CHVRCHES have brought out The Cure’s Robert Smith at their gig this evening (March 16) in London – watch footage of the moment at Brixton Academy below.
Exactly two weeks ago, the two acts performed together at the same venue during the NME awards. That was the first time the two acts had performed together and physically met, having duetted virtually on a track during lockdown.
That song, ‘How Not To Drown’, won the Best Song By A UK Artist prize at the NME awards. The collaboration also appeared on CHVRCHES’ 2021 album ‘Screen Violence’.
Tonight in London, Smith joined the Scottish trio on stage once more for a rendition of ‘How Not To rown’ along with a duet of ‘Just Like Heaven’ – a song they also performed together for the first time at last week’s NME awards.
Smith additionally played guitar on ‘Mother We Share’ and appeared while the band played ‘Clearest Blue’. You can see footage and images of their collaboration alongside those from their recent performance together at the NME awards here:
This is incredible. They’ve played How Not To Drown, Just Like Heaven, The Mother We Shared and Clearest Blue together. I’m welling up! Thank you @RobertSmith and @CHVRCHES pic.twitter.com/UMQG5mmwTt
— Breaking More Waves (@BMWavesBlog) March 16, 2022
Absolutely incredible gig tonight from @CHVRCHES – killed it from start to finish. Bringing out my all-time fucking god in Robert Smith for the encore was beyond mind-blowing. Unreal. pic.twitter.com/LQwbGwKzd7
— Matthew Sivyer (@MattySivyer) March 16, 2022
Sir @RobertSmith is here again !!!! Just like heaven again !!! thank you @CHVRCHES again !!! pic.twitter.com/4lhrJGzSlY
— ㅅㅂㄹ (@retnolaras) March 16, 2022
Make Robert Smith a permanent member of CHVRCHES immediately. pic.twitter.com/86sx85glbG
— Stuart Edwards (@StuartEdwards) March 16, 2022
Accepting their award for Best Song By A UK Artist at the NME awards, CHVRCHES’ Lauren Mayberry said: “Thanks very much! We never get prizes for anything, so this is really amazing,” after collecting the award from presenter Jehnny Beth.
Mayberry then thanked Smith for collaborating with them and added: “The world is a massive fucking fire at the moment, so it’s nice to think about tunes.”
‘How Not To Drown’ appeared on Chvrches’ 2021 album ‘Screen Violence’, which NMEpronounced their “best album yet” in a four-star review.
In an NME cover story last year, the band explained how the collaboration came together, with member Martin Doherty saying: “You could have offered me a collaboration with anyone living or dead – fucking Prince, fucking Beethoven – I would still choose Robert Smith.”