You know the adage, “Love what you do, and you’ll never work a day in your life”? For most that’s a reminder – maybe something to pin on your cork board – or something to strive toward, but I get the feeling The Cure takes that old saying to heart. As the band took the stage to a sold-out Merriweather Post Pavilion, singer, Robert Smith, beamed as he walked the length of the stage, sometimes bending over and reaching out to the crowd, with a joy that made me appreciate that connection Smith and the band have with their fans.

It’s not hyperbole to say The Cure really do care about their fans. In the past several months, leading up to their massive World Tour, Smith made it a personal mission to lower Ticketmaster prices to make it affordable for as many concert goers to attend with as possible.

I mean, after 45 years of releasing music, touring, and influencing countless musicians it’s not an issue of having to prove anything. But with two new albums on the way and several new songs being road tested, it’s clear The Cure has a lot more to say.

Scottish band, The Twilight Sad opened the night with an energetic and emotional set. I’d never seen them before, but they’d opened for The Cure during their last tour in 2016 and put on a compelling show.

As The Cure walked onto the stage, Robert Smith moved along the edge, smiling to fans and waving back to the human sea that canvased the entire pavilion. As he did so, the band started on a new song from the hopefully soon-to-be-released Songs Of A Lost World. The sweeping tune was full of lush waves with that trademark Cure lyrical poetry. A beautiful bit of self-reflection in the words, “Broken voiced lament to call us home / This is the end of every song that we sing.”

What followed was an amazing set of old favorites, like “Pictures of You,” “Lovesong,” and “The Forest,” and newer ones like the emotionally moving “Endsong” that came on like an approaching storm and crashed with words like “And wondering what became of that boy / And the world he called his own / And I’m outside in the dark / Wondering how I got so old.” And that was made all the more powerful as that refrain hits, “Left alone with nothing at the end of every song.”

Like true artists, it’s the creation of meaningful art that propels them forward. And I get the feeling this new batch of songs are some of their strongest in a long time.

And, it has to be stressed, this is a band that genuinely feels like they are having fun and that joy translated in the massive sing-alongs from the crowd.

As they have been doing throughout this tour, The Cure came back onto the stage for two lengthy encores, with the bulk of older hits near the end of the set. “Fascination Street,” “Friday I’m in Love,” “Boys Don’t Cry,” and ending the evening with “Just Like Heaven” sunk deep in the recesses of everyone’s brains. Even though they played for nearly three hours it felt like they could go on for much longer. I mean, everyone in the place was riveted to their spots, mesmerized by this band that’s been giving so much for going on five decades.

Watch a video for “Friday I’m in Love” by The Cure on YouTube:

The Cure continue on this incredible World Tour, dropping tastes of what we all hope to be a new album – their first in 14 years! – very soon.

The setlist included:

Alone
Pictures of You
A Fragile Thing
Burn
Lovesong
And Nothing Is Forever
The Last Day of Summer
At Night
A Night Like This
Push
Play for Today
A Forest
Shake Dog Shake
From the Edge of the Deep Green Sea
Endsong

Encore:
I Can Never Say Goodbye
Want
Plainsong
Prayers for Rain
Disintegration

Encore 2:
Lullaby
Fascination Street
The Walk
Friday I’m in Love
Close to Me
Why Can’t I Be You?
In Between Days
Just Like Heaven
Boys Don’t Cry

Here are more photos of The Cure performing at Merriweather Post Pavilion on June 25th. All photos by David LaMason.

And here are more photos of The Twilight Sad opening for The Cure at Merriweather Post Pavilion.