Photo by Debi Del Grande
Last night, The Cure played just their third show of 2011 at the Bestival music festival in Isle of Wight, UK. According to band fansite Chain of Flowers, the lineup featured frontman Robert Smith, bassist Simon Gallup, and drummer Jason Cooper, along with the return of keyboardist Roger O’Donnell, who was fired from the group in 2005. Together, they offered a 32-song set and you can find videos of the performance taken from a television broadcast below.
“Lovesong”:
“Just Like Heaven”:
“The Only One”:
“The Walk”:
“Push”:
“Friday I’m In Love”:
“Inbetween Days”:
In an email sent out amidst the band’s performance, O’Donnell confirmed that his participation would extended beyond the Bestival appearance:
“Yes I am on stage playing with the band again and hopefully 15 minutes in I haven’t played any wrong notes! Robert asked me about a month ago to play Bestival and I was very happy to say yes. Playing these songs again, old friends, being up on stage with Robert, Simon and Jason who are really family to me, it is all right. Looking forward I’m sure there will lots of exciting Cure projects in the future which I am very excited to be a part of again…”
Said exciting Cure projects may include the release of a new album. Speaking recently with Ireland’s Hot Press (via Slicing Up Eyeballs), Smith said he hopes to finally release the planned sequel to 2008’s 4:13 Dream.
“It’s one of those things that it’s been left so long now I expect it will come out as a half-finished sort of thing. I’m not sure if the band wants to complete it, which is sort of the elephant in the room. What happened to the second half of the album? No one mentions it! We’re aware that it’s there. Nobody really wants to talk about it. Maybe it will come up after a few post-festival beers!”
He continued:
“I gave myself a deadline of this month to start thinking about Cure stuff again. The ones that are done to date are done. I’m sure there will be more in the future… But I think between now and this time next year, The Cure will take precedence over anything else. Until I get the second half of this album out, I won’t do another collaboration.”
We’ll keep you updated.
