Hard to believe it’s already nine(!?) years since The Cure played their festive run of gigs at the Hammersmith Apollo, a venue that keeps changing its name but which to me will always be, well… Hammersmith Apollo.

There was a lot of speculation from fans online about the gigs. Would they be like the Trilogy shows? Would they play the Top, The Head on the Door, and Kiss Me albums over the three nights? Would there be new songs?

The announcement of the support act was a big hint. And Also the Trees would join our heroes just as they did for the 1984 shows at the same venue. The Top album formed the backbone (or Bananafishbones?) of the set, which also included some rareties and plenty of crowd pleasers. (Tantalisingly, The Cure also soundchecked Stop Dead, but it didn’t appear in the set…)

The first night was a brilliant timewarp of the band’s back catalogue, and reminded me that a Cure gig really is like time travel through past, present (and sometimes into the future). Like Cockatoos was a feathery flurry of nostalgia (a favourite of mine, which The Cure played at my first ever Cureshow). Many of The Top tracks were performed for the first time in 30 years, and the unhinged brilliance that is A Man Inside My Mouth made its live debut.

Another rare outing (Hey You!!!) brought festivities to a joyous close, with the crowd singing & dancing along in the aisles. But the at-close-quarters party atmosphere inside the packed and sweaty venue also meant that I got ill and couldn’t attend the third and final night. But two out of three ain’t bad when you’re seeing the best band in the (empty) world.

See what The Cure played here.

Check out some video footage, while it’s still available.

and Happy Winter Solstice x

Frazer x