The Cure @ Royal Highland Showgrounds, Edinburgh, 23 Aug

There is something serendipitously symbolic about the weather in Edinburgh this evening. After a summer that has seen wildfires and downpours which at times felt like the early warning signs of The Rapture, the sight of thousands of Cure fans – dressed in black, caked not in sunscreen but in the characteristic pale make up associated with frontman Robert Smith – drenched in the evening sun on one of the nicest spells this August, is a delight to behold.

The crowd gathered next to Edinburgh Airport as part of the Summer Sessions are as varied as the band's back catalogue. There are those who would have been in attendance at the band’s first gigs in the early 80s, while others have been holding out for their return since their last show in the capital in 1992. Crucially, there are a notable number of younger fans, likely seeing them for the first time. Such is the breadth and cross-generational appeal of The Cure that there are entire families here, celebrating together. One such family next to us, who had travelled through from Glasgow – in their fresh white trainers, Arc'teryx jackets and wraparound Oakleys – look at odds to what you would imagine a family of diehard Cure fans to look like, but they dance and sing along to every word.

Not long after taking to the stage, as the sun begins to set behind us, the band take us on a journey across six of their 14 studio albums, countless standalone singles, and rarities – such as Burn, from the soundtrack to 1994’s The Crow. Fans of 1989’s Disintegration, an album regarded by many as the band’s magnum opus, have all the more reason to be happy (well, as happy as a fan of The Cure can be) as a quarter of the setlist is dedicated to their dreamy, gothic masterpiece. It’s these songs, at the top and tail of their pre-encore show, from opener Plainsong to the lesser-heard Prayers for Rain and the title track which really shine tonight. Other set highlights include the jangling and anthemic In Between Days, and the hypnotic A Forest – a song which bizarrely ranks amongst the band’s most popular tracks, despite the downtempo bleakness of it in comparison to some of their other hits.

Image: The Cure @ Royal Highland Showgrounds, Edinburgh, 23 Aug by Marilena Vlachopoulou

It’s in the encore where the majority of these crowd-pleasers are found, as the band return to the stage to smash out the songs you’ve heard on pub jukeboxes, car radios, and indie discos for as long as you can remember. The eight-song encore begins with the breathy Lullaby, which highlight Smith’s vocal talents and stage presence perfectly, as he contorts his body while delivering the song’s disturbing lyrics in a way that only he can. The songs between this and closer Boys Don’t Cry don’t quite hit as hard as the rest of the set, with Why Can’t I Be You? feeling particularly lacklustre, but aside from this – and some patchy sound issues which stopped support acts such as Mogwai from really shining – we're clutching at straws to find flaws in an otherwise stunning concert.

By the time Smith comes to the microphone to thank the audience and wish us goodnight, the earlier setting sun has been replaced with a beautiful waxing moon, the chill in the air reminding us that summer is almost over. But that’s okay, because it’s in these dark, cold months that The Cure’s music, almost 50 years on, makes the most sense.