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The Cure Announce 2023 North American Tour

By Evan Minsker and Jazz Monroe

The Cure have announced a 2023 tour of North America. Find their Shows of a Lost World dates below. The schedule comes with three dates apiece at Los Angeles’ Hollywood Bowl and New York’s Madison Square Garden. Support on all dates comes from their longtime tourmates the Twilight Sad .

In recent years, Robert Smith has been teasing a Cure album, giving regular progress reports. In 2019, after being inducted into the Rock & Roll Hall of Fame ( by Trent Reznor ), Smith said , “If I’m optimistic it will be finished before the start of this summer.” The album still hasn’t materialized.

The band’s last studio album was 2008’s 4:13 Dream . In recent years, Smith has collaborated with Gorillaz and remixed Chvrches , Deftones , and, just this week, Noel Gallagher’s High Flying Birds . Last year, the band reissued 1992’s Wish . See where the Cure landed on Pitchfork’s list of “ The 250 Best Songs of the 1990s .”

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05-10 New Orleans, LA - Smoothie King Center 05-12 Houston, TX - Toyota Center 05-13 Dallas, TX - Dos Equis Pavilion 05-14 Austin, TX - Moody Center 05-16 Albuquerque, NM - Isleta Amphitheater 05-18 Phoenix, AZ - Desert Diamond Arena 05-20 San Diego, CA - NICU Amphitheatre 05-23 Los Angeles, CA - Hollywood Bowl 05-24 Los Angeles, CA - Hollywood Bowl 05-25 Los Angeles, CA - Hollywood Bowl 05-27 San Francisco, CA - Shoreline Amphitheatre 06-01 Seattle, WA - Climate Pledge Arena 06-02 Vancouver, British Columbia - Rogers Arena 06-04 Salt Lake City, UT - Vivint Smart Home Arena 06-06 Greenwood Village, CO - Fiddler’s Green Amphitheatre 06-08 Saint Paul, MN - Xcel Energy Center 06-10 Chicago, IL - United Center 06-11 Cleveland, OH - Blossom Music Center 06-13 Detroit, MI - Pine Knob Music Theatre 06-14 Toronto, Ontario - Budweiser Stage 06-16 Montreal, Quebec - Bell Centre 06-18 Boston, MA - Xfinity Center 06-20 New York, NY - Madison Square Garden 06-21 New York, NY - Madison Square Garden 06-22 New York, NY - Madison Square Garden 06-24 Philadelphia, PA - Wells Fargo Center 06-25 Columbia, MD - Merriweather Post Pavilion 06-27 Atlanta, GA - State Farm Arena 06-29 Tampa, FL - Amalie Arena 07-01 Miami, FL - Miami-Dade Arena

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By Pitchfork

By Matthew Strauss

By Nina Corcoran

THE CURE announce 2023 North American tour

The Cure have finally announced a long-awaited North American leg of their A Lost World tour — which includes three nights at L.A.'s Hollywood Bowl and three nights at NYC's Madison Square Garden. Support on all dates comes from their longtime tourmates the Twilight Sad. Check out the full itinerary below.

Additionally, the headliners announced: "The Cure have agreed all ticket prices, and apart from a few Hollywood Bowl charity seats, there will be no 'platinum' or 'dynamically priced' tickets on this tour."

Tickets go on sale via Ticketmaster Verified Fan on March 15th at 10 a.m. local time.

The Cure 2023 North American tour dates: 05-10 New Orleans, LA - Smoothie King Center 05-12 Houston, TX - Toyota Center 05-13 Dallas, TX - Dos Equis Pavilion 05-14 Austin, TX - Moody Center 05-16 Albuquerque, NM - Isleta Amphitheater 05-18 Phoenix, AZ - Desert Diamond Arena 05-20 San Diego, CA - NICU Amphitheatre 05-23 Los Angeles, CA - Hollywood Bowl 05-24 Los Angeles, CA - Hollywood Bowl 05-25 Los Angeles, CA - Hollywood Bowl 05-27 San Francisco, CA - Shoreline Amphitheatre 06-01 Seattle, WA - Climate Pledge Arena 06-02 Vancouver, British Columbia - Rogers Arena 06-04 Salt Lake City, UT - Vivint Smart Home Arena 06-06 Greenwood Village, CO - Fiddler's Green Amphitheatre 06-08 Saint Paul, MN - Xcel Energy Center 06-10 Chicago, IL - United Center 06-11 Cleveland, OH - Blossom Music Center 06-13 Detroit, MI - Pine Knob Music Theatre 06-14 Toronto, Ontario - Budweiser Stage 06-16 Montreal, Quebec - Bell Centre 06-18 Boston, MA - Xfinity Center 06-20 New York, NY - Madison Square Garden 06-21 New York, NY - Madison Square Garden 06-22 New York, NY - Madison Square Garden 06-24 Philadelphia, PA - Wells Fargo Center 06-25 Columbia, MD - Merriweather Post Pavilion 06-27 Atlanta, GA - State Farm Arena 06-29 Tampa, FL - Amalie Arena 07-01 Miami, FL - Miami-Dade Arena

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The Cure Announce 2023 North American Tour

The trek marks the group’s first dates on the continent since 2019

The Cure are returning to North America for the first time in four years. The group announced a 2023 headlining tour Thursday that kicks off on May 10 at the Smoothie King Center in New Orleans and wraps up on July 1 at Miami-Dade Arena in Miami.

Tickets for the Shows of a Lost World Tour will be available via Ticketmaster’s Verified Fan Pre-Sale HERE .

The Cure’s last full-length LP was 2008’s 4:13 Dream . The band has reportedly been working on new music for years, but have not released any new material. Frontman Robert Smith offered an updated in 2019 after the band was inducted into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame, stating, “If I’m optimistic, it [album] will be finished by the end of the summer.”

Last year, the band reissued their watershed 1992 album Wish in celebration of its 30th anniversary.

May 10 – New Orleans, LA – Smoothie King Center May 12 – Houston, TX – Toyota Center May 13 – Dallas, TX – Dos Equis Pavilion May 14 – Austin, TX – Moody Center May 16 – Albuquerque, NM – Isleta Amphitheater May 18 – Phoenix, AZ – Desert Diamond Arena May 20 – San Diego, CA – NICU Amphitheatre May 23 – Los Angeles, CA – Hollywood Bowl May 24 – Los Angeles, CA – Hollywood Bowl May 25 – Los Angeles, CA – Hollywood Bowl May 27 – San Francisco, CA – Shoreline Amphitheatre June 1 – Seattle, WA – Climate Pledge Arena June 2 – Vancouver, BC – Rogers Arena June 4 – Salt Lake City, UT – Vivint Smart Home Arena June 6 – Denver, CO – Fiddler’s Green Amphitheatre June 8 – Minneapolis St. Paul, MN – Xcel Energy Center June 10 – Chicago, IL – United Center June 11 – Cleveland, OH – Blossom Music Center June 13 – Detroit, MI – Pine Knob Music Theatre June 14 – Toronto, ON – Budweiser Stage June 16 – Montreal, QC – Bell Centre June 18 – Boston, MA – Xfinity Center June 20 – New York, NY – Madison Square Garden June 21 – New York, NY – Madison Square Garden June 22 – New York, NY – Madison Square Garden June 24 – Philadelphia, PA – Wells Fargo Center June 25 – Columbia, MD – Merriweather Post Pavilion June 27 – Atlanta, GA – State Farm Arena June 29 – Tampa, FL – Amalie Arena July 1 – Miami, FL – Miami-Dade Arena

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Things to do | review: the cure is a band undiminished in its shows of a lost world tour.

Vincent D. Johnson/for the Chicago Tribune

Robert Smith, center, and the Cure preform at the sold-out United Center in Chicago on June 10, 2023.

Robert Smith sings "Pictures of you" during the Cure's show at the United Center, June 10, 2023.

Fans watch from the front row at the Cure concert at the United Center, June 10, 2023.

Vincent D. Johnson/Chicago Tribune

Fans wave and take photos as Robert Smith of the Cure takes the stage at the United Center.

The Cure's Robert Smith, left, and Simon Gallup play during their show at the United Center in Chicago.

Robert Smith pauses and looks over the crowd during the Cure show at the United Center.

Robert Smith sings as the Cure performs at the United Center in Chicago.

The Cure bassist Simon Gallup plays at the United Center show in Chicago on June 10, 2023.

Robert Smith sings as the Cure plays to a sold-out crowd at the United Center.

Valerie Jones, left, and Bo Baker ahead of the Cure show at the United Center in Chicago, June 10, 2023.

Sisters Juliana, 11, and Olivia Gonzalez, 13, ahead of seeing the Cure at the United Center.

Alyx Longoria, left, and Iza Vasquez, before attending the Cure at the United Center in Chicago.

Gaberiel Vidrine, left, and Drake VonTrapp wait to get into the United Center to see the Cure, June 10, 2023.

The Cure began its career-spanning show Saturday at a sold-out United Center by singing about the end, lamenting extinguished passions and toasting emptiness. All of that packed in just the opening song’s first verse. Not exactly the uplifting approach practiced by many arena bands, and less than commonplace at events where people usually check their troubles at the door and celebrate.

Then again, The Cure has never been a typical arena band, and few other groups can so completely concoct immersive universes out of despair, darkness and desolation. Those and other bleak themes provided the foundation for a marathon 175-minute concert at which the veteran ensemble snubbed its collective nose at nostalgia, dove into the depths of its vast catalog and performed six still-unreleased songs rumored for inclusion on a pair of forthcoming LPs. They have been altering their setlist nightly on their Shows of a Lost World tour.

At a first Chicago appearance in seven years, and prelude to a festival-closing slot at Riot Fest this September, The Cure also showed its cuddlier side. A lengthy second encore filled with familiar favorites and early singles underlined its often-overlooked aptitude with pop craftsmanship — and one point longtime leader Robert Smith even broke form and cracked a smile. Sad, tormented or flirting with happiness for even a moment, the singer-guitarist served as a narrative guide whose innermost searches “for something forever gone” grew more intense the moodier the music became.

For Smith and The Cure, that never-ending hunt continues to outlast trends and defy odds. By any measure, the band remains one of rock’s most improbable success stories. After forming in the late-’70s, The Cure emerged as part of England’s vibrant post-punk scene. A string of acclaimed albums — all of which embraced an outsider aesthetic — soon followed. Though its recording pace has slowed considerably in the 21st century, the group’s mindset hasn’t changed: The Cure still operates on its own terms.

If anything, the mainstream caught up with the band. Even amid the group’s ascension in the ’80s — by which time it headlined festivals, scored hit singles and enjoyed steady video airplay — no other artist conveyed its distinct combination of sound, image and aura. Being different came with consequences. Before the advent of so-called alternative rock in the early ’90s, listening to or dressing like The Cure made fans targets for teasing, bullying or worse.

The bond between the band and its loyal supporters seems as strong as ever. In March, Smith called out Ticketmaster about its high fees and got the ticketing service to refund some of its charges to patrons who bought tickets to the tour. In many markets, The Cure implemented non-transferrable policies, utilized Ticketmaster’s Verified Fan technology and charged as little as $20 for certain seats. At the United Center, the group sold T-shirts and sweatshirts for half the going rate charged by most of its contemporaries.

In another throwback, The Cure kept the stage production basic. Save for shadow-prone illumination and projections that established atmospherics and landscapes — lighting color, brightness and frequency were integral to each tune’s presentation and environment — the sextet homed in on fundamentals. Visually, those elements extended to Smith’s trademarks: black garb, frizzle-fried hair, mottled lipstick, raven mascara.

The Cure’s go-to sonic components involved a rotating assembly of reverb-laden guitars, magnetic bass lines, purring synthesizers, shimmering chimes and edgy percussion often called upon to create drama on a grand scale. The Cure didn’t just play songs. Spurred by the chemistry between Smith, long-standing bassist Simon Gallup and guitarist Reeves Gabrels, the band created kaleidoscopic settings in which Smith’s characters largely sought to escape, take refuge or freeze time.

The Cure demanded patience on the part of the audience. Instrumental introductions occasionally lasted as long as the vocal segments. “And Nothing Is Forever” unfolded to orchestral patterns that found Smith mock-conducting. Notes to the drowsy, forlorn “I Can Never Say Goodbye” seemed to rust before they could decay. All the better for songs often haunted with ghosts, shattered dreams, romantic illusions and circumstances reflecting our present state.

The “birds falling out of our skies” in “Alone” evoked the Canadian wildfires smoke choking cities; untamed desires in “Want” reflected desires for instant gratification; the claustrophobic “Play for Today” conjured a political climate in which taking what we want trumps doing the right thing. Looming dread and the end of the world? “Plainsong” declared it and “Endsong” mourned what was lost, which only amounted to all that Smith’s protagonist loved.

Though he inexplicably said his voice wasn’t up to par, Smith’s age-immune singing — and the manners in which he leveraged tone and phrasing to communicate feelings or converse between partners in the same song — stood out as much as any of the group’s memorable hooks.

Rarely rising above a shout, and projecting with lush texture, Smith cried, howled, pleaded and brooded over material that spanned the extremes. Nimble chamber pop (“Lullaby”), jittery dance (“Why Can’t I Be You?”), Middle Eastern-flavored psychedelia (“If Only Tonight We Could Sleep”) and jazz-spiked electropop (“The Walk”) coexisted with pulsing, jagged songs on which he succumbed to death by a thousand cuts (“Disintegration”) and chased illusions across hallucinogenic soundscapes (“A Forest”).

“I want the world to make me wonder,” Smith sang midway through the show. Ask and receive: His band contained no shortage of curiosities or surprises. Fly to the moon, or beyond.

Bob Gendron is a freelance critic.

Setlist from the United Center June 10

“Alone”

“Pictures of You”

“A Fragile Thing”

“Like Cockatoos”

“A Night Like This”

“Lovesong”

“And Nothing Is Forever”

“If Only Tonight We Could Sleep”

“Burn”

“Charlotte Sometimes”

“Push”

“Play for Today”

“A Forest”

“Shake Dog Shake”

“From the Edge of the Deep Green Sea”

“Endsong”

First encore

“I Can Never Say Goodbye”

“It Can Never Be the Same”

“Want”

“Plainsong”

“Disintegration”

Second encore

“Lullaby”

“The Walk”

“Friday I’m in Love”

“Close to Me”

“Why Can’t I Be You?”

“In Between Days”

“Just Like Heaven”

“Boys Don’t Cry”

“10:15 Saturday Night”

“Killing an Arab”

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The Cure Live in Vancouver: Review

The Cure’s Robert Smith at Vancouver’s Rogers Arena, June 2, 2023 (Photo from the band’s Facebook page)

Thunder roared from the sound system and bursts of simulated lightning set an appropriately stormy tone for The Cure to take the stage. The band eased into the instrumental prelude of “Alone” while Robert Smith wandered to the very edge of the stage front. Slowly, deliberately, one step at a time he crossed from stage right to left, pausing with each step to gaze into the audience as though he were making eye contact with each and every person. It was a magic trick that made Vancouver’s Rogers Arena feel intimate on this June 2, 2023 night.

Forty years of musical history is a lot to cover but The Cure took the next two hours and 45 minutes to do just that. Performing songs from all but two of their 13 studio albums, Smith and company journeyed through the tumult, angst and glorious alt-pop that earned them a well-deserved spot in the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame.

They slipped right into three songs from Disintegration, the album that first brought Smith’s themes of romance and gloom together in an epic saga of a record. “Pictures of You” shimmered as it rolled from one melodramatic bridge to the other, with Smith making certain that the audience felt the same heartache as he: “If only I’d thought of the right words…I could have held on to your heart.”

Bassist Simon Gallup is the longest-standing member of The Cure (other than Smith) and a mentor of The Cure’s distinctive sound. He uses chord progressions to add as much melody to the songs as do the lead guitars and keyboards. “Lovesong” is one of his best bass lines as he twists between lift and low-end that provide a rhythmic canvas for the gorgeous synth washes and hooky guitars. Aside from his musical prowess, Gallup is just plain fun to watch. With his guitar strapped just above the knees, he hunches to reach the strings, skips around the stage, and occasionally perches atop a monitor like a parrot with a pompadour ruling over the bedlam of his bandmates.

It was a glorious beginning that spilled into a deep dive of more arcane songs that afford the guitarists the room to show off just how musical they are. Perry Bamonte, a longstanding member, provides a steady rhythm for Reeves Gabrels’ leads, soundscapes and effects. When Smith joins with them, they form a virtual guitar orchestra, creating an atmospheric river of tones, noise-scape and rhythmic drive. Poised at his keyboard rig, barely moving the entire night, Roger O’Donnell stoically represents the calm of the storm, adding the intoxicating synth parts and keyboard melodies that are the essence of The Cure’s beauty.

An ambitious setlist doesn’t always work in a band’s favor and early on it felt like Smith and company had bogged down with a sequence of songs that all felt too similar together. Two new songs, “And Nothing is Forever” and “A Fragile Thing,” are beautiful but sandwiched together with “It Can Never Be The Same” they’re smothered by too much, ironically, of the same. They deserved more room to breathe on their own to be fully enjoyed.

Showcasing the jackhammer drive of drummer Jason Cooper, they lit the stage fire-red and exploded into the brooding rocker, “Burn.” All eyes were on Cooper as the backdrop for the entire song was a close-up of him relentlessly pounding out a sort of industrial “Hey Bo Diddley” rhythm. Cooper’s secret power is his ability to blend beats—world, jazz, Latin, R&B—to whip up a punky jazz polyrhythm that is his own.

“Push” opens the door to a more raucous energy not exhibited until this point. On the stage backdrop the audience sees itself via a camera located from the point of view of Cooper. It’s a cool effect and it pumps up the audience energy as it responds with the most thunderous applause of the night. The band keeps the energy high with two songs from Seventeen Seconds, “Play for Today” and an extended version of “A Forest,” that crescendoed madly into a guitar duel between Smith and Gallup, giving Smith the opportunity to show-off his Hendrix-esque chops.

Watch “Play for Today” from the show in Portland on May 31

Reeves Gabrels is tasked with the responsibility of duplicating guitar parts that were mostly created by Smith and are integral components of the songs and sound of The Cure. An accomplished musician with a long history with David Bowie, Gabrel arduously accomplishes his assignment while finding the space to add his own flourishes and solos. He shines on every song and though he has never recorded with The Cure, his chemistry with Smith and the other band members is fraternal.

They close the set with “Endsong,” which was maybe too clever. Finishing on the high energy note of “Shake Dog Shake” would have had the crowd loud and stomping for more leading into the encore. But that probably doesn’t matter to Robert Smith.

There are two encores. The first begins with a cathartic ode to Smith’s lost brother, “I Can Never Say Goodbye,” in which his vocal is riddled with aching pain and Gabrels’ guitar solo is fierce and angry. The sweeping and majestic “Plainsong” follows and then “Disintegration.” Smith’s vocals have been exquisite all night, displaying a range of emotion that few can match; vulnerability flows to joy and slips into sorrow.

On “Disintegration” his vocal intensity amplifies and elevates into a never-ending crescendo of rage as he laments “songs about happiness, murmured in dreams, when both of us knew, how the end always is . ”

When the band returns for the second encore, it playa 10 songs, all but one of which are included in the band’s 2001 Greatest Hits album. Without breaking it down by song, it’s a whirling kaleidoscope of despair set to timeless pop hooks, delirious synth washes, crashing drums, see-sawing guitars riffs and buoyant bass lines, each a little masterpiece on its own. Smith announces that they have six minutes till curfew and off they go with “10:15 Saturday Night/Killing An Arab” to finish.

I can’t think of a way to sum this up but to use the words from Trent Reznor’s Rock and Roll Hall of Fame induction speech: “ The Cure are one of the most unique, most brilliant, most heartbreakingly excellent rock bands the world has ever known.” They were all that and more tonight.

Watch the Cure perform “10:15 Saturday Night” and “Killing an Arab” at this show

Tickets to see The Cure are available here and here .

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1 Comment so far

Best review yet. I was in tears after reading what you wrote about the Cure. I couldn’t agree more with ending on a quote from Trent reznor. You obviously know and understand the band a lot better than other journalists. Equating them to a fine wine was . And people who know best and love them best and appreciate them best can always have a critique. Yours were spoken like a true fan and true appreciator of the better things in life. Thank you!

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The Cure Doubles Its Previous Best With $37.5 Million North American Tour

The Shows of a Lost World Tour sets career highs for the band, even after fighting to keep ticket prices low.

By Eric Frankenberg

Eric Frankenberg

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While those figures are personal highs among the band’s global touring career (dating back to The Cure’s first Boxscore reports in 1985; the band has been touring since the late ‘70s), apples-to-apples comparisons against its North American treks spotlight the tour’s success even better. The $37.5 million revenue total is more than double the band’s previous North American high of $18 million in 2016. And the 547,000 tickets surpass 1992’s 402,000.

Routing for the Shows of a Lost World Tour mixed arenas and amphitheaters in the U.S., yielding its biggest returns in the expected markets. Three shows at Los Angeles’ Hollywood Bowl grossed $4.9 million and sold 50,800 tickets, while a three-peat at New York’s Madison Square Garden brought in $4.1 million from 44,300 tickets. Atlanta, Montreal and San Francisco follow.

Nightly attendance never dipped below 12,000, and averaged 15,629. That marks a 43% improvement over 2016’s 10,952, which itself was a 48% bump from The Cure’s 2008 tour. The band hadn’t averaged such a high attendance since 1989, when it paced 19,539 tickets in support of Disintegration . (That album was, at the time, the band’s highest charting album on the Billboard 200 [No. 12], containing its highest ranking hit on the Billboard Hot 100 : “Love Song” [No. 2].)

This bar graph mirrors the peak-valley-peak trajectory that Billboard reported on Janet Jackson ’s comeback spring tour. Both acts have sprawling discographies with close to a half century’s worth of beloved songs. That’s the kind of pitch that, after an extended break, can elevate an artist into their highly profitable legacy era, so-to-speak, soaking one’s deep roster of hits in a bath of nostalgia and extra disposable income.

Janet Jackson and The Cure may not make for the most obvious apples-to-apples comparison. But like Jackson, The Cure established a Boxscore peak around the turn of the ‘90s, before letting its legacy build to a new peak in the 2020s. Like Jackson, The Cure is touring without new material, many years away from its last album. (The band last released a new studio set in 2008.) Their 2023 shows marked the first North American tour for either act since the mid-2010s.

And while the effects of Jackson’s highly publicized mid-'00s controversy don’t quite apply here, the Shows of a Lost World Tour generated its own batch of headlines earlier this year. Frontman Robert Smith spoke out about various “ scams ” and fees , courtesy Ticketmaster and the larger secondary market , resisting dynamic pricing, platinum ticketing and scaled re-sale . The band went as far as to ensure that every show had a price option of $30 or less. Further, after fans made Smith aware of exorbitant fees, he negotiated with Ticketmaster to issue refunds.

As lines between primary and secondary ticket sellers blur and pricing strategies become more creative, concert revenues for arena acts have surged . And though it may seem like perfect timing to pair those ticketing practices with The Cure’s much-anticipated return to the stage, the band’s defiant public stand against gouging fans worked out in the end.

The Shows of a Lost World Tour averaged a $68.54 price, 37% less than the triple-digit average ticket among the top 50 tours on Billboard ’s midyear 2023 recap. Only one artist in that top 50 – The 1975 – averaged less ($63.01), and that was with mostly European shows, where tickets haven’t exploded in the same way as the U.S., where The Cure played.

Still, the tour made enough money to have ranked among the top 20, had its shows been eligible (The midyear charts are based on shows between Nov. 1, 2022 – April 30, 2023. The Cure’s tour began on May 10.). The Cure’s bulked-up, career-high grosses are owed to consistently sold-out crowds, perhaps nudged along by the band’s steadfast dedication to affordable tickets.

Though the Shows of a Lost World Tour has wrapped, The Cure will play a slew of festivals plus a few standalone shows in Latin America between September and December.

Stretching back to 1985, The Cure has grossed a reported $146.1 million and sold 3 million tickets.

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Music and Concerts | Concert review: The Cure’s Robert Smith gave…

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Music and concerts, music and concerts | concert review: the cure’s robert smith gave ageless performance at the x that left the crowd glowing, in some ways, the show was quite similar to the cure’s previous show at the x in 2016, which was the group’s first minnesota show in 20 years..

Something was missing from the Cure’s concert Thursday night at St. Paul’s Xcel Energy Center — overpriced tickets.

That’s solely because lead singer Robert Smith, 64, took on Ticketmaster and won. Smith insisted that Ticketmaster not use dynamic pricing on the tour, and forced the ticketing giant to partially refund some of the company’s infamous fees. He also convinced Ticketmaster to limit any resale tickets to face value.

Robert Smith did that. Not Taylor Swift or Bruce Springsteen or Beyonce, but Robert Smith. The elderly goth with the smeared lipstick and fright wig hairdo.

Smith’s doggedness on this topic likely added to the festive mood of the near-capacity crowd, who cheered throughout the nearly three-hour concert (and probably nabbed some extra merch due to the cheap seats).

EARLIER: The Cure’s Robert Smith took on Ticketmaster — and won

In some ways, the show was quite similar to the Cure’s previous show at the X in 2016 , which was the group’s first Minnesota show in 20 years. Smith and company played a set largely focused on the band’s first decade, when they went from a scruffy post-punk trio to a world-conquering arena act. Both the hits (“Pictures of You,” “Lovesong,” “A Forest”) and album tracks (“At Night,” “Shake Dog Shake,” “Push”) made the cut.

The big difference, though, was the airing of a handful of new songs from the band’s impending new album “Songs of a Lost World,” which doesn’t have a release date. (Smith has been talking about it since early 2019.) Although the Cure did open the first encore in 2016 with “It Can Never Be the Same,” the other new ones were likely familiar only to fans who hit YouTube for tour footage.

Of the new ones, “And Nothing Is Forever” was the most promising. It’s a slow and grandiose ballad that wouldn’t have sounded out of place on 1989’s “Disintegration,” the biggest-selling album in the band’s catalog. They closed the main set with another new one called “Endsong.” (I know, it’s tough to believe the Cure didn’t already have a song called “Endsong.”)

While so much unfamiliar material is often a drawback for a legacy act, the Cure made it work. Smith’s voice is as strong as it’s ever been, and the band’s obvious chemistry made for compelling listening, whether we knew the songs or not. Longtime bassist Simon Gallup and keyboardist Roger O’Donnell locked right in with the newer faces like former David Bowie guitarist Reeves Gabrels who has been in the Cure now for (checks notes) 11 years. Smith also extended many of the songs, especially the slower ones, and upped the moody instrumental breaks.

Back in 2016, the Cure played 15 numbers across a whopping four encores. This time around they kept it to a similar length but played just two encores. The first focused on darker stuff, like the new “I Can Never Say Goodbye,” “Plainsong” and “Disintegration.” The group packed encore No. 2 with some of their biggest, poppiest hits with the likes of “Friday I’m in Love,” “In Between Days” and “Just Like Heaven,” leaving fans glowing and humming their way out the doors.

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‘THE TOP’ ON PICTURE DISC – RECORD STORE DAY 2024

Published : 15 feb 2024, ‘paris’ 30th anniversary release announced, published : 08 feb 2024, roger to miss latam leg of the shows of a lost world tour, published : 14 nov 2023, the singers talk, published : 13 sep 2023, ‘show’ 2lp black vinyl, published : 27 jul 2023, new south american standalone shows announced, published : 23 jun 2023, thank you for signing up for updates, an email has been sent to you to confirm your address..

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