The Cult announce Sonic Temple US tour

By Scott Munro
( Classic Rock )
published

The Cult will return to the US later this year for a run of shows celebrating the 30th anniversary of their Sonic Temple album

The Cult
The Cult's Ian Astbury and Billy Duffy (Image credit: Tim Cadiente)

The Cult (opens in new tab) have announce a US leg of their tour to mark the 30th anniversary of their Sonic Temple (opens in new tab) album.

Ian Astbury, Billy Duffy and co. previously revealed they’d play shows across the UK in October (opens in new tab), with the US dates following throughout December.

The shows will get under way with a set at the Wellmont Theater in Montclair on December 6 and wrap up at Boston’s House Of Blues on the 14th of the month.

Spirit Animal will be support on all US shows.

A statement on the tour reads: “Setlists for the shows will draw from The Cult’s 10 studio albums with the centrepiece 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 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.”

Find a list of the US dates below.

Looking back on the album, vocalist Astbury said: “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.'"

On October 4, The Cult will release a 30th anniversary edition of Sonic Temple through Beggars Banquet which will be spread across five discs and feature the 1989 album along with live cuts, previously unreleased tracks and demos.

The Cult Sonic Temple US tour dates
Dec 06: Montclair Wellmont Theater, NJ
Dec 07: Port Chester Capitol Theatre, NY
Dec 08: Silver Spring The Fillmore, MD
Dec 10: Huntington The Paramount, NY
Dec 12: Mashantucket Foxwoods Resort Casino - Fox Theater, CT
Dec 13: Atlantic City Hard Rock Casino - The Sound Waves Theater, NJ
Dec 14: Boston House Of Blues, MA

The Cult: Sonic Temple 30th anniversary box set (opens in new tab)

The Cult: Sonic Temple 30th anniversary box set (opens in new tab)
To celebrate the 30th anniversary of The Cult's landmark 1989 album Sonic Temple, the band will launch this special five-disc box set featuring a host of bonus material.

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Scott Munro
Scott Munro
Louder e-commerce editor

Scott has spent more than 30 years in newspapers and magazines as an editor, production editor, sub-editor, designer, writer and reviewer. After initially joining our news desk in the summer of 2014, he moved to the e-commerce team full-time in 2020. He maintains Louder’s buyer’s guides, scouts out the best deals for music fans and reviews headphones, speakers, books and more. He's written more than 11,000 articles across Louder, Classic Rock, Metal Hammer and Prog and has previous written for publications including IGN, the Sunday Mirror, Daily Record and The Herald covering everything from daily news and weekly features, to video games, travel and whisky. Scott grew up listening to rock and prog, cutting his teeth on bands such as Marillion and Magnum before his focus shifted to alternative and post-punk in the late 80s. His favourite bands are Fields Of The Nephilim, The Cure, New Model Army, All About Eve, The Mission, Ned's Atomic Dustbin and Drab Majesty, but he also still has a deep love of Rush.