The Cure's New Concert Film, Top 10 Bangers of 2025 & More
I typically cringe when I hear about bands performing an entire album live. It’s one of those novelties designed to appeal to social media’s insatiable hunger for nostalgia. There is one exception I’ll grant here, though, and that’s if the band plays the new album in full on the occasion of the record release. That, I like. And I absolutely love this idea if it’s a band whose fans are a little reluctant to listen to anything they’ve released in the past 30 years.
Last year, The Cure released Songs of a Lost World, their first album in 16 years and, tbh, my favorite album from them since 199-something, and celebrated the record release by playing it in full at Troxy in London. Last night, The Show of a Lost World, the feature-length film of that performance, hit movie theaters. I caught it with a small, but lively crowd in downtown Los Angeles. In our screening, the applause began early in the show, whistles soon followed and, by the end, there was at least one person (not me, unfortunately) dancing in the aisle. It’s playing in theaters on December 13 and 14 and, if you can catch it in your area, I recommend that you do.
Bring your attention span to The Show of a Lost World because it’s close to three hours long. The concert is broken up into four sets, beginning with the new album. I don’t want to give away too much— if you don’t like surprises, you can Google the setlist— but they do play a good mix of the hits and fan favorites from across a good chunk of their career. The social media clips from the film don’t do The Show of a Lost World justice. This is really something you need to see on a bigger screen, where you can take in the sparkles Robert Smith’s top and the projections playing behind the band.
Earlier this week, I caught a new documentary about the 1999 WTO Seattle protests. WTO/99 is an archival documentary, meaning that it’s comprised entirely of footage captured at the time. These include both local and national TV news reports, police video and, crucially, footage shot by the protesters and on-the-ground reporters. It’s fantastic and I recommend checking it out if/when you have the chance.
Read: THE 1999 WTO SEATTLE PROTESTS REVISITED IN NEW ARCHIVAL DOCUMENTARY
Just last week, Ultravox dropped the deluxe edition of mid-1980s singles compilation, The Collection. It includes new remixes made in the style of ‘80s 12” mixes, plus B-sides, rarities and more. Definitely worth your time if you’re a fan of the band.
Earlier this week, I posted my list of the top 10 bangers for 2025. All the songs are pulled from my own DJ sets and are ranked according to how I’ve seen crowds react to them.
Read: BEST OF 2025: TOP 10 BANGERS
For those of you in Los Angeles, the Depeche Mode Convention is happening on Sunday, December 14, at Avalon. It’s an incredibly fun event for fans, with two tribute bands, DJs, karaoke, giveaways and more, all hosted by Richard Blade. For info on this and more events happening this weekend and early next week, check out my recommendations on Beatique. As for my own gigs, I’ll be in the new wave vs. darkwave room at Klub Nocturno on Saturday, December 20 and back at Club Underground for New Year’s Eve. (And, if you want to see what I played at Underground last week, the set list is online as well.)
Thanks for reading and I hope to see you on the dance floor soon.
Liz O.