For the first five minutes of the Cure‘s headlining set at Øyafestivalen in Oslo, Norway, Robert Smith stared out at the packed crowd and smiled.
As the band played the long, atmospheric introduction to “Alone” — the opening track of their great 2024 album “Songs of a Lost World” — Smith stood there positively beaming, hands clasped awkwardly in front of his usual all-black outfit. It’s a marked change in disposition from the last time I saw the Cure perform at the Hollywood Bowl in 2023, as part of their first North American tour in seven years. That set, though transcendent, had an air of nervousness to it as the band debuted the songs that would become their 14th album. Smith also seemed to be grappling with his own mortality, delivering several monologues throughout the night about growing older and time slipping by. Now, the frontman seems to have embraced it — and having previously said the Cure would retire in 2029 timed to the band’s 50th anniversary, he’s making the most of the time they have left.
On Wednesday night in Oslo, that meant delivering a hit-filled, two-and-a-half hour set in which Smith’s own whimsical spirit was on full display. After “Alone,” the show got off to a strong start with the 1989 classic “Pictures of You” — the perfect example of the Cure’s happy music/sad lyrics modus operandi — followed by a zany rendition of “High” (during which Smith delightfully mimed the “bite my fingers through” line) and the soul-touching “Lovesong,” which got the crowd singing along.
