could be lacking in energy, Smith and company delivered a number of upbeat numbers throughout the set. While we all love the gothic moodiness of the band, it’s easy to forget that this is also a very capable rock band. “Charlotte Sometimes,” “The Figurehead,” “A Strange Day,” and “Play for Today” whipped the crowd into a dancing frenzy, but “Shake Dog Shake” was the one that blew their hair back. And, of course, wrapping up the second extended encore, they closed the set with the staple and Cure classic “Boys Don’t Cry.” Epic night, epic crowd, epic band. Let’s see what surprises The Cure have in store for us in 2023.
