The Cult Announce December U.S. Tour Dates In Celebration of 30th Anniversary of ‘Sonic Temple’

As THE CULT celebrate the 30^th anniversary of their seminal Sonic Temple album, the British group–led by vocalist Ian Astbury and guitarist Billy Duffy–have announced additional dates through the end of 2019. The new U.S. shows in December follow the band’s U.K. dates and support the September 13 release of THE CULT: SONIC TEMPLE 30 by Beggars Arkive. The band Spirit Animal will join THE CULT for all the December shows. Tickets for the shows go on sale Friday, September 27 at 10:00 AM (local time).

Set lists for the shows will draw from THE CULT’s 10 studio albums with the centerpiece being a super set that’s focused on the core songs from Sonic Temple, a pivotal album that brought together the alternative and hard rock audiences; some of these songs have not been performed since the album (their fourth) was originally released in 1989. Produced by the legendary Bob Rock, Sonic Temple had four chart-topping singles: “Fire Woman,” “Edie (Ciao Baby),” “Sun King” and “Sweet Soul Sister.” Sonic Temple proved to be an important moment for both the band and the wider rock scene.

THE CULT: SONIC TEMPLE 30 has been released as a deluxe box set and a 5-CD set. Plus Beggars Arkive reissued Sonic Temple on Double LP, which has been out of print for over 20 years. Read a press release about it here.

In a recent interview about the album, Ian Astbury explained how the band brought together hard rock and indie rock to create the unique, game-changing sounds on Sonic Temple. “We wanted to retain our core DNA as we went deeper into psych and hard rock influences. It was a complete immersion for me into art, film, music, poetry and literature, weaving those influences into what was to become Sonic Temple. The band was becoming more popular. We were in uncharted waters. Most of the bands we had come up with had split up or fallen off. We were accelerating. There was no real time to breathe. We were forming new allegiances and breaking the glass ceiling of ‘the indie outsider.'”

The album catapulted THE CULT into superstar status and remains their most commercially successful release. It has sold over 1.5 million copies in the U.S. alone and was certified platinum in 1990. It made it to #10 on the Billboard charts, and the aforementioned songs all remain rock-radio staples to this day.

The shows will be a gathering and celebration for CULT fans. As Billy Duffy stated about the tour in a recent interview, “I’d like fans to not only allow themselves a little indulgence into maybe simpler happier times of the late 80s for a few hours at a ST19 show, but also be happy that the music is now really their possession, not ours, and to do with it what they will.”

Read a Q&A with THE CULT here.

THE CULT’s remaining 2019 tour dates are as follows: