As Robert Smith first teased last summer, The Cure will return to South America for the first time in 17 years this April, mounting its first-ever large-scale tour of the continent, performing seven concerts in Brazil, Paraguay, Argentina, Chile and Colombia — followed by a one-off show in Mexico City to end the trek.

The Cure’s Robert Smith reveals the band’s plans to tour South America: ‘We’re supposed to go there just after Easter next year. We’re going to play in every… not every country in South America. We’re not playing in Ecuador because people don’t play in Ecuador. But we’re playing Brazil, Uruguay, Argentina, Chile, Peru, Venezuela.’

The Cure played a 36-song set at Barcelona’s Primavera Sound 2012 peppered with surprises, including the first performance of ‘Fight’ since the ‘Kiss Me’ tour, only the third-ever performance of ‘The Caterpillar,’ a rare airing of ‘Dressing Up’ and the first-ever performance of B-side ‘Just One Kiss.’

Taking a page from Depeche Mode’s Alan Wilder, guitarist Porl Thompson this month will auction off dozens of personal items spanning his tenure(s) in The Cure, including a guitar played on ‘Kiss Me, Kiss Me, Kiss Me’ and ‘Wish,’ album artwork proofs and clothing ranging from a ‘black net catsuit’ to leather corsets.

Twenty-five years ago today, The Cure released ‘Standing on a Beach: The Singles,’ a seminal compilation — and yes, we’re talking about the cassette here, not the ‘Staring at the Sea’ CD — that stands alongside New Order’s ‘Substance’ and ‘Catching Up With Depeche Mode’ as one of the signpost compilations of the ’80s college rock era.

This French TV report from sometime in 1987 features footage and interviews with both The Cure and Depeche Mode in the studio, as they work on their breakout albums ‘Kiss Me, Kiss Me, Kiss Me’ and ‘Music For the Masses,’ respectively.