What songs have The Cure played live the most?
With such a diverse breadth of work behind them, The Cure‘s knack for shaping meaty setlists that traverse their wieldy repertoire, play the hits, and typically throw in the odd B-side or curio is no mean feat. Frontman and principal songwriter Robert Smith recalled in a 2009 interview his disappointment after travelling to Earl’s Court to see David Bowie on his 1976 Isolar tour, “What he played was genius but he only played 40 minutes and didn’t even do a fucking encore!”
Bowie’s frustratingly fleeting performance must’ve left its mark, as The Cure have built a reputation for wildly long sets, typically clocking well over two hours. Last year’s tour saw an average of 30 songs, and they once played for over four hours in Mexico City, totalling 50 songs in celebration of Smith’s 54 birthday. In anticipation of their first album in 16 years, Songs of a Lost World, it’s fascinating to think how the new material will be weaved into their future sets.
Smith has an uncanny ability to craft songs instantly recognisable as a Cure piece within wildly different genres. It’s not without reason that the band are tagged with the ‘goth’ label, having conjured such gloomy masterpieces as ’89’s Disintegration or the cavernous post-punk of ’80’s Pornography. There’s been a general trend of pursuing a dramatic, alternative rock direction across their last quarter-century, with recent single ‘Alone’ signalling where they’re stylistically staying put. But for every song about nightmare spiders or funeral parties, there’s Smith in a polka-dot shirt cradling kittens in Tim Pope’s ‘The Lovecats’ video or the entire band playing fancy dress on ‘Why Can’t I Be You?’. There’s bonafide synthpop with 1983’s ‘The Walk’, and even a dabble with mariachi on Wild Mood Swing‘s ‘The 13th’.
As there’s a Cure song for everybody, it’s interesting to think what songs are played the most, let alone which of their eras are represented the greatest. According to data from Setlist, The Cure’s top-ten most played songs live are a curious collation that avoids leaning on any particular album and even omits some of their biggest hits.
So, which songs have the Cure played live the most?
Four of their most-played songs are all from their late ’70s infancy, including their debut single ‘Killing an Arab’. ‘10.15 Saturday Night’ has a surprisingly high play count, and less surprisingly ‘Boys Don’t Cry’, which only became classic in its own right with a re-release in 1986. Also present is the sublime title track from their first LP, Three Imaginary Boys, a gloriously dreamy piece of punk-pop pointing to Smith’s growing confidence as a songwriter at 19.
Elsewhere, there are the monster hits from their mid-1980s golden age. ‘Just Like Heaven’ and ‘In Between Days’ sit in their top ten, nudging ‘Close to Me’ down to 12th and their ’92 hit ‘Friday I’m in Love’ a lowly 23rd.
So, their most played song? At number one, with at least 1,188 live appearances, is a minimalist post-punk gem, ‘A Forest’. The lead single from 1980’s Seventeen Seconds, its haunting brittle guitar that introduces the track (omitted from the single version) and hypnotic synth lead lends the songs a dramatic charge that’s begging to be witnessed live. Reinterpreting the single for a richer but no less introspective experience for recent tours, ‘A Forest’ remains a signature Cure piece which hasn’t lost its bite across its 44 years.
