Billy Duffy and Ian Astbury resurrect Death Cult for 40th anniversary tour

British rock group The Cult posed in London in 1984
(Image credit: Erica Echenberg/Redferns)

Billy Duffy and Ian Astbury's Death Cult will tour the UK this year to mark their 40th anniversary. Post-punk Death Cult released the two eponymous EPs before they became The Cult with 1984's Dreamtime, now the musicians will revisit their seminal era by visiting the same venues they hit on their 1983 UK tour.

Setlists for the November dates will focus on Death Cult's EPs but also span their Astbury's earlier era with Southern Death Cult and their years as The Cult. 

Astbury and guitarist Duffy – former guitarist with The Nosebleeds and Theatre of Hate – aligned in April 1983 to form Death Cult, its name inspired by Astbury's former band Southern Death Cult, and their band together would later be renamed The Cult later that year.

Before they hit the UK, Death Cult play one US date on will October 23 in Los Angeles at the The Theatre venue in The Ace Hotel.

It's unclear who else will be in the lineup for the dates alongside Duffy and Astbury. Original bassist Jamie Stewart – who played with The Cult up to the Sonic Temple era – left in 1990 and has since retired from the music industry. He joined his Cult bandmates at the Royal Albert Hall in 2009 to play The Pheonix and She Sells Sanctuary when they celebrated the 25th anniversary of the Love album, and again took on alternating guitar and bass duties during a couple of songs for three dates of the Electric anniversary tour.

  • 23 October Los Angeles, CA, The Theatre at The Ace Hotel
  • 6 November Belfast, UK  Telegraph
  • 7 November Dublin, IE  3Olympia
  • 9 November Sheffield, UK  Foundry
  • 10 November Liverpool, UK  Guild of Students
  • 12 November Glasgow, UK  Barrowland
  • 13 November Nottingham, UK  Rock City
  • 14 November Birmingham, UK  O2 Institute
  • 16 November Bournemouth, UK  O2 Academy
  • 17 November Norwich, UK  UEA
  • 18 November Manchester, UK  Albert Hall
  • 20 November London, UK  Brixton Electric
  • 21 November London, UK  Brixton Electric
Rob Laing
Reviews Editor, GuitarWorld.com and MusicRadar guitars

Rob is the Reviews Editor for GuitarWorld.com and MusicRadar guitars, so spends most of his waking hours (and beyond) thinking about and trying the latest gear while making sure our reviews team is giving you thorough and honest tests of it. He's worked for guitar mags and sites as a writer and editor for nearly 20 years but still winces at the thought of restringing anything with a Floyd Rose.