All goth things come to those that wait, as the Cruel World festival, originally set for May of 2020 in the Los Angeles area, has been rebooked for May 2, 2022 with nearly all of its originally scheduled lineup intact — including headliners Morrissey, Bauhaus, Blondie and Devo — despite the two-year delay.
One change is that the inaugural edition of the festival will now take part in Pasadena’s Brookside Park, alongside the Rose Bowl, instead of at the previously slated Dignity Health Sports Park in Carson.
The promoter, Goldenvoice, has had successes in the past at Brookside in the past with the two (and so far only) editions of Arroyo Seco Fest in 2017-18, where Tom Petty, Mumford & Sons and Jack White headlined for a more adult-oriented rock audience, and Pasadena Daydream in 2019, which featured the Cure, the Pixies and Deftones.
Cruel World would seem more akin to Pasadena Daydream than Arroyo Seco Fest, by virtue of being a single-day gathering, and also by featuring artists that are on the edgier side of ’80s or ’90s alt-rock — in this case strongly resembling a vintage post-new wave KROQ playlist toward the top of the bill, and getting a bit more outre in the bottom half.
Echo & the Bunnymen, Violent Femmes, the Church, Public Image Ltd., the Psychedelic Furs and the English Beat are among the other acts carrying over from the 2020 plan.
Among the handful of acts joining the bill for 2022 that had not been advertised the first time around are the Damned. The few dropouts from the previous incarnation include Gary Numan and Marc Almond.
A pre-sale begins at 10 a.m. Friday, with remaining tickets for the general public going up at noon. Tickets are $159-$179 general admission, $349 for VIP, $549 for 21-and-over Clubhouse passes and $799 for Clubhouse Platinum passes, all available at cruelworldfest.
