Simon Gallup returns after Eden keeps The Cure on the road
When illness removes Simon from the Berlin shows, Eden Gallup moves from guitar to bass; a week later father and son are both onstage at Electric Castle.
The Cure’s three-night Berlin run took an abrupt turn shortly before the first show on 10 July, when Simon Gallup became unwell. Eden Gallup, already part of the expanded touring line-up on guitar and keyboards, moved across to bass so the concert could go ahead.
He stayed in that role while Simon recovered, covering one of the most physically and melodically distinctive jobs in The Cure. The substitution was practical, familial and musically demanding: Simon’s bass is rarely just support, often carrying the tune while the guitars and keyboards build weather around it.
Father and son at Electric Castle
By the band’s 19 July headline set at Electric Castle in Romania, Simon was back onstage. Eden remained in the six-piece line-up, returning to the additional guitar and keyboard role he had occupied since Primavera. The sight of both Gallups together turned the performance into a quiet resolution of the previous week’s uncertainty.
The band has not publicly detailed the illness, and there is no reason to speculate. What the episode did establish is the flexibility of the current live group. Eden was not brought in as a novelty or a visual echo of his father; he was able to change instruments at short notice and protect three major shows.
Electric Castle closed with the pop-facing run of “The Lovecats”, “Friday I’m in Love” and “Close to Me”. Underneath that celebratory ending sat the more important news: Simon was back, the tour had not lost a night, and the expanded Cure line-up had proved why it exists.
Sources and further reading: MusicRadar: Berlin substitution · NME: Electric Castle report