See the Cure Unearth Deep Cuts at Primavera Sound Headlining Set

The Cure played their first show in 18 months Friday at Barcelona’s Primavera Sound, where the band performed a handful of deep cuts live for the first time in years.

During their massive 29-song headlining set, Robert Smith and company played their usual stable of hits and fan favorites before first deviating to give the “Lovesong” B-side “2 Late” its first performance since 2019.

The Cure later unearthed “alt.end” and Wild Mood Swings’ “Mint Car” live for the first time since 2018 and 2016, respectively. One more surprise arrived during the encore, where the band busted out “Wrong Number” for the first time since 2019.

The band’s Primavera Sound set was their first since a November 1, 2024 gig at London’s Troxy, a gig that featured a full-album performance of their then-new LP Songs of a Lost World; perhaps to mark a movement toward their next era — and rumored new album — the Cure’s Primavera set only featured two songs from Songs of a Lost World, “Alone” and “End Song.”

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The Cure have booked a summer’s worth of European concerts and festival gigs, including stops at Belgium’s Rock Werchter, Denmark’s Roskilde, the Netherlands’ Pinkpop, and the U.K.’s Isle of Wight.

While the Cure have not yet announced their rumored follow-up to Songs of a Lost World, the band has been back in the news lately thanks to their influence on Olivia Rodrigo’s upcoming LP, which includes a song name-checking the Cure (“Drop Dead“) as well as a track appropriately titled “The Cure.” (Rodrigo, who announced Saturday that she would perform a surprise set at Primavera Sound, did not take part in the Cure’s set.) Smith will also appear on the Rolling Stones’ upcoming album Foreign Tongues.