Lyrically it finds Smith looking back on his own life, “remembering the hopes and dreams I had”; wondering what happened to the “small boy”, and how he “got so old”.
Classic melancholy on paper perhaps, but live it sounds brutally honest, unapologetically raging and resigned in equal measure.
Elsewhere, the mood of the set was celebratory and very much alive: filled with fan favourites and greatest hits, from the languid heartbreak of Pictures of You to the poppier sounds of Inbetween Days and Just Like Heaven.
The band themselves also appeared in good spirits, exchanging smiles, with Smith playfully dancing around during the encore that included Close To Me and Lullaby.
Joy in the face of new material that, in places, sounds darker than ever should perhaps come as no surprise.
“I’ve hated the idea of having a set time for a career”, Smith told the NME in 1983 as he turned 25. “I think it’s terrible. I suppose it’s because I’m getting older and feeling my age.”
Smith recently suggested to The Times, external that the band may come to an end around their 50th anniversary in 2028, by which time he will be around 70.
Speaking to Stephens, he suggested, with a dry laugh, that he’s “not going to get” to that milestone age and would instead be “really happy” to see Christmas.
But Smith told Uncut that the band have three albums near-completion following their intensely productive 2019 recording sessions.
He adds to Stephens that he’s “almost there” with the second album. “Once I’ve done that, then I shall take a deep breath and then I’ll look up, but until I finish it I’m not bothering about what comes next.”
Time waits for no-one, but Smith and The Cure are certainly not ready to stand still.
