13. The CureSongs Of A Lost World

My uncle Stuart introduced me to The Cure when we were pre-teens. Stuart is only 11 months older than me. I saw him weekly at my grandparents’ house, and we loved watching Top Of The Pops together. Stuart and I had some disagreements about which songs should be in the charts each week, but we agreed on The Cure’s brilliance, with matching backcombed hair. I saw Robert Smith in person at Bowie’s Meltdown Festival show, as he sat a few seats over from me. Bowie performed his album Low in its entirety, and it was a wonderful show. The audience was packed with well-known musicians, but I was most excited to see Robert. I saw them play at Glastonbury in 1995, but it was their 2019 appearance at the festival, when I could enjoy them from the comfort of my sofa with my family, that I came to appreciate them again. 

I saw snippets of their 2024 performance at London’s Troxy for their new album. I liked it so much that I bought the record, and it’s an album that I often listen to when I’m resting at home or walking along the beachfront. I’ve always loved Robert’s poetic, timeless voice, which has changed little since the 1980s. My favourite tracks are ‘Alone’, ‘And Nothing Is Forever’ and ‘Endsong’. Lola and I watched his performance with Olivia Rodrigo (we’ve also seen her in concert and love her) on TV at Glastonbury last year, and he was so charming.