There was a debate over whether the first Blackweir Live concert of the summer season should go ahead but the thousands who attended were glad it did
The heat didn’t affect Robert Smith’s performance
My first memory of The Cure, is Robert Smith staring down from a poster on my best friend’s bedroom wall. She shared the room with her much cooler, older sister, and we desperately wanted to be just like her. We’d “borrow” her tapes, play them endlessly, and dance around the bedroom to Friday I’m In Love and Boys Don’t Cry, imagining ourselves as far more sophisticated than we really were.
Standing in a sweltering park for the first Blackweir Live gig of the season, jumping around with thousands of other fans, took me right back to that bedroom with its two single beds, strewn with Just Seventeen magazines and posters of Robert and Simon Le Bon.
Later, I rediscovered the music with my own children. They loved A Forest and Boys Don’t Cry, so it was often on a loop on car journeys in that way children like to listen to songs over and over and over again,
There had been plenty of debate in the days leading up to the concert about whether it should go ahead. With a rare heat warning in place, some people – myself included – questioned whether it was sensible for 35,000 people to gather outdoors on temperatures more than 30C. Thankfully, the organisers appeared well prepared.
Water stations were plentiful, staff were attentive and well drilled, and concertgoers had clearly got the message, arriving armed with fans, parasols and plenty of sun cream. A slight breeze helped too, and as the sun began to set behind the stage, Blackweir revealed itself as a stunning venue.
I must admit I was slightly worried about Robert Smith. The thought of performing for hours in the heat, hidden beneath that iconic mass of hair, seemed a challenge for anyone. But if the weather bothered him, he certainly didn’t show it. Smith and the band delivered a remarkable performance, playing for nearly two and a half hours and making their way through 28 songs.
“Diolch,” he told the audience before launching into such classics as Pictures Of You, Inbetween Days, Just Like Heaven, Lovesong, A Forest and Disintegration.
Not every track was familiar to me; some clearly came after my peak The Cure years. But the 10-song encore, that included Hot! Hot! Hot!, more than compensated, delivering many of the classics the crowd had been waiting for. Highlights included The Lovecats and, of course, my personal favourite, Friday I’m In Love.
There was not much chat as the band ploughed through the impressive catalogue of songs, but there were cheers when Robert Smith thanked the crowd in Welsh and revealed he had married into a Welsh family so should know more..
Time moves on. What I wouldn’t give to be back in that bedroom, dancing around without a care in the world. But music has a wonderful way of collapsing the years. For a few hours at Blackweir, those memories came flooding back, while new ones were being made.
That’s the magic of bands like The Cure. They don’t just perform songs; they transport you back to who you were when you first fell in love with them.
Blackweir 2026 continues on Friday with Teddy Swims before two headline nights with Lewis Capaldi and another sold out show with US superstar Pitbull.
