The Cure Unveil Seven B-Sides and Rarities Never Performed Live at First Disintegration Anniversary Concert in Sydney

The Cure has just finished their first of 5 concerts celebrating the 30th Anniversary of their critically acclaimed and fan-beloved “greatest album ever” Disintegration.

As expected, Robert Smith and Co. went through the album’s entire track list in order, beginning with the shimmering liturgy of “Plainsong” up until “Homesick” and “Untitled,” both of which had not been performed live since The Cure performed their “Trilogy” concerts in 2002, which featured every song from Pornography, Disintegration, and Bloodflowers.

In addition to the main set, the band returned to do some “instrumental demos that never made it onto the Disintegration album”, said Smith, who later humbly remarked: “I can kind of see why they didn’t”.

These tracks included every rare demo included on the Disintegration Deluxe Edition released in 2010, such as “No Heart”, “Esten”, “Delirious Night”, and a cover of the 1975 Wendy Waldman song made famous by Judy Collins, “Pirate Ships”, which you can watch here.

In addition to the demos, The Cure performed every B-side from Disintegration’s singles (“Lovesong”, “Pictures of You”, “Lullaby”, “Fascination Street”), such as “2 Late”, “Babble”, “Fear of Ghosts”, and “Out of Mind”.

All of these songs made their live debut during the May 24th Concert in Sydney, save for “2 Late”, which was initially unveiled during 2014’s Teenage Cancer Trust benefit concert, and performed several times thereafter during The Cure’s epic 2016 world tour.

It is likely the set list will remain the same each night down under, including the final performance of these five Disintegration Anniversary concerts at the Sydney Opera House is scheduled for a live-stream free for all Cure fans worldwide to see.

The concert will take place on May 30th, with the stream set to begin at 8 p.m. Sydney time,  which is 3 a.m. in Pacific Standard Time (Los Angeles) and 6 a.m. EST (New York City).

The stream is also available to watch directly from The Cure’s official Facebook page here.

Main Setlist:

1. Plainsong
2. Pictures of You
3. Closedown
4. Lovesong
5. Last Dance
6. Lullaby
7. Fascination Street
8. Prayers for Rain
9. The Same Deep Water as You
10. Disintegration
11. Homesick (First performance since 2002)
12. Untitled (First performance since 2002)

B-sides and Rarities Encore:

1. No Heart (Live debut)
2. Esten (Live debut)
3. 2 Late (played 4 times on 2016 tour and made its live debut for the Teenage Cancer Trust Charity Event in 2014)
4. Babble (Live debut)
5. Fear of Ghosts (Live Debut)
6. Out of Mind (Live debut)
7. Delirious Night (Live debut)
8. Pirate Ships (Wendy Waldman cover) (Live debut)