The Cure‘s Robert Smith has revealed he thought the band would part ways after their performance at Hyde Park in 2018.
The 2018 London headline show was attended by 65,000 fans and met with rave reviews. NME wrote of the career-spanning set: “With Smith’s voice as strong and pure as it has ever been over the last four decades and the band clearly revelling in the joy of just playing, you sense that you’re witnessing that rare feat of a band perhaps entering their prime rather than their twilight years.”
Now though, Smith has admitted that he thought the performance “would be it” for the band. Speaking to Uncut, the frontman said: “I thought that was the end of The Cure. I didn’t plan it, but I had a sneaky feeling that this was going to be it. But it was such a great day and such a great response, I enjoyed it so much and we got a flood of offers to headline every major European festival. ‘Do you want to play Glastonbury?’ So I thought maybe it’s not the right time to stop.
“I wasn’t stopping because I didn’t want to do it any more, I just thought it would allow me a few years when I’d still be able to do something else,” he continued. “I wasn’t that bothered, funnily enough. I’d arranged everything to end in 2018, so when we got to 2019, I felt relieved. ‘We did it!’ I’ve had a different outlook to everything since.”
Perry Bamonte, Reeves Gabrels, and Robert Smith of The Cure at Riot Fest on September 17, 2023 in Chicago, Illinois. (Photo by Barry Brecheisen/WireImage)
After the Hyde Park performance, The Cure went on to headline Glastonbury in 2019. Speaking to NME shortly after their set, Smith said that walking out on stage at Worthy Farm “was the biggest moment so far for us. This was the concert that matters.”
Smith also told us how the Hyde Park gig informed their Glasto set, saying: “We hadn’t considered it yet when we played Hyde Park last summer. Hyde Park was going to be our grand finale, our big day in the sun. We were astonished by the response. If it wasn’t THE best crowd we’ve ever had, it was certainly one of them. From beginning to end.
He went on to say: “It was one of the happiest days I’ve had. It probably won’t be repeated. It was a fantastic way to mark the 40th anniversary of the band, because I’m not sure we’ll get to a 50th.”
The legendary band are preparing to release ‘Songs Of A Lost World‘ – their first album since 2008’s ‘4:13 Dream’ – on November 1. You can pre-order the album here. So far, they have released two singles from the record: ‘Alone’ and ‘A Fragile Thing’.
In a five-star review of ‘Songs Of A Lost World’, NME wrote: “The frontman suggested that another two records may be arriving at some point, but ‘Songs Of A Lost World’ feels sufficient enough for the wait we’ve endured, just for being arguably the most personal album of Smith’s career. Mortality may loom, but there’s colour in the black and flowers on the grave.”
The album has been a long time in the making, with Smith saying in a clip posted to the band’s Instagram account last month: “I don’t think there was really a kind of an official beginning to this album because it’s been kind of drifting in and out of my life for an awful long time. I mean if I have one regret is that I said anything at all about it in 2019 because I really shouldn’t have done that.”
At the BandLab NME Awards 2022, he shared details about ‘Songs Of A Lost World’ and its sister album. He said: “So I’ve been working on two Cure albums, and one of them is finished,” he added. “Unfortunately, it’s the second one that’s finished. [On the other] I’ve got to do four vocals, and there are 10 songs on each album. We’re mixing next month on April 1, so I’ve got three weeks left.”
Fans in the UK and Europe can pre-order their copy of the album here before 11:59pm on October 16 for the chance to access tickets for the show. Anyone who has already pre-ordered the album will automatically have access to the ticket sale. Tickets will then go on general sale at 3pm on October 17, with £1 from each ticket sold being donated to War Child.
For those unable to attend, the show will also be livestreamed for free on YouTube.
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