The Jesus and Mary Chain announce lengthy UK tour

The shoegaze outfit will be playing a run of dates in spring beginning in March, including a London show on 5 April at the O2 Shepherd's Bush Empire. Jim and William Reid will also be headed to Dublin's Academy on 7 April.

Plans for the legendary band's first new LP since 1998's Munki were revealed last month by Creation Records founder Alan McGee, and then confirmed last week.

“We started to - can you believe? - listen to each other a bit more,” says Jim Reid of the new LP. “In the last couple of years, we’ve buried the hatchet to some degree, and thankfully not into each other. Most people who know us would say that we haven’t mellowed that much. I think it was to do with the fact, dare I say it, that wisdom comes with age. Let’s live and let live, and let’s take each other’s opinions into account.”

“The interesting thing about this record is what comes out of the speakers,” adds Reid. “To make a good record is an achievement if you’re twenty-two, but to do it in your fifties, the way we are, I think is a minor miracle.”

Tickets will be on general sale on 14 December.

March 2017

• 23 – Newcastle, Northumbria University
• 25 – Manchester, Academy
• 27 – Leeds, Church
• 28 – Leicester, O2 Academy
• 29 – Bristol, O2 Academy
• 31 – Birmingham, O2 Institute

April 2017

• 1 – Bournemouth, O2 Academy
• 2 – Oxford, O2 Academy
• 3 – Cambridge, Junction
• 5 – London, O2 Shepherd’s Bush Empire
• 6 – Bexhill-on-Sea, De La Warr Pavilion
• 7 – Dublin, Academy
• 8 – Belfast, Limelight 1