The Cure returned to the stage at Primavera Sound in Barcelona on Friday night for their first performance in nearly two years, delivering a 29-song headlining set led by Robert Smith and introducing a new six-piece live lineup.
The set carried weight in the details: nine songs in the encore, the Lovesong B-side "2 Late" played for the first time since 2019, "Mint Car" not played live since 2016, and "alt.end" back after a 2018 absence. The encore included "Wrong Number," heard live for the first time since 2019, while staple singles such as "Pictures of You," "Fascination Street," "In Between Days," "Just Like Heaven," "Push" and "A Forest" anchored the night.
Friday’s performance also confirmed a lineup change. The Primavera appearance marked the debut of The Cure’s six-piece live band with Eden Gallup stepping in on bass and keyboard following the death of longtime member Perry Bamonte in December 2025 after a short illness.
Context shifts the simple fact of a return into something sharper: the band’s Primavera set was their first since a November 1, 2024 gig at London’s Troxy, where they performed Songs of a Lost World in full. Yet in Barcelona the group played only two songs from that album — "Alone" and "End Song" — a choice that felt deliberate against the recent full-album staging in London.
That contrast was the night’s friction. Presented as a return after a long absence, the Primavera program reached back into The Cure’s past for rarities and crowd favorites while largely sidestepping the newer album that dominated their last London show. The result was a set that celebrated history and lineup change more obviously than it promoted fresh material.
For fans the evening delivered specific payoffs: rarities resurfacing after gaps of seven to nine years, an extended encore that reopened nights with the band, and the clear presence of Smith as the evening’s center. For the band it was a staging point — a festival headline slot that reintroduced their new touring configuration and reminded audiences of their catalog’s breadth.
Looking ahead, The Cure have a busy European summer planned with stops at Belgium’s Rock Werchter, Denmark’s Roskilde, the Netherlands’ Pinkpop and the U.K.’s Isle of Wight on their schedule. Those dates make Primavera Sound less a one-off comeback than the first move in a larger run of festival and concert dates.
What remains unresolved is the bigger creative question the choice of songs sharpened: when, if ever, will The Cure announce the rumored follow-up to Songs of a Lost World? The Primavera set underlined that the band can still reshape its live identity and mine deep cuts for impact, but it left the next studio chapter unaddressed.
For now, the concrete result is clear: Robert Smith and The Cure are back onstage and touring Europe, leaning on a long catalogue and a refreshed lineup — and the next new-album announcement, not the next encore, is the story most listeners will want answered next.
