The Cure
The Cure opened its three-night stand at the famed Hollywood Bowl in Los Angeles on Tuesday night by debuting another new song: “Another Happy Birthday,” a track with roots in the Bloodflowers sessions that could be included on the forthcoming Longs of a Lost World album.
The moody song, featuring a prominent piano line played by Roger O’Donnell, had been soundchecked on the band’s U.K. tour last year, but not actually performed live until Tuesday night. Other new songs debuted on last year’s tour: “Alone,” “Endsong,” “And Nothing is Forever,” “I Can Never Say Goodbye” and “A Fragile Thing.”
The new song has a long history with The Cure. Robert Smith first mentioned the title “Another Happy Birthday” in a 1997 interview with the defunct music-news site Addicted to Noise. According to an archived version of the article, Smith described the song as “unlike anything the Cure have done before. It’s not a verse-chorus-verse type of song, but more fluid.”
It’s not known, though, whether that really is the same song as the one the band debuted Tuesday night, or just the same title. Musically, though, the newly played song is very reminiscent of an instrumental demo from the sessions for 2000’s Bloodflowers, as Chain of Flowers notes.
Here’s the full setlist from Tuesday night’s Hollywood Bowl show.
Below, check out The Cure’s performance of “Another Happy Birthday” — plus the 2000-era demo.
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