The Cure announce Manchester & London gigs for 2016

Drawing on their 37 year career to date, The Cure will make a long-awaited return to the UK for a series of shows in winter 2016.

Feature by Dave Kerr | 23 Nov 2015

As part of their first European tour since 2008, influential goth rock progenitors The Cure have announced dates in Manchester and London for winter 2016. Support will come from The Twilight Sad, whom Cure frontman Robert Smith recently paid tribute to with his own interpretation of 2014 track There's A Girl in the Corner.

Twilight Sad guitarist Andy MacFarlane admitted in an interview with The Guardian that when Smith's interest in the band's work was first mooted, they thought "it was maybe Barry Burns from Mogwai, trying to pull some elaborate joke on us."

Macfarlane said: "We wanted to do something special for the 'It Never Was the Same' single, as it was going to be the last release from the album. I knew it was a pretty far fetched idea but thought I might as well chance my arm and ask Robert if he’d be up for covering one of our songs to feature as a double A-side. I couldn’t believe it when he replied saying he’d like to cover 'There’s a Girl in the Corner'.

“He sent it over when we were playing San Francisco in March, and we listened to it over and over in the van, driving out after the gig. Hearing someone that we’ve all looked up to for so long sing and play one of our songs is definitely one of the most surreal moments that we’ve ever had."

Infamously, The Cure have not played Scotland since 1992, a fact which has not gone unnoticed by the band's Scottish fans.

The Cure and The Twilight Sad will play Manchester Arena on 29 Nov and London's SSE Wembley Arena on 1 Dec 2016. Tickets go on sale this Friday (27 Nov) at 9am. A full itinerary of The Cure's worldwide dates is available here.


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