#thecure | FrazerLee.com

The Cure’s 40th anniversary was always going to be special. But quite this special? What a day. What a night. Let’s rewind to 7th July 2018…

It was a scorchingly sunny Summer’s day in Londontown & 65,000 of the faithful descended on Hyde Park in a shimmer of summer hats beneath a black cloud of tour t-shirts. Robert Smith had curated quite the line-up (something of a continuation of his amazing Meltdown Festival during the preceding month).

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Editors, Pale Waves, Lisa Hannigan, The Twilight Sad, Ride, Goldfrapp (spent most of their set queueing for a t-shirt), Interpol, (and more!) all went down a storm before The Cure arrived onstage to a truly rapturous heroes’ welcome.

Interpol at Hyde Park 7/7/18 (Photo ©Frazer Lee)

What followed was the consummate festival set (reminiscent of their standout Bestival shows from 2011 & 2016) featuring an embarrassment of hits & some strategically placed deeper & darker grooves like Burn & If Only Tonight We Could Sleep.

The encores had everyone singing along, (their voices already raw from cheering for Engerland in the World Cup quarter final earlier) and The Cure brought its anniversary to a close with a clutch of the tunes that have helped them endure in the hearts & on the stereos and playlists of so many.

I’m glad that I was lucky enough to have seen the ‘Curaetion-25’ Meltdown show a couple of weeks earlier, when they played two tracks off each album forwards then backwards along the Cure’s timeline. It meant that i was (a little) less obsessive about hearing songs from Pornography & Faith than i usually am!

I couldn’t help but think of the stark contrast with the band’s previous Hyde Park outing, in 2002. That was one of their darkest outdoor sets (and one of my favourites, natch!) and really felt like the end of a chapter for the band — whereas this anniversary show felt like a joyous pause, a playful stocktake before the beginning of a new one.

Early on, Robert apologised for his lack of banter between songs, but as the sun went down he opened up a bit. “Thanks to everyone around me, I’m still here…” Robert mumbled, “and to you as well, so thank you very much!”

We had the opportunity to relive this special show all over again, in cinemas, with the Anniversary film shot by none other than Tim Pope, and then at home with the sumptuous 40 Live box set.

“It’s been a good four decades, here’s to the next one,” Robert said at the end of this epic gig, “here’s to the next one! See you again very soon!”

And we did. But as ever, that’s another story…

See what The Cure played on 7th July 2018 here.

Follow The Cure on Twitter, Instagram, Facebook, and visit the official website.

Comment below with your Cure memories! I’d love to hear them!

This time 33 years ago(!) I was aboard a coach & stuck in traffic en route from sunny Staffordshire to an even sunnier Crystal Palace for the event of the year — The Garden Party.

For their South London Pleasure Trips show The Cure had put together a dream lineup with All About Eve, James & Lush providing sonic support.

I remember packing 2 cassette tapes in my bag (Scarlet & Other Stories by the Eves and the B52s Cosmic Thing) and persuaded the coach driver to play them, which was great… until we hit motorway traffic and the tape just kept auto playing until we’d all heard Loveshack far too many times!

Legging it off the bus to catch the last bit of Lush’s set (bloody traffic) there was time to grab a t-shirt…

…before a bit of a Sit Down for James (geddit?), a fair bit of goth hand dancing for AAE (joined by Wayne Hussey on guitar to riotous applause), and then the lake in front of the stage became a dry ice mood swamp as The Cure hit the stage and launched into Shake Dog Shake. Amazing.

There was this ramp thingy with barriers keeping people away from the lake (and several metres from the stage, Robert quipping about needing boats), which made for a piss poor view even down the front. I remember moving back as night fell for some deep cuts including The Same Deep Water As You (aka ‘no, YOU’RE crying’) and (OMG!) Lament. So brilliant to hear those songs under a starlit sky.

Fireworks fizzed and crackled across the lake as The Cure told us whatever they do it’s Never Enough.

Honestly, I could have died happy just having heard Lament played live, and so beautifully, but there were more legendary Cure shows in store…

See what The Cure played here.

Instafollow: The Cure, Julianne Regan (AAE), James, Miki Berenyi from Lush.