The Cure Break Out Live Rarities At Primavera Sound 2026

Last night the Cure headlined Primavera Sound 2026 at Barcelona's Parc Del Forum. It was the band's first performance since their intimate November 2024 show at London's Troxy celebrating the release of Songs Of A Lost World. That album, one of the best of that year, was the Cure's first UK #1 in 32 years and earned them their first Grammys. On the Estrella Damm Stage, the Cure played only two tracks from SOALW, though — the rest of the setlist spanned nearly five decades of classics, including cuts they hadn't performed in several years.

On their last tour, the Cure regularly did "Want" from 1996's Wild Mood Swings. At Primavera, they broke out the LP's sunny single "Mint Car" for the first time in a decade. They did "alt-end," from 2004's self-titled, for the first time since 2018. And the 1989 "Lovesong" b-side "2 Late" and 1997 single "Wrong Number" (from hits comp Galore) made appearances for the first time since 2019. Nothing from Pornography though.

This was the Cure's first show since multi-instrumentalist Perry Bamonte passed away in December. Joining Robert Smith, Simon Gallup, Jason Cooper, Roger O'Donnell, and Reeves Gabrels was Simon's son Eden, who has played with the band in the past. Smith even broke out his double flute for "Burn."

"Por desgracia, todavía no puedo hablar español," the frontman read off a strip of paper to great applause. (Translation: "Unfortunately, I still can’t speak Spanish.”) "Yeah, yeah, yeah, I'm here all week," he responded. Then they played "Lullaby," one of the greatest songs of all time.

The Cure have many more European festival appearances lined up this summer, but no word yet on a possible North American return. There's also a promised Songs Of A Lost World followup album they recorded last year. Olivia Rodrigo is probably not on it, but she will probably perform "the cure" at Primavera tonight; the pop star was just added to the Occident Stage for 10:25 p.m..

Check out the Cure's Primavera Sound 2026 setlist and full video below. The festival is streaming for free all weekend.

SETLIST:
"Alone"
"Pictures Of You"
"High"
"A Night Like This"
"Lovesong"
"2 Late"
"The Last Day Of Summer"
"Burn"
"Fascination Street"
"alt.end"
"The Walk"
"Mint Car"
"In Between Days"
"Just Like Heaven"
"Trust"
"Push"
"Play For Today"
"A Forest"
"From The Edge Of The Deep Green Sea"
"Endsong"
"Lullaby"
"Hot Hot Hot!!!"
"Wrong Number"
"Let's Go To Bed"
"The Lovecats"
"Friday I'm In Love"
"Close to Me"
"Why Can't I Be You?"
"Boys Don't Cry"

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