the cure hollywood bowl may 23 2023
photo: @dommerfly

Watch The Cure debut new song "Another Happy Birthday" at 1st Hollywood Bowl show (setlist, video)

The Cure debuted a handful of new songs on the European leg of their “Shows From a Lost World tour” last year, but they’ve been shy about that on the current North American leg. Until now. Tuesday was the first of three Hollywood Bowl shows, and in the middle of their main set, Robert Smith and the rest of the band played new song “Another Happy Birthday” for the first time.

It will probably not come as a surprise to learn that the birthday in question is not happy at all, as Robert sings about someone he’s lost: “And your birthday is the worst day / I’m singing to a ghost / ‘Happy birthday’ / I forget how it goes.”

You can watch video of “Another Happy Birthday” below.

As for the rest of their Hollywood Bowl Night 1 set, its 29 songs were all ones they’ve played this year, including “Six Different Ways” and “A Thousand Hours” (which hadn’t been performed since the ’80s before the current tour), new songs “Alone” and “End,” and a whole bunch of classics including “Pictures of You,” “Charlotte Sometimes,” “Primary,” “A Forest,” “The Walk,” “Friday I’m in Love,” “Close to Me,” “Boys Don’t Cry,” “Lovesong,” “In Between Days,” “Just Like Heaven,” and more.

Check out the full Hollywood Bowl Night 1 setlist, plus more fan-shot video and Instagram pics, below.

The Cure’s tour hits NYC for three shows at Madison Square Garden on June 20-22.

You are following Robert Smith on Twitter, aren’t you?

SETLIST: The Cure @ Hollywood Bowl 5/23/2023
Alone
Pictures of You
A Night Like This
Lovesong
And Nothing Is Forever
The Last Day of Summer
A Fragile Thing
Burn
Another Happy Birthday
Charlotte Sometimes
Push
Primary
Shake Dog Shake
From the Edge of the Deep Green Sea
Endsong

Encore:
I Can Never Say Goodbye
It Can Never Be the Same
A Thousand Hours
At Night
A Forest

Encore 2:
Lullaby
Six Different Ways
The Walk
Friday I’m in Love
Doing the Unstuck
Close to Me
In Between Days
Just Like Heaven
Boys Don’t Cry