The Cure at the top of its game after more than 46 years of existence
Dark beauty
For forty spellbinding minutes, The Cure delivers an immersive performance, performing for the first time, and in full, each piece of “Songs Of The Lost World”. The only interaction with his fans is music. Of a dark beauty, as we have already emphasized, with texts haunted by loss, disillusionment, doubts, obsessions and anxieties. Nothing joyful in these songs crossed by long instrumental passages but nevertheless an atmosphere where it is good to abandon oneself.
A gift given
The giant chandelier of the old cinema is always illuminated, accentuating the light/dark side of this record that everyone, starting with its composer Robert Smith, compares to the legendary “Disintegration” (1989), a masterpiece of the period. Gothic of the English formation. In the room, the multi-generational crowd is enjoying it. It’s a gift from The Cure. An event. The day before, The Cure had given two short performances in the BBC studios. The world tour will not begin until fall 2025, making this unique moment even more precious.
Requiem
If five of the eight tracks on the disc had already been performed during the Shows Of A Lost Tour which visited the Sportpaleis in Antwerp in 2002, the experience of listening in full reveals the full coherence of the subject. Performed for the very first time, Warsong et Drone No Drone are impressive. Intense in their rhythm, very rock with these layered guitars, very dark in the sound palette with this always phenomenal bass playing from Simon Gallup. Song written the day after the sudden death of Richard Smith, brother of Robert Smith, I Can Never Say Goodbye is particularly poignant. And what about the eleven minutes of Endsong, a requiem-shaped song which closes the record and the first act of an evening which has not yet revealed all of its magic.
31 pieces
Ten minutes after leaving the stage, it’s the return with fanfare for the part Hits and Vintage Songs. And there it is, delirium. All the gothic classics are there. All the pop songs are unrolled. Of Plainsong has Boys Don’t Crythere is not a moment of respite. The group goes from pearl to pearl. Enjoy it. And give some. It offers rarities (Burn pull the bo The Crow, Secrets from the album “Seventeen Seconds” played for the first time since 2011. Fascination Street is connected to A Night Like This. Five titles of Seventeen Seconds are grouped together at the end of the set with cataclysmic versions of Play For Today et A Forest. And while fans are already rushing towards the merchandising, Robert and co return for a fireworks display made up of Lullaby, The Walk, Friday I’m in Love, Close to Me, Why Can’t I Be You et Boys Don’t Cry.
This Friday, November 1st, The Cure remained on stage for almost three hours. He played 31 songs. The group has just released one of the best albums of their forty-six-year career. It has never been so popular and has further amplified its supremacy in a masterful way. After all these years, it’s mind-blowing.