Rumours were already circulating that The Cure would be touring Europe in the autumn of 2022. Dates in Paris and Germany leaked out. On Monday 6 December 2021 exactly at 12 noon (CET), the band officially announced that they will indeed be embarking on a tour throughout Europe next year. As of now, 44 shows in 22 countries are scheduled. One of the stops on the “Cure Tour Euro 22” will be the Ziggo Dome in Amsterdam on 25 November 2022, where they also played on their last arena tour in 2016. Just like then, Scottish melancholic indie band The Twilight Sad will be supporting The Cure. It’s not the first time The Cure will be playing with the same support act as on previous tours. In the past, And Also The Trees and Cranes supported The Cure on several occasions.
live from the moon?
The Cure are also expected to play songs off their long-awaited, yet to be released new album. In 2019 Robert Smith told LA Times, when asked if there is anything he would compare the new album the band were working on to: ‘It has soundscapes on it, like “Disintegration“, I suppose. I was trying to create a big palette, a big wash of sound’. He also revealed the working title at the time was Live From The Moon. In later interviews he mentioned he had been working on more than one album.
The font of the new band logo and the style of the promotional imagery, created by long-time Cure designer Andy Vella, are somewhat reminiscent of the Disintegration and Pornography eras. Or it suggests at least the band is back on the darker side of the spectrum, like Robert told LA Times. The German press information mentions Pornography, Disintegration and Bloodflowers as ‘seminal works’. Next year also marks the 40th anniversary of Pornography (and the 20th of Trilogy ;). Could these be hints that on their upcoming tour, The Cure will be focussing again on their more atmospheric, profound repertoire, like on the Prayer and Dream tours? I hope so, but let’s wait and see…
For now, I just hope everything can go ahead safely. These are uncertain times. But at present, it looks like The Cure’s return to Amsterdam will be sooner than in 2016, when it was 32 years ago since their last concert in the Dutch capital. Presale links are on The Cure’s official website.