In a press release issued on September 6th Australian post-punk duo Dead Can Dance announced the postponement of their 2022 and 2023 tour due to “Health Reasons“. Saying, “With sadness and regret we have to cancel the upcoming live concerts in Europe and North America due to health reasons. Thank you to our loyal fans for your support. Please contact point of purchase for refunds.”
An important message regarding the planned upcoming tour dates. pic.twitter.com/iuZcxGWtrk
— Dead Can Dance (@DCDmusic) September 6, 2022
Lisa Gerrard and Brendan Perry planned to play 12 shows across Europe this coming October and then head to Canada and the US to play 17 shows in 2023, including stops in Washington DC, Toronto, Los Angeles, and New York. These north American dates would have been their first in over a decade, their only performance on the continent coming at 2013’s Coachella festival when they were on tour supporting their eighth album, Anastasis.
The band last played in Europe in the spring of 2019, playing a triumphant sold-out two-legged European tour, which ended with a spectacular show at Athens’ beautiful Odeon of Herodes Atticus Amphitheatre. The pair had initially wanted to return to tour the US and Canada sooner, but the pandemic forced them to change their plans. The ‘Celebration of Life & Works 1980 -2021’ tours were meant to celebrate the Aussies’ three-decade discography. The set list included “The Host Of Seraphim”, “The Carnival Is Over”, and “Yulunga”, some of their most famous and loved songs, up to tracks from 2018’s Dionysus.
Dead Can Dance got its start in Melbourne, forming in 1981. The following year, they moved to London. Through the years, their music has been categorised variously as, Neoclassical dark wave, world, ambient, art rock, avant-garde, gothic rock and post-punk. After splitting up in 1998, they temporarily got back together in 2005 for a global tour and then reformed in 2011 to promote their new album Anastasis.
Their eponymous debut album was released in 1981, All Music saying it was “as goth as it gets”. Their albums weren’t widely available till the early 90s, when their label 4AD made a distribution deal with Warner Bros. Records. The band’s sixth album, Into the Labyrinth, sold 500,000 copies, making them 4AD’s best-selling act. The pairs concerts are legendary, and many songs were only performed live, leading to a healthy bootleg economy. The duo has released two live albums, 1998’s Toward the Within, which had chart success, and 2013’s In Concert. As of now, no other information has been provided about plans to reschedule the 2022 and 2023 dates.
