The Cure playing three-hour sets on tour -- check out pics/setlist from Austin with Twilight Sad
photos by Tim Griffin
After so many years as one of the biggest bands in the world, it’s impossible to imagine The Cure ever playing in a smaller room. Their sound is huge, their songs timeless, and it all feels made for arenas. Robert Smith’s voice is so powerfully dramatic and even on this night in 2016 it sounded as if it hasn’t aged a day, especially on the sprawling epic “Bloodflowers” (the band’s first time playing the song since 2008). Only a band like The Cure could manage to play four separate encores and not piss off their audience every time they leave the stage again. The first of these saw the performance of new song “Step Into the Light”, and later they would treat the audience to another new song with the gloomy “It Can Never Be The Same”. Between those there were appearances of songs that hadn’t been played regularly for years, like the spunky rocker “Never Enough” and the b-side “The Exploding Boy”. It was during the encores that the band also chose to throw in a few more of their lighter hits, like the funky pop tune “Hot Hot Hot!”, “Close To Me”, and of course “Friday I’m In Love” since it was Friday the 13th. “Burn” would feature Smith adding a touch of flute, and he would soon after take one of his finest guitar solos of the night during “A Forest”. – [Glide Magazine]
The Cure are currently on tour and have been wowing fans with three-hour sets filled with favorites, deep cuts (nice to see “Screw” from Head on the Door here) and a few new songs as well. The group, which in addition to frontman Robert Smith, currently includes longtime members Simon Gallup and Roger O’Donnel as well as Bowie’s Tin Machine guitarist Reeves Gabrels, hit Austin on Friday the 13th (appropriate!) at the Frank Erwin Center and played 33 songs across their main set and four encores. Check out pics from the Austin show (including ones of tour openers The Twilight Sad) in the gallery above and setlist below.
You can also watch video of the two new songs they’ve been playing — “It Can Never Be The Same” and “Step Into the New Light” — from their New Orleans show, below.
Robert Smith and the rest of The Cure will be in NYC in June for three sold-out shows at Madison Square Garden.
SETLIST: The Cure at Frank Erwin Center, Austin, 5/13/2016
Out of This World
Pictures of You
Closedown
A Night Like This
All I Want
Push
Last Dance
Lovesong
Just Like Heaven
This Twilight Garden
Lullaby
Fascination Street
Screw
The End of the World
Want
Us or Them
The Hungry Ghost
Prayers for Rain
Bloodflowers
Encore:
Step Into the Light
Shake Dog Shake
Never Enough
Wrong Number
Encore 2:
Hot Hot Hot!!!
Close to Me
The Exploding Boy
In Between Days
Doing the Unstuck
Friday I’m in Love
Encore 3:
Burn
It Can Never Be the Same
Encore 4:
A Forest
Boys Don’t Cry
