The Cure will warm up for its three-night stand at London’s Hammersmith Apollo next week with a pair of special guest appearances on Thursday and Friday at the Brian and Robin’s Christmas Compendium of Reason benefit concert, performing “a small clutch of ‘happy hits'” both nights.

This week’s new releases include a new live album and DVD from Depeche Mode, a Paul McCartney cover by The Cure, a new best-of from David Bowie, Nick Cave’s “20,000 Days on Earth” film, new albums from Bryan Ferry and Einstürzende Neubauten, and a collection of 1988 demos from Fugazi.

The Cure today announced a pair of Christmas concerts at London’s Hammersmith Eventim Apollo next month, promising two-and-a-half-hour shows that will find the band “playing songs drawn from their entire 37 year old catalogue including deep cuts, pop songs, fan favourites and surprises galore.”

A long-in-the-works Paul McCartney tribute album finally arrives this November, and the first track to debut from The Art of McCartney is a rather faithful cover of The Beatles’ “Hello Goodbye” performed by The Cure with Sir Paul’s son James McCartney assisting on keyboards.

It’s well-documented that The Cure likes to play long, even in festival settings. Friday night, the band headlined the BottleRock Festival in Napa Valley, Calif., where they were given a two-and-a-half hour time slot… which apparently wasn’t enough. Check out video of Robert Smith and Co.’s abrupt ending.

The Cure is set to headline the Bottle Rock Festival in Napa Valley, Calif., next weekend, but that won’t be Robert Smith and Co.’s only appearance in Northern California: San Francisco radio station Live 105 has announced it has booked the band for a “secret” show that is to be announced on air at 3 p.m. EDT Friday.

The Cure’s penchant for topping festival bills continues as Robert Smith and Co. were announced this evening as the headliners of all three Riot Fests — set for Toronto, Chicago and Denver this September — joining the band’s appearance at Bottle Rock in Napa Valley, Calif., this month.

Twenty-five years ago today, The Cure released what many fans consider the band’s masterwork, the gloom-struck epic Disintegration — an album that found Robert Smith and Co. snapping out of their mid-’80s pop phase in favor of a darker, more cinematic sound.

Upset by “ever more negative interpretations” of the interview he conducted last weekend, Robert Smith took to The Cure’s website today to explain his plans to finally release the remainder of the music recorded for 2008’s 4:13 Dream, revealing that it will be issued across two different albums.

Back in February, The Cure announced ambitious plans for 2014, including the release of a new album — the companion to 2008′s 4:13 Dream — as well as a third round of “Trilogy” shows worldwide, which would find the band performing The Top, The Head on the Door and Kiss Me, Kiss Me, Kiss Me.

The Cure played their first of two shows Friday night at London’s legendary Royal Albert Hall as part of the annual Teenage Cancer Trust concert series, treating fans to a marathon 45-song set that featured some true surprises, including the live debut of Disintegration-era B-side “2 Late.”

The Cure will return to North America late this spring to headline the BottleRock festival in Napa Valley, Calif., joining, at the top of the bill, OutKast, Eric Church, The Fray, Weezer and Band of Horses — plus Camper Van Beethoven and Cracker.

The Cure’s two sold-out shows at London’s Royal Albert Hall in March are being billed as just the beginning of “a very busy 2014” for Robert Smith and Co., with the band today announcing plans to release the long-delayed companion to 2008’s 4:13 Dream and a series of live DVDs — and a third ‘Trilogy’ tour.