The Cure's tour has been the surprise hit of the year. This is why it captivates.

COLUMBIA, Md. – It's the sleeper hit of the year, packing venues from Los Angeles to New York, allowing fans to channel the inner goth of their youth and dazzling with a career-spanning set list of nearly 30 songs.

Before the kickoff of their tour in May in New Orleans, The Cure hadn't rounded the U.S. since 2016. But last year’s excursion through Europe allowed idiosyncratic frontman Robert Smith, 64, and the band the opportunity to burnish their live production.

Both sleek and melancholy, the two-hour 45-minute show is ticking down to its final concerts, with a July 1 finale in Miami followed by festival spot dates this fall.

At an overflowing Merriweather Post Pavilion on Sunday, the band demonstrated why their following remains fanatical.

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Fans have awaited a new album – "Songs of a Lost World," which pairs with the tour's name, Shows of a Lost World – since Smith unveiled the title in March 2022.

Despite no definitive arrival for The Cure’s first release since 2008’s “4:13 Dream,” the band has included several new tracks in all of its shows.

The main set was bookended with newbies – the Pink Floyd-like opener "Alone" and the devastating "Endsong," a bleak musing on aging ("No hopes, no dreams, no world … I don't belong here anymore") filled with guitar squiggles and crashing cymbals.

But sandwiched between the aching longing of "Lovesong" and the starry backdrop, cerulean lighting and serrated guitar riffs of "At Night" sat a definitive new Cure creation.

Smith turned his back to the adoring audience, swaying while conducting indefatigable drummer Jason Cooper, before unleashing a voice wracked with pain on "And Nothing is Forever."

Smith’s voice enveloped lyrics such as "My world has grown old, but it really doesn't matter if you say we'll be together," suggesting his heart still swells with sadness, if not darkness.

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The Cure's set list taps into deep cuts as well as hits

An early highlight came when Smith faced off with bassist Simon Gallup – the second-longest tenured member in the band – for the chugging intro to "Pictures of You."

The ballad, from The Cure's landmark 1989 album, "Disintegration," showcases all of the hallmarks of their sound – watery guitars, evocative synths and a slow burn into an explosive soundscape that unfolded beautifully on stage.

It was also one of their few hits played before the encores, which were packed with casual-fan favorites including the jubilant "Friday I'm in Love" and equally buoyant "Just Like Heaven" (both always seem at odds with The Cure's frequently gloomy thrust).

Instead, the nucleus of the show spotlighted lesser-heard gems such as "Burn," from the 1994 soundtrack to "The Crow," complemented by crimson lights ricocheting around the stage as Cooper pounded the layered beat; the metronomic groove of "At Night" and hand-clapping of "A Forest," both from the band's second album, 1980's "Seventeen Seconds"; and "From the Edge of the Deep Green Sea," from 1992's "Wish," which was anchored by relentless keyboard plinks from Roger O'Donnell until the song erupted into a thrilling rumble.

Let's also tip the hat to Reeves Gabrels and Perry Bamonte for their dancing surf-guitar licks on "Push," an album track from 1985's "The Head on the Door."

Robert Smith hasn't changed

Smith remains the focal point of The Cure – and how could he not be with his trademark heap of black hair, blur of scarlet lipstick and lacquered eye makeup? His voice, a blend of sad wail and smooth croon, endures as a distinctive, undiminished sound.

But Smith also makes his appreciation for the band's audiences known. On Sunday, as he has throughout the tour, he spent the first several minutes of the show meandering to each section of the stage, quietly greeting fans with his eyes and accepting gifts tossed at him.

His gaze was one of gratitude mixed with disbelief that after all this time, the people still show.

Apparently, the sad prince of goth pop is still the king four decades on.

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This article originally appeared on USA TODAY: The Cure's first tour since 2016 is one of the best of 2023