The Cure will release the live show they played on the night of the release of ‘Songs Of A Lost World’ as a live album this month.
Titled ‘Songs Of A Live World Troxy London MMXXIV’, the album will be released in multiple physical formats on December 13 via Fiction/Polydor, with all of the band’s royalties being donated to the charity War Child.
As well as a single CD and a single clear vinyl LP, there will a double CD version, single and double LP blood red vinyl editions and a double LP including an instrumental version of the album to follow on February 14. You can pre-order your copy here.
The show took place on November 1 at London’s Troxy in front of 3000 fans, and was livestreamed for free on YouTube to more than a million people (you can still watch it here). The Cure were on the night: Robert Smith (vocals, guitar, six string bass, keyboards), Simon Gallup (bass), Jason Cooper (drums, percussion), Roger O’Donnell (keyboards), Reeves Gabrels (guitar) and Perry Bamonte (guitar, six string bass, keyboards).
The ‘Songs Of A Live World Troxy London MMXXIV’ tracklist is:
‘Alone’
‘And Nothing Is Forever’
‘A Fragile Thing’
‘Warsong’
‘Drone:Nodrone’
‘I Can Never Say Goodbye’
‘All I Ever Am’
‘Endsong’
Among those in attendance at the show were Green Day‘s Billie Joe Armstrong, Radiohead‘s Ed O’Brien, Boy George, Mogwai‘s Stuart Braithwaite, members of Duran Duran, actor Mathew Horne and comedian Stewart Lee, Pale Waves, Just Mustard, Dr Brian Cox, Chris Packham, My Bloody Valentine icon Kevin Shields and Pedro Pascal.
NME was also there, and noted: “The feel of ‘Songs Of A Lost World’ with its long introductions and heavy tapestry of sound felt so complete and natural for the band – landing live like an addition to the ‘dark trilogy’ of ‘Disintegration’, ‘Pornography’ and ‘Bloodflowers’. As Cooper’s shuddering and monolithic drums brought in ‘Endsong’ before Gabrels’ howling and epic guitar solo, the first set closed as one that will go down in history for fans of The Cure.”
They played ‘Songs Of A Lost World’ in full at the show, their first new album in 16 years, and treated those in attendance to a run of hits and favourites from across their career, although the live album will be limited to just the tracks from the new album.
The Troxy show looks likely to be The Cure’s final concert before they tour in autumn 2025. Smith has also revealed that the band have another new album that’s “virtually finished” – with a third new record also on the way. He has stated he aims to complete one of the LPs before hitting the road again in 2025.
“We’ll start up again next year,” said Smith. “Seriously, I have to finish the second album. We were going to play festivals next year, but then I decided that we weren’t going to play anything next summer. The next time we go out on stage will be autumn next year.
“But then we’ll probably be playing quite regularly through until the next anniversary – the 2028 anniversary! It’s looming on the horizon. The 2018 one, I started to think about in late 2016, thinking, ‘I’ve got a year and a half, it’s easy!’ And yet I still didn’t manage to get there in time. Now, I’m starting to think, ‘2028, I must get things in order’; so [that’s] the documentary film and things like that.”
In a five-star review of ‘Songs Of A Lost World’, NME concluded: “Merciless? Yes, but there’s always enough heart in the darkness and opulence in the sound to hold you and place these songs alongside The Cure’s finest. 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.”
This weekend, The Cure released a new EP, ‘A Fragile Thing’, which contained the Troxy performance of the track, as well as an official re-working by Smith and a shortened radio edit.
The Cure recently shared a deluxe edition of ‘Songs Of A Lost World’ ahead of the original record earning the band their first UK Number One album in 32 years. Their only other full-length project to hit the top spot is 1992’s ‘Wish’.
