Killing Joke announce 40th anniversary tour and mammoth box set

Killing Joke are celebrating their 40th anniversary by embarking on a world tour in September. The Laugh At Your Peril tour will kick off in the US before heading through Mexico, Brazil, Chile Argentina and Peru. It will arrive in Europe in October, before climaxing with UK dates in November (full dates below). Tickets go on sale at 10am on April 13. 

The band have also announced the release of a career-spanning box set, a limited edition set that includes 16 coloured vinyl double LPs packed in a flight case with a set of headphones, a signed lyric book and assorted pieces of art.

"Forty years ago this summer I met Big Paul, one year later we released our first EP," says Frontman Jaz Coleman. "Our fortieth anniversary celebrations will therefore be stretched over two years and begin with a world tour, parties and talks by Youth and myself, a new magnum opus by Killing Joke, who are, after all this time, recognised as one of the most innovative and influential bands of all time. Love is the law let the festivities begin!"

"Although the band have never been fiscally fat commercially, it has allowed us to have incredible lives, both individually and collectively and we have created a very rich wealth of uncompromising music," adds bassist Youth. "It’s a legacy that spans four decades… 40 years of spine tingling, uncompromising beautiful noise.

"The band continue to inspire and bludgeon down the bullshit in the world into a white hot, blast furnace dub of unrelenting passion, a rollercoaster, white knuckle punch in the face of beautiful agony/reality and timeless cosmic joy and soul."

The box set will be available in two versions: the CD version (which costs £150) will include 16 double CDs in a specially designed box, while the vinyl version (£550) features newly designed “stamp” sleeves. Both versions include unreleased material and alternate mixes plus eight new tracks never released in any format. The vinyl box also includes:

• 16 double vinyl albums in single sleeves
• One lyric book
• One set of headphones
• Five 30cm x 30cm art prints
• Two A4 flyers (Acklam Hall and Clarendon)
• Five A2 posters (Wardance, Turn To Red, Pope, What's THIS for...!, current tour poster)
• Five A3 posters (Pandemonium, Red version of first album, Pylon, the album stamp images, plus one of a J Cauty image)
• One set of six postcards (images supplied by Youth)
• Certificate of authenticity

Killing Joke 40th Anniversary Tour

Sep 01: Studio Seven, Seattle WA, US
Sep 02: Star Theater, Portland OR, US
Sep 04: DNA Lounge, San Francisco CA, US
Sep 05: Regent Theater, Los Angeles CA, US
Sep 07: Oriental Theater, Denver CO, US
Sep 09: Skully’s Music Diner, Columbus OH, US
Sep 10: Soundstage, Baltimore MD, US
Sep 11: The Paradise, Boston MA, US
Sep 12: Irving Plaza, New York NY, US
Sep 17: Granada Theater, Dallas TX, US
Sep 18: The Mohawk, Austin TX, US
Sep 19: Warehouse Live, Houston TX, US
Sep 21: Lunario del Auditorio Nacional Mexico City, MX
Sep 23: Carioca Club, Sao Paolo, BR
Sep 24: Roxy Live, Buenos Aires, AR
Sep 27: Blondie, Santiago, CL
Sep 29: Cocos, Lima, PE
Oct 15: Markthalle, Hamburg, DE
Oct 16: Neue Theaterfabrik, Munich, DE
Oct 17: E-Werk (Erlangen), Hamburg, DE
Oct 19: Huxleys, Berlin, DE
Oct 20: Stodola, Warsaw, PL
Oct 21: The Roxy, Prague, CZ
Oct 22: Bratislava, Majestic Music Club, SK
Oct 23: Durer Kert, Budapest, HU
Oct 25: Campus Industry, Parma, IT
Oct 26: L'Usine / PTR, Geneva, CH
Oct 27: Cabaret Sauvage, Paris, FR
Oct 28: Live Music Hall, Cologne, DE
Oct 30: Da Roma, Antwerp, BE
Oct 31: Melkweg, Amsterdam, NL
Nov 02: Rock City, Nottingham, UK
Nov 03: O2 Academy, Leeds, UK
Nov 04: Northumbria University, Newcastle, UK
Nov 06: Barrowland, Glasgow, UK
Nov 07: Manchester Academy, Manchester, UK
Nov 09: The Institute (The O2), Birmingham, UK
Nov 10: Academy, Bristol, UK
Nov 11: Guildhall, Southampton, UK
Nov 13: Corn Exchange, Cambridge, UK
Nov 14: UEA, Norwich, UK
Nov 16: O2 Academy, Oxford, UK
Nov 17: Roundhouse, London, UK