The Cure launched their North American tour with a performance in New Orleans on Wednesday night.

Robert Smith and the band delivered a 29-song set that included four songs from their long-anticipated upcoming album: “Alone,” “And Nothing Is Forever,” “A Fragile Thing” and “I Can Never Say Goodbye.” They also played deep cuts “A Thousand Hours” and “Six Different Ways,” both making their first live appearances since 1987.

The group previously debuted some unheard tracks during a European tour last year. “The new Cure stuff is very emotional,” Smith noted to The Sunday Times. “It’s 10 years of life distilled into a couple of hours of intense stuff. I can’t think we’ll ever do anything else.”

The band’s last performance on U.S. soil took place in 2019 at the Austin City Limits festival. You have to go back even further to 2016 to find the last time they embarked on a full North American tour.

Watch the Cure Perform 'Alone' at 2023 U.S. Tour Opener

Watch the Cure Perform 'A Night Like This' at 2023 U.S. Tour Opener

The Cure’s 2023 tour arrived with high anticipation but also controversy. The band made every effort to make tickets affordable and accessible to fans, utilizing Ticketmaster's verified fan sale program to skirt scalpers and third-party ticket brokers. In a statement made during the tour’s announcement, the Cure noted that "apart from a few Hollywood Bowl charity seats, there will be no 'platinum' or 'dynamically priced' tickets on this tour."

Watch the Cure Perform 'And Nothing Is Forever,' 'The Last Day of Summer' and 'A Fragile Thing' at 2023 U.S. Tour Opener 

Watch the Cure Perform 'A Thousand Hours' and 'At Night' at 2023 U.S. Tour Opener 

Despite these good intentions, the band’s fans were furious when Ticketmaster added a series of fees to the tickets, in some cases raising the total cost to double their face value. Smith soon announced he was “sickened” by the “unduly high” fees and convinced Ticketmaster to refund fans part of the cost.

The Cure, Smoothie King Center, New Orleans, 5/11/23
1. “Alone”
2. “Pictures of You”
3. “A Night Like This”
4. “Lovesong”
5. “And Nothing is Forever”
6. “The Last Day of Summer”
7. “A Fragile Thing”
8. “Cold”
9. “Burn”
10. “Fascination Street”
11. “Push”
12. “Play for Today”
13. “Shake Dog Shake”
14. “From the Edge of the Deep Green Sea”
15. “Endsong”

Encore:
16. “I Can Never Say Goodbye”
17. “Want”
18. “A Thousand Hours (first performance since 1987)
19. “At Night”
20. “A Forest”

Encore 2:
21. “Lullaby”
22. “Six Different Ways (first performance since 1987)
23. “The Walk”
24. “Friday I'm in Love”
25. “Doing the Unstuck”
26. “Close to Me”
27. “In Between Days”
28. “Just Like Heaven”
29. “Boys Don't Cry”

The Cure Albums Ranked

Gloomy, gothy, punky, poppy – this multidimensional band's albums are among the best of the era.

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