The Cure performing at their first concert in Riga, October 6th, 2022, for the first time and with the only concert in the Baltic States The Cure performed at Arēna Rīga. The icons, supported by now-regular touring partners and one of frontman Robert Smith’s favourite bands The Twilight Sad, began their long run of 2022 dates with a show at Arena Riga in Riga this evening – airing two new songs fans assume are from their long-awaited new album, ‘Songs Of A Lost World‘
Discussing the themes and character of the long-awaited follow-up to 2008’s ‘4:13 Dream‘, Smith said that the album “doesn’t have very much light on it” and that it sounds “more like ‘Disintegration’ than ‘Head On The Door’.” Having long teased the band’s long-awaited “merciless” new record – after telling us that two new albums were on the way back in 2020 – Smith revealed this year that one of them would be “real very soon” and would be called ‘Songs Of A Lost World’.
“It’s pretty relentless, which will appeal to the hardcore of our audience, but I don’t think we’ll be getting any Number One singles off it or anything like that!” he laughed. “It’s been quite harrowing, like it has for everyone else.
Smith added: “Essentially we recorded two albums in 2019. I’ve been trying to finish two at the same time, which is pretty much impossible. One is nearly ready to go.”
“I’ve been more privileged than most, but lockdown and COVID has affected me in as much as I’ve lost an entire generation of aunts and uncles in under a year. It’s things like that which have informed the way I’ve been with the record.”
Opening their 25 song set – where they were also joined by Bamonte, returning to the band having been a member between 1990 and 2005 – The Cure started with the sprawling and bittersweet ‘Alone’; a tender track that saw Smith begin with the line: ‘This is the end of every song we sing‘.
At the end of the first set, which included classics and fan favourites such as ‘Pictures Of You’, ‘Trust’, ‘Fascination Street’ and ‘In Between Days’, The Cure debuted another new song ‘Endsong’ – a much more sombre number where Smith lamented how ‘it’s all gone‘ repeatedly, in a life with ‘no hopes, no dreams, no love – I don’t belong‘.
The concert last night also saw the return of guitarist Perry Bamonte to The Cure’s ranks after 17 years away. He was previously a member of The Cure from 1990 to 2015. Alongside frontman and founder Robert Smith, The Cure’s line-up also features Simon Gallup (bass), Roger O’Donnell (keyboards), Jason Cooper (drums) and Reeves Gabriels (guitars/bass).
The band then returned for more more encores, delivering the likes of ‘Plainsong’, ‘Close To Me’, ‘Friday I’m In Love’ and ‘Boys Don’t Cry’.
The Fat Angel Sings 