In a letter posted today on the Cranberries Official Website, drummer Fergal Lawler strongly hints at the possibilty of a North American tour for “early next year.”

“I managed to locate a nice winter hat for myself,” he writes, “complete with ear-flaps! It doesn’t really get that cold at home in Ireland, but I hope to get to use it in the colder climates abroad early next year!”

Now that they’ve nearly exhausted the European continent, there aren’t many “colder climates” left in the Nothern Hemisphere during the months early in the year, save for Russia, which is unlikely; after all, it will be summer during those months in the Southern Hemisphere (Sorry, Australia and South America). Not to mention the word “abroad” (i.e. across the ocean) sounds very promising!

Fergal wrote in his last letter that “We were planning our new schedule yesterday for 2003 and we are going to be touring until the beginning of April and then we will be doing some shows with some other artists in June and July to wrap up a great 2 years on the road.” The band has yet to reveal any specifics of these plans, but it sounds like we may know more about them now than we did previously.

Source: Cranberries Official Website