The Cure kicked off the much anticipated Shows of a Lost World Tour last night in New Orleans with deep cuts they haven't played since the '80s, new tunes, and classics.
Robert Smith and his merry men reeled off 29 tunes from a dozen off their discography and five from their forthcoming album which the tour is named after. One of those new tunes, "Alone" is how the band opened the show at the 18k capacity Smoothie King Center next door to the Superdome.
They closed the first set with another yet-to-be released track, the lush and dramatic "Endsong."
For their first encore the band performed "I Can Never Say Goodbye," a new tune about the death of Smith's brother, Richard. Of the 30 times they've played this emotional number, this is the place they seem to like it in the set: as the first encore of many. Once the song concluded, the band began digging deep.
Beginning with "Want" from Wild Mood Swings, the Cure broke out "A Thousand Hours" from their deep catalogue, a slow, plodding, pleading, heart-wringing tune from their double album Kiss Me Kiss Me Kiss Me they haven't played for 36 years.

That was followed by the post-punk "At Night" from 1980's Seventeen Seconds which was sure to please the old school fans. The second set ended with the classic, "A Forest."
The third set was the Cure at their happiest and most playful highlighted by "Friday I'm in Love" (which was released on this day in 1992) and "Doing the Unstuck" from Wish; "In Between Days," "Just Like Heaven," and "Boys Don't Cry."
But pleasantly placed in that set was "Six Different Ways" off 1985's iconic The Head on the Door. Not only were the fans eating it up because this song too hadn't been performed since '87, but watching Smith happily dancing around while tapping a tiny Keytar was worth the price of admission alone.
The Cure continue the remaining 34 dates around North America which includes three nights at the Hollywood Bowl, three nights at Madison Square Garden, and concludes in Miami on July 1. Tickets are available on their website.
