The Cure opens North American tour with hits, new songs, huge rarities — setlist and video

The Cure in New Orleans | via CureFanDoc on YouTube

After all the ballyhoo over ticket sales, The Cure’s North American tour finally got underway Wednesday night in New Orleans, with Robert Smith and the band delivering a 29-song set that included big hits, fan favorites, unreleased material — and a couple songs not played in concert since the 1980s.

As they did during last year’s extensive European tour, The Cure opened the show in New Orleans with “Alone,” a track expected to appear on the band’s delayed new album Songs of a Lost Word.

It was one of five new, unreleased songs performed Wednesday night, a list that also includes “A Fragile Thing,” “And Nothing Is Forever,” “Endsong” and “I Can Never Say Goodbye” — all of which were played on last year’s tour.

More surprising — or, rather, shocking — were the performances of two songs The Cure hasn’t played in concert since 1987. “Six Different Ways” off of the Head on the Door had only been played on tours between 1985 and 1987 (and soundchecked a few times in 1996). And “A Thousand Hours,” an extremely deep cut off 1987’s Kiss Me, Kiss Me, Kiss Me, had only ever been performed live once before — in Los Angeles in 1987.

See video of both performances below.

The rest of the set featured more familiar fare for anyone who’s seen The Cure on recent tours, with The Head on the Door (“A Night Like This,” “Push”), Disintegration (“Fascination Street,” “Pictures of You”), Seventeen Seconds (“A Forest,” “At Night”) and Wish (“From the Edge of the Deep Green Sea,” “Doing the Unstuck”) all well-represented, along with what’s now become a live staple: “Burn,” from the soundtrack to “The Crow.”

Wednesday night’s show in New Orleans opened the 35-date North American leg of the Shows of a Lost World tour, which continues across the U.S. and Canada through a July 1 date in Miami.

The tour finds Smith joined by his longest-serving bandmate, bassist Simon Gallup, as well as drummer Jason Cooper, keyboardist Roger O’Donnell and guitarist Reeves Gabrels. Smith surprised fans last fall by bringing back guitarist/keyboardist Perry Bamonte, who played in the band from 1990 to 2005.

Below, check out the setlist, video from the show — and the rest of the band’s tour dates.

Setlist: The Cure, Smoothie King Center, New Orleans, LA — 5/10/23

1. “Alone”
2. “Pictures of You”
3. “A Night Like This”
4. “Lovesong”
5. “And Nothing Is Forever”
6. “The Last Day of Summer”
7. “A Fragile Thing”
8. “Cold”
9. “Burn”
10. “Fascination Street”
11. “Push”
12. “Play for Today”
13. “Shake Dog Shake”
14. “From the Edge of the Deep Green Sea”
15. “Endsong”

Encore:
16. “I Can Never Say Goodbye”
17. “Want”
18. “A Thousand Hours”
19. “At Night”
20. “A Forest”

Second encore:
21. “Lullaby”
22. “Six Different Ways”
23. “The Walk”
24. “Friday I’m In Love”
25. “Doing the Unstuck”
26. “Close To Me”
27. “Inbetween Days”
28. “Just Like Heaven”
29. “Boy’s Don’t Cry”

The Cure tour dates 2023

May 10: New Orleans, LA — Smoothie King Center
May 12: Houston, TX — Toyota Center
May 13: Dallas, TX — Dos Equis Pavilion
May 14: Austin, TX — Moody Center
May 16: Albuquerque, NM — Isleta Amphitheater
May 18: Phoenix, AZ — Desert Diamond Arena
May 20: San Diego, CA — NICU Amphitheatre
May 21: San Diego, CA — NICU Amphitheatre
May 23: Los Angeles, CA — Hollywood Bowl
May 24: Los Angeles, CA — Hollywood Bowl
May 25: Los Angeles, CA — Hollywood Bowl
May 27: San Francisco, CA — Shoreline Amphitheatre
May 29: San Francisco, CA — Shoreline Amphitheatre
May 31: Portland, OR — MODA Centre
June 1: Seattle, WA — Climate Pledge Arena
June 2: Vancouver, BC — Rogers Arena
June 4: Salt Lake City, UT — Vivint Smart Home Arena
June 6: Denver, CO — Fiddler’s Green Amphitheatre
June 8: Minneapolis St. Paul, MN — Xcel Energy Center
June 10: Chicago, IL — United Center
June 11: Cleveland, OH — Blossom Music Center
June 13: Detroit, MI — Pine Knob Music Theatre
June 14: Toronto, ON — Budweiser Stage
June 16: Montreal, QC — Bell Centre
June 17: Montreal, QC — Bell Centre
June 18: Boston, MA — Xfinity Center
June 20: New York, NY — Madison Square Garden
June 21: New York, NY — Madison Square Garden
June 22: New York, NY — Madison Square Garden
June 24: Philadelphia, PA — Wells Fargo Center
June 25: Columbia, MD — Merriweather Post Pavilion
June 27: Atlanta, GA — State Farm Arena
June 28: Atlanta, GA — State Farm Arena
June 29: Tampa, FL — Amalie Arena
July 1: Miami, FL — Miami-Dade Arena

PREVIOUSLY ON SLICING UP EYEBALLS

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• The Cure announces “one last extra show” for “Shows of a Lost World” North American tour
• The Cure adds 4 more North American concerts; dates in Mexico, South America to come
• 7,000 scalped tickets to The Cure canceled and will be resold, Robert Smith says
• The Cure’s Robert Smith says Ticketmaster will partially refund “unduly high” ticket fees
• The Cure’s Robert Smith “sickened” by ticket fees, says Verified Fan system “far from perfect”
• The Cure’s plan to keep tickets affordable: No dynamic pricing, face-value resale, no transfers
• The Cure announces 30-date “Shows of a Lost World” North American tour