Noel Hogan has taken to Twitter to confirm the surprise return of the Cranberries who are appearing alongside Skunk Anansie at the Festi’neuch festival in Neuchatel, Switzerland on June 9.
"This is one of a few shows planned for this summer," Hogan says tantalisingly. "More Cranberries dates coming..."
The announcement has caused much excitement locally with our friends at the Limerick Leader hoping for a homecoming show.
"The prospect of the group playing a gig in their native Limerick will raise excitement levels, with the 2,000 capacity King John’s Castle - soon to play host to The Coronas – appearing to be a natural fit for The Cranberries, who have not played in the city since a short performance at the 2010 Special Olympic Ireland Games opening ceremony," they say. "Legal proceedings between Hogan and singer Dolores O'Riordan – who herself appeared in court recently in alleged air rage charges – were struck out last year. The matter, which neither Cranberries star has ever publicly commented on, was adjourned a number of times when it came before the High Court, before the motions were made to strike it out in July."
Asked by the Leader last year whether there were plans to revive the Cranberries, Noel said: “If we decided we were going to do it like we did a few years ago - around 2009 - when we get back into it, it (would) suddenly consume everything again. You are doing it, you are away all the time and writing and in the studio, completely focussing on that.
“So if it is something we do again, and I am sure we probably will, then we will need it at a time when we can all focus on that and not have other things going on, because it is such a big thing when we take off - you have to commit three years of your life to the thing.”
The Swiss announcement suggests that Dolores O'Riordan is not expecting a custodial term on February 24 when she's sentenced for the November 2014 air rage charges she pleaded guilty to before Christmas in Ennis District Court. The court was told that the singer, who'd recently separated from husband Don Burton, had been suffering from hypomania, sleep deprivation and paranoia at the time, and has been undergoing medical treatment.