am i really the only person who doesn't care about reunions/reunitings/new music by old bands, like, at all? is there something wrong with me?

that chameleons thread reminds me that, for some reason, i have no interest in new music by old bands who get back together after years apart. or seeing them live. i don't really know why. i DID go see chameleons in the late 90s at JC Dobbs in philadelphia because i thought it was such an unlikely thing and i got to go with my best friend from high school and we both loved the chameleons in the 80s. but that was pretty much the only time i was excited for something like that. i did go see the pretty things in philly in the 90s. but i had no great hopes for that. it was fine. but that's it. that's the extent of my reunion fever. oh wait i WAS excited to see the Adolescents in 1986 or 1987. but to be fair they had only been out of commission for about 4 years. the straightedge kids were so bored by them. i was the only person jumping up and down for "amoeba". and i DID write a 10 out of 10 review of Monotheist by Celtic Frost for Decibel Magazine which was a genuine reunion, but let's be honest, it was a reunion between two people and only one of them was the true creative genius behind the music. and that's it. and i have next to no interest in past legends or shadowy figures and cult favorites dragged out on tour by jack white or devendra banhart or some superfan garage/psych musician. no offense to linda perhacs. i just don't care. i feel like a meany. i'm happy that other people care and get to see their heroes. i DID go see Jandek here but only because it seemed like it was going to be a bizarro david lynch kinda thing and he did not disappoint on that score. it was his "country" show. BUT, it should be noted, Jandek never stopped making music. he had just never gone out and played live. he wasn't a revival act. just a world-class oddity.
wait, i did see steely dan in saratoga when they first started playing live again. i went with my brother and my parents. that was really kinda the reason to go. my parents lived near there. but it was a genuine reunion thing. they were great. they didn't sound any different than they had on album in 1980. i never listened to their reunion albums though.

this is the show i saw:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=q6SzZygqS_4

No. No.

being a metal fan is good. people never really go away. it might take them awhile to make another album, sometimes years, but that's only because so many of those people have day jobs.

Mission of Burma were incredible live around 2008 or so, I’m not really a fan of their records tho

I don’t really like any of the new Slowdive stuff, it sounds differently melodically/harmonically and there’s not enough chorus pedal

i listened to that new MBV album once.

Now that one was awesome imo

for what it's worth, i did enjoy The Friends Of Rachel Worth. i didn't listen to any of the new feelies stuff though. i figure it sounds like the feelies. who i worshipped in the 80s. they still play around here all the time and i never go.

to me, that MBV thing sounded like...demos? but maybe i should hear it again.

anyway, there ARE exceptions. i have heard latter-day stuff that wasn't bad. but 9 times out of 10 i don't even listen to them.

i wouldn't say that i don't care but after lukewarm new records from bands like mazzy star, kitchens of distinction, and jamc, i think a better way of putting it is that i'm not enthusiastic about new material by reconvened/reconciled groups. i still care, i just didn't have the same expectations going into why call it anything that i did going into strange times.

i think there are times when new material after a period of dormancy can be really good and help cement what made them great the first time around. examples for me would be mbv, the feelies, and yeah, even the chams found out a pretty cool path the second time around.

and slowdive. pretty much the standard for how to reunite and still be really damn good.

maybe i'm just not the best fan either. there are bands who i love and i haven't even listened to all of their albums. i kinda take things as they come. every once in a while i will seek out a discography on Youtube and listen to the albums i haven't heard.

and ATCQ. pretty much the standard for how to reunite and still be really damn good.

scott, that's a good point...
listening to as much catalogue music as i do, i've come across bands like this (breakup, long gap, reunite) and i'll just listen straight through.

and yeah, there's always a noticeable downgrade. always.

(subtopic: bands that reunited and were better than the initial run? portishead the only one that comes to mind)

imagine me getting through the dan's catalogue for the first time and going gaucho straight into two against nature. "third world man"->"gaslighting abbie." i knew the context of it, but still if you want to hear some seriously jarring sonic hijinks, try that transition lol.

xpost YES PK!

American Music Club made some good records after they reunited. Eitzel had been very active during the 10 year hiatus though.

lol I'm often not even interested in even hearing a band's 3rd album much less their 12th (or their first after a 20-year gap or whatever). But exceptions abound — latter-day Psychedelic Furs and Belly albums weren't great, but they were good and it was nice to hear them again. Live shows are a different thing though. Again, they can be variable, but I've really enjoyed late-career shows by lots of people: Diana Ross, Nile Rodgers, George Clinton, Wanda Jackson, Neil Young, Dylan, lots more. In those shows, of course, the less new material they're playing the better (though there are exceptions to that, too).

Portishead a good exception to this rule, as mentioned above.

Does anyone rate any of the Wire albums after The Drill? I always mean to check them out since Wire were always one of my favorite bands. There just aren't enough hours in the day.

I do think a distinction should be made between reunion tours and reunion albums. I guess I'm far more skeptical of the latter. Jesus Lizard on their reunion tour was one of the best shows I've ever seen.

Some people love the stuff Wire did when they reformed for the second time but not not so much when they became the Colin Newman Band.

i saw reunited television and ny dolls just about every time i could with no regrets. television w/o lloyd was a comedown but verlaine had those magic fingers. the johansen/sylvain dynamic was enough to keep that band interesting, plus watching steve conte learn how to handle the thunders spot was also instructive for me and i'm guessing for him.

i've seen a zillion free summer shows with remnants of bands and, i dunno, they're fun. they give you a little window onto greatness. sometimes greatness itself is almost too much for me. i might go see don felder later this summer. in the park.

I think it’s true in most cases that what reformations are usually disappointing. Always a pleasure to be proved wrong, last two Arab Strap and EBTG albums are their best imho. New Crowded House album is a lovely, sunshine tinged treat, though maybe it works better when there’s a talented singer songwriter calling the shots.

does colin newman ever tour as just colin newman? his five albums from the 80s are some of my favorite albums of that decade. if he ever did a Commercial Suicide In Its Entirety Tour i might even go see it...

haven't heard any nu-wire though.

for what it's worth, i did enjoy The Friends Of Rachel Worth.

I was going to mention the Go-Be's when I read your OP.

Wire's Read and Burn EPs from the early '00s are first-rate, up there with their best. So is 2011's Red Barked Tree

does colin newman ever tour as just colin newman? his five albums from the 80s are some of my favorite albums of that decade. if he ever did a Commercial Suicide In Its Entirety Tour i might even go see it...

haven't heard any nu-wire though.

No point, he's in complete control of Wire since Bruce Gilbert left.

Loved seeing Wire in their first US tour of the new millennium when they still had Gilbert in the lineup. The albums since are solid, but nothing displaces the 70s-80s Wire in my heart. And yeah, Newman's A-Z is one of my favorite solo albums by any ex-band artist.

Dinosaur Jr has had a very strong reunion. Their 2000s albums are just as good if not better than their 80s 90s stuff.

The reunited Hum album was outstanding, a 10 out of 10.

after lukewarm new records from bands like mazzy star, kitchens of distinction

I had no idea there was a new Kitchens album, totally bypassed me. I guess it was 11 years ago.

I like the new Slowdive stuff, it is different but incredibly good, it feels like an evolution

There's really only one legitimate AMC reunion album, the second was called AMC at the insistence of Merge. It's actually the better of the two though.

I think all of the Wire albums are good but it's gotten a bit samey. At least they don't suck.

I don't thin Portishead count; that wasn't really a reunion, I feel like they were just dormant for a long time. I wouldn't be surprised if another album showed up in six years.

I think the MBV album is excellent and again, a case of not really reuniting, it's just getting on with the work.

The only band whose reunion work completely turned me off has been the Pixies.

oh yeah, reunion Crowded House doesn't do it for me either.

I saw a Diodes reunion a few years ago. (You mean you hadn't heard they broke up?) Not good.

The only band whose reunion work completely turned me off has been the Pixies.

i don't want to put words into scott's mouth, but pixies are the first thing i thought of when reading the thread title. idk how scott feels about them, but for me, pixies are the quintessential argument against band reunions.

I was quite happy to finally see them on that first reunion tour but the albums are honestly not good.

I'm a massive Codeine fan and have been very happy that they've reunited twice to go out on tour and just do the old stuff, with no new material. This is how reunions should be done.

I'm also a big Van der Graaf Generator fan and I have to admit that all four of their post-reunion albums have been distinctly lacklustre. Again, I wish they'd reunited just to play the old stuff. But that's not Hammill's way.

I was definitely like this in my teens/early-mid-20s and then kind of got with the program once ATP starting doing nostalgia stuff. Now I look back and see all that stuff as lost opportunities where I missed seeing a bunch of performers due to my own smugness, most notably James Brown, the Police and Rage Against the Machine,

i was like that too for a while and same as Whiney. like, not all reunions are built alike - Carcass got back together and put out two new classics and I'm so glad for them to be back in my life again. Exhorder, meanwhile, I'm glad to see live, but I really don't like their new output at all.

I don't care about motivations either. I'm about to see a reunited Slayer in October that are purely doing it for the money but they're the reason I'm as into metal as I am, I would literally spend half of my word processing class manually typing up their song lyrics and printing them out just about every day. seen them 16 times, and seems like what will probably be a rare opportunity to see them one last time (for the 17th time). but I don't want them to ever get back together for real and record, because it will suck.

likewise, Satan somehow managed to reunite after decades of being known as the NWOBHM band that put out that one legendary album, a forgettable one, and faded into obscurity, and are now churning out stuff just as good album after album.

I saw Wire in 2000-2001 when the Read & Burn EPs were just coming out (you could only buy Read & Burn 02 at the shows) and they were great.

I never saw the point of Steely Dan live, period. Steely Dan were a studio project.

Slayer were incredible live when Lombardo first came back (and I'd seen them with Bostaph just the year before, so I had a clear frame of reference).

I wish I'd gone to see the reunited X with Billy Zoom at some point; I only ever saw them with Tony Gilkyson on guitar.

yeah, like i said, metal bands feel different to me. like they can just pick up where they left off and its no big deal. Carcass will always rule and i like the new stuff fine. it's Carcass music!

i have ignored all reunion pixies stuff. i was definitely a big fan.

need to say again, for some reason i have always gotten a big kick out of OTHER people's fandom. i like that they get excited by it. seeing old bands. hearing new material. sheesh, if you are a hardcore punk fan, you can see so many bands from the past on the regular. and i never poo poo on a fan's excitement for someone. i love ned's pictures of old 4AD stalwarts playing live on his FB. i loved all those people too. i just don't need to see them now. for whatever reason. could be freudian. a fear of death. who knows?

there are people who come in the store who NEVER miss seeing Wishbone Ash when they come around! i think its awesome. i know a guy who has seen the Cowboy Junkies 200 times! its cool.

"I never saw the point of Steely Dan live, period. Steely Dan were a studio project."

they were good live! like seeing a really good jazz big band. with one hit after another.

X's Alphabetland is a great album, straight-up. It's not in the league of the first three, but it's still a great album. Similarly, I hope that The Breeders eventually release a follow-up to All Nerve

I never was very big into blues, but Buddy Guy is out there touring at age 87 and I think he might be the last of the old school big dogs still in the game. And it kind of seems like we should all go see Buddy Guy

The Pop Group were tremendous live in 2015-2016 and the two albums they made then (Citizen Zombie and Honeymoon On Mars) are very good.

The Zombies reunion was amazing, one of the best shows I’ve ever seen

The Homosexuals reunion was kinda strange

I didn’t know Wire ever broke up, I thought they just had a resurgence in popularity

Silver Apples’s comeback (just Simeon) was great

Did ESG split up? I saw them in 2014 and it was incredibly good

In contrast, I didn’t enjoy Dino Jr.‘s comeback but I don’t think I was a fan to begin with. Pixies reunion wasn’t my bag, idk why, I think Frank Black’s solo material kinda gave away the game or something and the original fascination I had with them was diluted by that. Did not enjoy The Stooges comeback at all

Oh, another big comeback for me was Vashti Bunyan. That was great and Lookaftering is great

The reunited Hum album was outstanding, a 10 out of 10.

― brimstead, Sunday, June 2, 2024 3:03 PM (one hour ago) bookmarkflaglink

good call, forgot about that one

and maybe controp but I think Surgical Steel is the second best Carcass album after Heartwork, and it's close

Ugh, so many others too. Liquid Liquid. Young Marble Giants. Great reunions! wish both of them had made some new recordings

Silver Apples is still the only non-festival gig my wife has ever been to.

Stooges reunion live was sick tho

I wonder if Reunion ever reunited. They could just update the lyrics to their one song every decade or so.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=16kh-AP4OCU

Bailterspace coming back was a treat, I have to say.

i love ned's pictures of old 4AD stalwarts playing live on his FB. i loved all those people too.

Yeah Miki Berenyi's show last night was quite lovely. It was interesting hearing how the trio did various old Lush songs -- no drummer, all preprogrammed, and enough different in the overall arrangements (as opposed to basic pacing) to engage my interest, while the many new songs were very good.

Meantime perhaps relatedly I finally saw David J solo a month back and that was a really lovely show. The Jane's/Love and Rockets tour isn't coming to SF but honestly I couldn't care less about that.

Stooges reunion live was sick tho

It really was. I was lucky enough to see one of the earliest shows, in NYC with both Asheton brothers and Steve MacKay, plus Watt on bass of course. It helped that Iggy had never stopped touring (and never stopped playing a lot of those songs), but they really did sound amazing.

i saw one of the original stooges' last gigs (academy of music 12/31/73) and several of their reunion gigs and by just about any reasonable measure the reunion shows were better. i remember the older one better though. i was an impressionable kid.

good reunion shows i've seen: the stone roses, neutral milk hotel, pavement, slowdive

i've never been to a bad one but i also haven't been to any where the band is mostly playing terrible new material

reunion albums are pretty hit & miss and probably tend more towards misses. off the top of my head slowdive, hum, actq and the afghan whigs (though that wasn't really a full reunion) have all produced good-to-great new material but there's been plenty of others that are mediocre-to-terrible like mbv and blur

i expect if pavement recorded a reunion album it would probably be excellent since malkmus never really fell off that much but he's got no interest in that

Stooges reunion live was sick tho

Mm I did only see them once at a festival, and was non-plussed. Primavera 2005 iirc. Wish I’d seen them another time!

oh yeah, reunion Crowded House doesn't do it for me either.

nb there is now a second, slightly better reunion Crowded House with a different lineup

Seefeel’s 2010 album destroys their 90s output for me. I keep waiting for them to follow up.

i admire a project like Cindytalk. which starts out as one thing and then the guiding spirit of the thing just takes it into multiple directions over the years. there must be other examples of that. of course its easier if you are cult-y and nobody really knows your music in the first place.

in a way, seefeel is like this. 2010 seefeel could have sounded like anything really. i don't think i even heard 2010 seefeel. i definitely liked 90s seefeel.

Let us now praise famous bands that never went away even if they were done long before

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=k9n_eOKqSsU

(He don’t care!)

i'll bet those bands like weezer sure are glad they didn't break up years ago because now they are basically touring jukebox musicals who make millions. rolling nostalgia parties for 90s kids. doesn't even matter what their new records sound like. and no offense to them but the same is true of dinosaur too. or neil young. they keep cranking the records out though.

When Skot Cared About Reunions: Little Feat Fuckin' Rocked Tonight!!!!

The Jane's/Love and Rockets tour isn't coming to SF but honestly I couldn't care less about that.

I honestly really wish this were coming here!

Miki show last night was good, not a patch on the Lush reunion show obviously but I thought her attitude made up for it. Bonus: I stood right next to her through all of the Lol/Budgie set. She was getting mighty high. I had to restrain myself from asking for a selfie.

"When Skot Cared About Reunions"

they never really stopped though did they? or maybe they did for a bit after lowell died. in any case, when i saw them that night it was every original member other than lowell and it certainly didn't feel like some greatest hits rehash. though they did play every song that everyone loves.

The only quasi-reunion I'm sad I missed was FLAG even though they also had the dork from All playing guitar.

i know i just told my sad story about seeing the re-formed 1986 adolescents and being the only one who seemed into them but i saw black flag in 1986 and they were fine but they already seemed...old. it didn't help that we had to sit through gone and painted willie before being able to hear the 4000th rendition of "gimme gimme gimme". but i was way into thrash at that point and they were not Slayer.

(to give the kids their due, Verbal Assault played after Adolescents and kicked Adolescents ass all the way out of the state of Connecticut. they fucking ruled. youth and fury beat experience and superior pop hooks that night.)

band reformation acceptability index is really complex equation imo - factors include, was band inherently about being young & beautiful, how many OG members participating, is there new music, is new music good? was there something they did live that was hard to replicate on record?

I have been pretty undiscriminating re this and seen lots of terrible old boomer bands reformed, and also gone through intolerant phases where I have refused to see bands I quite like (particularly post-punk bands for some reason)

as a poster above noted, at the best (or even in the midst of a terrible gig) you might get a little glimpse into why a band was great

when Laughing Clowns reformed I went to heaps of those shows and it was a really interesting experience - even if it clearly was different from seeing the band in their heyday I still learned loads about their dynamic that vastly enriched my appreciation of their recorded work

lukewarm new records from bands like mazzy star

WRONG

“I never saw the point of Steely Dan live, period. Steely Dan were a studio project.”

This is exactly what my dad said before he saw them live in 73, they completely fucking smoked apparently.

When Skot Cared About Reunions: Little Feat Fuckin' Rocked Tonight!!!!🕸

I definitely got some goosebumps last week clicking through videos of Jane's kicking off their tour. Definitely probably a heavy % of nostalgia for where and when and with whom I heard those songs first. Doesn't hurt that they are great songs, written and anchored by the one member who usually isn't there...

I'm getting older, they are getting older, the songs are getting older. I'm just glad that they are willing to bring out the photo album so I can flip through it one more time.

(Not sure I will be able to pay to see it live but who knows!)

I would go see the Janes/L&R tour — I love both of them and have never seen either — but the only places close to me don't work with other commitments. Ah well. Let's just marvel that it's still possible for Jane's Addiction to have an OG member reunion.

my lifelong obsession with live music is partly fuelled by not seeing Jane's in 1991 when I had the opportunity

I gotta say the two times I saw the reformed band (2003 without E.Avery and 2010 with him) - I went in with zero expectations other than ticking a box - and both times were really exciting and moving and satisfying on a level that I can't really explain

actually I saw them last year too with Josh Klinghoffer - and it was really cool too (although perhaps it didn't have that spiritual dimension - I think partly because they were supporting Smashing Pumpkins and playing in a barn)

i never thought about age when i was young. when i first heard all the classic rock bands they were still in their 20s and 30s and they all just seemed like "adults" to me. i had no idea how old anyone was. when i bought Hell Bent For Leather rob halford was, like, 27 or 28 years old. but he SEEMED ancient to me because he had a beard. so, i just figured people in metal bands and classic rock bands were old and would keep doing what they were doing because some of them had beards and that was their job as an adult. with punk and new wave it really seemed like kids/young people were making the music. especially with hardcore. and i just never thought in a million years they would still be doing it in their 50s and 60s! i mean, if you told me in 1980 that adam ant was going to be singing "ant music" onstage when he was 70 it would have blown my mind! whereas by 1980 the rolling stones already looked like they had been playing for a thousand years. charlie watts looked like he was 100 to me back then. so, maybe that is the difference to me for some weird reason. it just doesn't make sense to go see Love & Rockets even though i still worship Bauahus and L&R and ToT to this day. they feel stuck in time to me. of their moment. or i am stuck in that time when i hear them. too much cognitive dissonance for me to hear them sing those songs in 2024. Madonna yes. she makes sense. Bauhaus no. i dunno. it really makes no sense. its my own weird brain. but, like i said, i'm happy for all the cure fans and duran duran fans and depeche mode fans. i guess i just can't see them as classic rock.

I did buy a ticket to see Sisters of Mercy this fall, but Eldritch is technically undead so ...

yeah, makes sense.

i did love that chameleons reunion show i saw in philly. oh god they were so fucking good. it used to be on youtube but i don't see it now. but that was like 25 years ago! and they are playing there this summer. i will still never forgive them for not playing "swamp thing" though. so perverse.

speaking of hardcore, i did take my kid to see Negative Approach here in town. they were okay but i was mostly afraid that john brannon was going to have a stroke. he's also kinda undead like andrew eldritch though. the most memorable thing about that show was lou barlow saying to me "how can you let your beautiful boy slam dance like that?" and i was like eh its not boston in 1982, lou, its greenfield mass in 2018. despite being an influential pioneer of american hardcore lou is not a fan of mosh pits.

(Don't) Smash Your Head On The Old Punk Rock

I’m kicking myself for not seeing the chams here last year, it was like 20 bucks at a smallish venue, never seen em

Man, I loved Jane’s so much in high school but I guess I didn’t work up the motivation to drive three hours to Miami to see the 1997 reunion.

I did finally see them live in 2001 at Madison Square Garden and they just were kind of a bummer from the goofy steampunk aesthetics to the little acoustic stage. I think there was some burlesque elements in their live show at one point, I don’t remember if it was at the show I was at.

They burned through so much goodwill from me in the next decade. Perry basically becoming like this hippie-dippie EDM burning man Vegas carnival barker and Navarro really leaning into goth-metal Vegas douchebag. The whole kind of shaggy, underground version of Led Zep basically just became Led Zep. Strays was awful. I can’t even remember The Great Escape Artist or whatever the fuck it was called but it was probably awful. Kind of shocked to see ppl psyched for this reunion because the last reunion left such a terrible aftertaste with me.

Perk, obviously, can no wrong with me and I saw his Hellride project with Watt not too long ago at a small club and it absolutely ripped, no Chaki

The Zombies reunion was amazing, one of the best shows I’ve ever seen

Oh hey should I see them at the Barbican?

Is it a fear of being disappointed, or true indifference Scott ? Or maybe your attention just shifting away from old acts - a sense that it is not their time anymore.

For the album, I rarely see them as the big event / return that they're marketed to be, but I cannot lie and pretend I don't have some level of curiosity. I tend to set my expectations low though.

For a live show, I am generally not in favor of seeing acts years after their sell-by date.

I did go and see Wire in 2011.

Reunion shows, hmmm.

I think I only went to two, Buzzcocks and Velvet Underground.

I probably should have gone to see Television, but I was a bit disappointed in their third album. However, last week I listened to that live album and it was great.

I'm picky, I guess. I have nothing against bands reforming for the 'money' tour, or picking up with new albums, artists gotta eat, etc ..

"a sense that it is not their time anymore."

i think its this. i am more of an album listener than a live music person. and old albums i love are like old books or old movies i love. though i feel like music definitely remains more inspiring to me year in and year out than if i were to read a fave book or re-watch a fave movie. i still get power from old music. they keep my lights on! and a new album or tour by an old entity just doesn't compute for me. i can't imagine it being inspiring. but i'm all for being proven wrong. there is some indifference as well. "did you hear who is going on tour???" is a sentence that rarely excites me. but some people are live music fanatics. makes sense that they would get excited.

i also feel bad that people feel pressure to duplicate something that they did in the past. for whatever reason. i don't begrudge them the money reason. everyone needs money. but putting on the old hat and making music similar to music you made when you were a completely different person (and it kinda has to be similar if you want anyone to buy it) for one more rodeo feels wearying to me. it must be so much easier to just be buddy guy or carcass to name two supremely entertaining performers with a set formula mentioned on this thread who are really good at what they do and just do that because that's what they do. and who should definitely tour together at some point.

There's a couple of bands where I like the new/late-era output better than the old stuff (Slowdive, Motörhead) but it's very rare. But I don't mind reunions so much - I don't expect mind-blowing greatness but I figure it's more constructive to support these people today than to give them props on the internet for making a good album 25 years ago.

i have never been compelled to see carcass or buddy guy but i would see them if they played together.

that mott the hoople reunion i travelled for was so heartwarming. i think back to that all the time. just seeing the marquee out front that said "mott the hoople."

there weren't mobs of kids ripping the seats up but we are all at different stages of our lives.

I went to a reunion show for one of my favourite groups last year, and yeah it was wonderful, but I went to see them several times when they were originally together and it was better then because there would always be some new music in the set. when I go to a gig I want to hear musicians playing music that's fresh to them, not the same songs they've been playing for decades. but I guess most of the audience just want the hits, so that doesn't make sense financially.

also feel like reunion gigs are kind of like fan conventions now. and fan conventions can be fun! but not the same as a great gig.

yeah this is why I've really dug some recent shows I've been to - Sparks, Todd Rundgren, They Might be Giants, all over whom are known primarily for that one era like 3-5 years in but have been writing and performing for way longer than that. they'll play a few hits of course but otherwise can bounce all over from like 4-5 decades of work, including some new stuff that's generally well-received, it gives you a level of appreciation for them that you don't get from bands that are just permanently trying to relive a certain era

I think in general, a lot of Gen X bands figured out a playbook to age/reunite gracefully. The Pavement reunion show I went to in DC last year was an absolute blast. Also, as cited above, Mission of Burma, Slowdive, Dinosaur Jr. have all done it.

I guess we'll see about acts that had their heyday in the 2000s/2010s. Aside from the White Stripes I don't think there's many in that crop for whom reunions would even be a big deal. The Knife?

it depends I mean - I don't think it diminishes a band to stick around/reunite and not release any new material. the constant release of new material is a capitalist pressure that bands often have to do but if they're well-off financially and don't feel the need or desire to put out new material, more power to them.

If they do put out new material and it's good to great, that does usually make me happier, but not a requirement, and I definitely don't want them to put out anything outright embarrassing.

i love it when a band with a relatively small discog reunites years later and puts out new music that's equal to or even better than their old stuff, it's like oh man i finally have more of this sound... thinkin about quicksand here

in general if there's an artist or group of artists i connected with at any point, i love getting to hear what their art is like later in their lives, bc there's always like a subtle perceptual shift, even when they're picking up where they left off

the only band i can think of that completely fucked this up was smashing pumpkins

just spitballing on bands who have released albums I think are incredible or at least pretty great in their 'second life':

Angel Witch
Satan
A Tribe Called Quest (RIP Phife)
Carcass
Black Sabbath (fuck u 13 rules)
Suffocation
Convulse
Diamond Head
Descendents (I'm talking Everything Sucks here and I know half this board will disagree)
At the Gates
Celtic Frost (yeah I've finally warmed up to Monotheist)
Skinny Puppy

there's obv more than that I'm just terrible at insta-recall

"but I figure it's more constructive to support these people today than to give them props on the internet for making a good album 25 years ago."

i dig this. its a victory lap for the artists and a way for fans to show their appreciation. it totally makes sense to me.

Magma are a pretty good example of this, arguably their two best studio albums came since reuniting

i love a 1999 album by Faust. Ravvivando. as much as i like any Faust. don't know if that's a reunion effort or what though.

I saw Faust at a mid 90s reunion concert. I don't remember much about the music, but they set off road flares inside the club and that was some of the thickest, nastiest-smelling smoke I've ever experienced in my life.

When I was 16 and Dinosaur Jr reunited it blew my mind that I was able to catch a band I (at the time) loved whose good part of their career was concurrent with me being an infant. Then the next year Slint reunited and I had the same feeling. A year or so later I caught Simply Saucer’s reunion and by that point I was on the path of never wanting to miss a reunion… after seeing a bunch of them and realizing how hit or miss they can be, though, I started skipping the ones that I thought might not be all that great and these days I’m rarely motivated to see any kind of reunion act at all. As has been suggested above, I have zero interest in seeing a greatest hits tour of anyone, but if they do a rotating selection of deep cuts (Ween) or play the songs differently and/or improvise then I’m more likely to at least think about it.

Sometimes I feel bad about this, but I generally not compelled to see a band more than two or three times. Like, outside of local favs who always play and it's low effort and cheap and fun to see them a tenth time, I've passed up a lot chances to see deeply beloved acts, especially if I saw them at "my peak" with them.

The only time I saw the Pixies was before they put out records, opening for the Throwing Muses, and they already had a huge presence and the crowd was very worked up about them. This was a cherished memory of being *there*, man! But then a few years ago, I decided to see if there were any bootlegs of the gig, and going over gig histories in Boston, it was clear that this show was at The Rat in December 1986. Yet my memory is clearly placing them on the stage of The Paradise club. So the memory feels kinda useless now. Maybe I should have tried to see them again before it went to crap.

The Rolling Stones Still Life album was a fairly traumatic realization for my 14 year old self that seeing legends wasn't gonna be a legendary experience.

dinosaur, as long as they are able and still get along well enough, can go the neil young route forever. parents take their kids to see them, you know? its a universal guitar noise thing. J. will always be revered. and lou and murph still bash it out like they are kids. i got to DJ a dino jr. show here at a tiny club and all their families were there and it was just so nice.

kids like dinosaurs

There's a theater near where I live that seems to specialize in tribute acts (Jessie's Girl lol), live podcast episodes and old and/or reformed acts. Checking the upcoming shows I see-- Roger Daltry, The Church & Afghan Whigs, The Moody Blues' John Lodge, Justin Hayward & Christopher Cross, 10cc, Little River Band, Big Star Quartet, Jon Anderson, Nitty Gritty Dirt Band (Farewell Tour), OMD, Robin Trower

coming up at Shirley's Bull Run Restaurant near me is Lenny Clarke: the "crazy train" of comedy, The Fools, Doris Kearns Goodwin, John Barleycorn Must Live - The Steve Winwood/Traffic tribute band, Steve Forbert, Popa Chubby, Barrence Whitfield, Gary Hoey, Billy Prine sings John Prine, uh, i don't think i can go on.

I wasn't aware of the Big Star Quintet. Apparently it's Jody Stephens, Mike Mills, Chris Stamey, Jon Auer and Pat Sansone.

Aside from the White Stripes I don't think there's many in that crop for whom reunions would even be a big deal. The Knife?

I was going to say the Strokes but I think they are still together

Magma are a pretty good example of this, arguably their two best studio albums came since reuniting

Yeah Magma are the rare example for me where I listen to their latter-day albums as much as the 70s stuff.

Aside from the White Stripes I don't think there's many in that crop for whom reunions would even be a big deal.

My Chemical Romance?

Wire are onto their third "life", although I think they're dormant at the moment.

Mind you, bands tend not to split anymore, they just go on hiatus..

mark that's a good point and another example of how the 'pixies precendent' has affected band reunions. i've long held onto the idea that the only reason outkast was doing live appearances/coachella about a decade ago is because they (specifically dre) saw how lucrative/legacy building it was for the pixies, so figured why shouldn't we get in on that?

i suppose there's no reason to officially split up now unless people hate each other and money can make things like that more palatable too.

I've seen the Breeders 3x now in the past 5-6 years and they are MILES better than they were in the 1994-1995 era.

I think if Sonic Youth got back together that would be a big deal.

I have been wrong about many things but I highly doubt a Sonic Youth reunion will ever happen.

Thurston's health aside, there remains a toxic stain that even a healthy stream of large European/USA/Japan festival offers would not wash away.

i think the white stripes reforming is more likely than sy at this point. not saying that can't/won't change, but that hatchet would require a crater for proper burial.

those canterbury bands seem to keep putting out well-received records even though they have no original members -- soft machine, gong...

mark that's a good point and another example of how the 'pixies precendent' has affected band reunions. i've long held onto the idea that the only reason outkast was doing live appearances/coachella about a decade ago is because they (specifically dre) saw how lucrative/legacy building it was for the pixies, so figured why shouldn't we get in on that?

― interstellar anthropologist+music philosopher, (Austin), Monday, June 3, 2024 1:37 PM (twenty-four minutes ago) bookmarkflaglink

outkast taking their cues from the pixies incredibly unlikely

like outkast didn't need some old indie rock band to understand how lucrative an outkast reunion would be, also they are o another plane of popularity, i'm sure there were offers from promoters all the time

I mean, Frank Black did immediately fuck off and play the flute for the 20 years since the 2004 reunion. Imagine if he stuck around and made like four albums that were absolute dogshit

sometimes it's good and sometimes it's bad! no doubt were awesome at coachella!

i will say that no matter what, it's always cool to see the actual humans that played on an album you loved play that music live in person with their actual hands and we should support our favorite artists no matter how old they get.

Reunions that would probably be huge--

R.E.M.
Dire Straits
Talking Heads
The Smiths (sadly)
Genesis (w/Peter Gabriel)

a fugazi reunion would break livenation/ticketmaster

ship has definitely sailed on Genesis (Collins can't play or sing anymore) but I did see Steve Hackett decently which I thought was pretty close to seeing PG-era Genesis, probably moreso than what the original lineup could cook up

those canterbury bands seem to keep putting out well-received records even though they have no original members -- soft machine, gong...

partly I think this is because these bands were never huge to begin with, and so they have the luxury of not needing to meet commercial expectations and can rotate in passionate and talented musicians on a regular basis.

I think you get better musicians in bands like that too because it's not like say joining Yes where you know what the repitoire is gonna be and will have to be dealing with a bunch of stubborn vets, Gong never had any 'hits' really but they do have a specific vibe and you can find dudes to capture that vibe

i think i bought the first two frank black albums out of love for the pixies? didn't play them much. he's probably made 20 records since then. i have no idea.

i just played last splash for the first time in decades a month or two ago and i was surprised by how good it sounded to me. though i'm more of a pod person. i didn't hear anything after last splash. and never heard that amps album.

i listened to Belly too! sounded good. i was a huge throwing muses fan. i feel guilty if i think about how much 21st century kristen hersh music i haven't listened to.

Breeders All Nerve and Throwing Muses Sun Racket are both terrific 21st century albums. Worth the time.

Aside, still hoping for another new Loop release.

Yeah. Loved Breeders "All Nerve" - I don't think I saw my purchase of it as a particularly nostalgic one but maybe it was?

As a diehard Pod lover (and indifferent to Last Splash) I think Breeders’ Title TK is their best and All Nerve is superb.

idk how you guys can't believe that the pixies reunion was "influential."

also maybe one for the controp thread but i prefer nubreeders to og breeders/mk2.

(side question: what is the case with them anyway? the biggest hit came shortly after the og lineup was no more)

you know which reunion wasn't great? jafferson airplane. i put it down to the drummer. they used that john mellencamp guy. i know xhuxk likes that guy but he is a clobberer. they didn't need a clobberer. kenny aronoff.

*jefferson*

That reunion gave us this tho:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=L0gnnVcOLNc

Jet aircraft!

Also, as I shared on the "Planes" thread a while back:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vbKB8GEp-L8

Pixies were the huge $$$$ reunion that a lot of these bands looked at, yes. But I have to think they were following Mission of Burma who reunited a couple years before they did. I was so happy to catch Burma, it didn't feel like they were doing it just for money because how much would there even have been? They went on to put out a couple very decent "reunion albums"- but they truly felt like a going concern.

I think another vector in the equation is: how much of a commercial enterprise were these bands to begin with? I mean you see some of these post-rock bands that were pretty much only playing basements in their heyday now selling like, tote bags? No new music, but lots of merch and an Amex pre-sale.

I mean for me it's Slowdive having the clearest glowup. I saw them on all three American tours in the first run and the final time was at Cal State Fullerton in their smallish student pub, maybe fifty to a hundred people there for the show at most? And in these reunion years I always see them playing to the low thousands on their own and possibly more at festivals. I don't begrudge them any second of it because it was a last fucking laugh against a whole crew of people -- here and in the UK -- who resolutely mocked and derided their approach just for existing, when as a good friend of mine argued back in 2000 or so, in the end correctly, that they would likely be the more influential-as-such shoegaze band in the end because they had a more accessible way in for people than MBV did turned out to be utterly correct. And if TikTok helped and cemented it, I have no problem with that either, and both reunion albums have been lovely.

I really want to like those albums

I think a band making an album after being continuously together for 25 years together and a band that was together for 10 years then broke up and then reuniting 15 years later and making an album again both have roughly the same success rate. In both cases the albums are generally not that good, but there are plenty of exceptions.

andre heavily implied that the outkast reunion was because they (or at least one of them) needed the money and he really hated doing it

I guess we'll see about acts that had their heyday in the 2000s/2010s. Aside from the White Stripes I don't think there's many in that crop for whom reunions would even be a big deal. The Knife

daft punk? that's it though, no one at a certain level of success really breaks up anymore, they just gradually get worse and replace half their members until no one really cares anymore. bands like bloc party or franz ferdinand probably could be doing successful reunion tours around now if they'd broken up like a decade ago instead of continuing to limp on.

a wrens reunion would probably be reasonably successful though not enough for most of them to take time off from their day jobs and it's not going to happen.

another reunion that'll never happen (given the failed attempt 20 years ago) but would be pretty huge is cocteau twins.

Apparently 75% of the Sex Pistols are reuniting in August, but it's for a benefit show, not a full tour, so maybe permissible?

There’s something rotten going on with this Sex Pistols reunion — and for once, it’s not Johnny. The punk progenitors have two new performances on the books without lead singer Johnny Rotten, who’s practically synonymous with the band. Now that’s anarchy in the U.K.! In his place is English punk singer Frank Carter on a break from his band the Rattlesnakes. The rest of the lineup, at least, is original: drummer Paul Cook, guitarist Steve Jones, and bassist Glen Matlock. The shows are fundraisers for London’s historic 400-cap venue Bush Hall, which was Cook’s childhood go-to, and will take place August 13 and 14. The band — billed as Frank Carter and Sex Pistols — plans to run through the Pistols’ sole album, Never Mind the Bollocks, Here’s the Sex Pistols.

I guess I’m mainly a Souvlaki mega fan. I like the other stuff just fine, love some of the Pygmalion demos that were canned. But Souvlaki is so haunting and phantasmal. The reunion albums just sound like a band. Even just for a day sounded like an ocean disguising itself as a band

I saw the Sex Pistols at the Phoenix Festival in 1996, I had just turned 17, they were fine.

do people still go see belle and sebastian in 2024? i mean do they sell out big places. i know they tour. i have no idea about them or their touring history or when they even last put an album out. but i know they played dates here recently.

i love Souvlaki to death. i have always listened to the u.s. version with the extra? different? tracks on it. since whenever that came out. i do like the first album a lot. never listened to the third. listened to some of the reunion stuff on Youtube but never went back to it. i can totally believe that they are awesome live at this late date.

Belle & Sebastian appeared on the Simpsons this season.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=c9ZU0fGoQ00

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rmhrky7ZJTA

There is something to the fact that the same show has had Michael Jackson and Belle and Sebastian appear on it.

homer simpson, smiling politely.

it won't happen, but a Spacemen 3 reunion would be amazing.

Agree but im also hopeful for sonic boom’s second career as sunglasses model

do people still go see belle and sebastian in 2024? i mean do they sell out big places. i know they tour. i have no idea about them or their touring history or when they even last put an album out. but i know they played dates here recently.

Belle and Sebastian have gone through some lineup changes over the years, but they've never broken up AFAIK. That said, while they've continued to put out albums every few years, I feel like nobody except the die-hards really cares much about anything they've released in the past decade. Based on recent setlists, they haven't *entirely* surrendered to becoming a nostalgia act, but they only play two songs from their most recent album, and the majority of the set is made up of tunes from 1996-2006.

(I thought about seeing them in Kalamazoo a few weeks ago with friends who live there, and the main reason I didn't is that the show was on a Monday.)

do people still go see belle and sebastian in 2024? i mean do they sell out big places. i know they tour. i have no idea about them or their touring history or when they even last put an album out. but i know they played dates here recently.

― scott seward

They're in the "never stopped" category. I go see them every time they come through town (and listen to each new album a few times), and probably will continue to do so until they stop, out of habit and loyalty and not having to make the effort to get into some upstart synth duo. But it's diminishing returns for sure.

I mean, the Pixies also were that rare band that influenced an entire movement and then broke up before they could properly capitalize on it and subsequently became way more famous in death than in practice. Like they broke up without ever having a Gold record or a charting single and came back as a band who had songs in like Fight Club and Gilmore Girls and the OC.

the one time I saw Pixies (2007) it was the first time they ever toured Australia and the vibe was actually pretty incredible - lots of pent-up Gen X love offered up from the crowd, the band seemed slightly taken aback by the response

(that show also had an absolutely fantastic opening salvo - In Heaven / Wave of Mutilation (UK Surf) / Bone Machine - just masterfully withholding the money shot until the third song but really bringing it when it was time to bring it)

after that I never felt the need to see them again - but I would also never begrudge their need to pay the mortgage and people seem pretty happy to keep showing up

another consideration - sometimes it is only a particular collection of people that can make a particular sound - and there is something joyous about watching them do it & celebrating it, even if they are doing it at a diminished level - I am very glad to have seen a version of Pixies with Kim Deal in it - and I think this somewhat explains the excitement around the recent Jane's Addiction shows, it is just how much better it sounds when Eric Avery is back in the band, and the versions that had a ringer were always a bit compromised

I regret not shelling out for VH with DLR, but generally i don't care

i never actually saw pixies in their heyday despite being a big fan but i do remember people seeing them and not being impressed? telling me they were stiff or just going through the motions. but i don't have a great memory and this is the very definition of anecdotal.

I saw them in Boston after Doolittle came out and they rocked out, much more exciting than the first reunion in 2004.

maybe i just heard from people back then who saw bum nights. everyone has bum nights.

i do really wish i had seen galaxie 500. they totally played in philly when i lived there but i was just becoming a fan in 1989 and there was a small window to see them. would i see them now....??? okay i think i would. they are all still upright. i saw D&N at a summer bbq last year and they looked fab.

emsworth was that the Sydney show? if so I was there too! I remember being amazed that Kim could smile so brightly and continuously for so long. And although they absolutely nailed everything - every note, every scream, every solo, every fill - it was somehow bizarre how exact the reproductions were. In a way very Pixies-ish.

I saw galaxie 500 open for Cocteau Twins, two bands that will absolutely never reunite. I’d certainly see either of they did. I can’t see either doing it for the money.

I saw the Pixies on one of the more recent tours, just pre-COVID, and really enjoyed it. Very conscious of it not being THE Pixies, but that's a good catalog and they played a ton of songs.

Not sure if the My Chemical Romance reunion is still active, but I would see them for sure.

bands like bloc party or franz ferdinand probably could be doing successful reunion tours around now

it’s almost time for the FFS ten year reunion!

emsworth was that the Sydney show? if so I was there too! I remember being amazed that Kim could smile so brightly and continuously for so long.

we may have all had the same conversation before but I saw them the night after the Luna Park show and STILL regret leaving the storming homo-packed party at the Pet Shop Boys stage to catch all of the low-energy Pixies set to a no-energy hillful of 34-year-old parents waiting to get back to the babysitters

Kim was BEAMING throughout though, a joy just to watch her, and it underscored how proper it was for her to tag out of the reunion once it wasn’t making her happy anymore.

I saw B&S just… six weeks ago? I acknowledged to myself that Stuart/Stevie might be the strongest co-frontmen in the legacy act circuit. Great show!

saw first big star reunion tour in nyc at tramps and arthur lee/love post prison gig (actually 2nd) at the knitting factory in la and both felt special since both guys had been away/ran away from their legacy and sure it was partial cash in but a lot of very good vibes from the audience seemed to really inspire great performances. did not go to any further gigs from those reunions because i knew it couldn't be topped.

Not sure if the My Chemical Romance reunion is still active, but I would see them for sure

MCR is doing a full front to back Black Parade set at When We Were Young '24, so they're probably carrying on.

i guess reed/cale songs for drella fits here too, saw that at st. ann's and it was great. thinking bout it, 60s guys revered by gen x who came back in the 90s in a big event style was my thing, anything outside of that hasn't had any appeal to me

emsworth was that the Sydney show?

yeah! definitely a lot of that good energy was coming from Kim. re exact reproductions, I guess that is kind of what I was expecting? like those songs are pretty precisely constructed, with not a lot of room for variation night-to-night I wouldn't have thought. but I am not a man who has ever knowingly heard a Pixies live recording! so no idea how this might or might not have differed from their OG era.

we may have all had the same conversation before
story of my goddamn life

and ATCQ. pretty much the standard for how to reunite and still be really damn good.

― A So-Called Pulitzer price winner (President Keyes), 2. juni 2024 17:44

should perhaps take this to the controversial opinions thread or a "well-intentioned and well-executed music that you couldn't care less abt" thread but... yeah, I've no idea why I would ever put on their reunion album

Weirdly, the only MBV album I really care about is the reunion album. I always appreciated the first two, but they never fully resonated with me.

I finally listened to the mbv reunion album a few days ago. It sounded a lot like Loveless. That's good, I guess.

lol, just now opening this thread to say that the MBV reunion was the only one I could think of that I can remember caring about at all. And Cocteau Twins is the only theoretical reunion I can imagine caring about. More power to the folks who return to rockin' in the free world, though.

https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/en/2/20/No_Cities_to_Love_cover.jpg

I like reunions because I like seeing people play music I like. isn't much else to it tbh

that said have seen more than a few that should probably not have bothered but that's well outweighed by the many gigs where I had a great time

probably a bit less interested in new music by reunited bands but I will usually give them a listen at least once just in case. sometimes it's a nice surprise

basically this thread is just people saying over and over that reunions are lame except for the ones I care about

I think the first ever reunion show as such I saw was the Damned in 1991, when the Captain came back after a couple of years away following the dissolution of the mersh-era incarnation and Paul Gray was part of the lineup again, essentially recreating the Black Album/Strawberries lineup. So it was already of-an-age in a certain way, but I am truly amused at the fact that after everything and anything with them it's once again THAT lineup that's now touring after three decades.

Gang of Four OG lineup (including Dave Allen and Hugo!) in the early 2000s was a great show. I still beam at remembering Jon bashing a microwave with a baseball bat in time to the beats of "He'd Send in the Army".

basically this thread is just people saying over and over that reunions are lame except for the ones I care about

Why that is because everyone else is a sad person wallowing in their middle-aged crisis whereas I, a distinguished critic, am analytical and appreciative about the qualities of musical art over time by its practitioners. (Attempts to reframe this position from anyone else's point of view is mere copycat behavior by the desperate.)

we saw Go4 last year and he was still doing that lol

(they were great fwiw)

lol, ned.

does anyone know of a disastrous attempt to get a reunion going with a band and having it fall apart? i have to imagine drugs might be a factor. would probably make a good movie.

Stone Roses

probably cases of individual artists in bad shape dragged out on tour and having it end badly. i still have flashbacks to the nightmare time someone brought little howlin' wolf to play at my store. oof...that was rough. afraid to even type his name. he might come back and get me...though he actually liked me which was also kinda scary.

oh wait nevermind he died last year. can't believe that anything could kill him!

https://chicago.suntimes.com/obituaries/2023/10/13/23911261/james-pobiega-little-howlin-wolf-saxophone-player-busker-michigan-avenue-bridge-chicago-river-cruise

The least likely reunion I ever thought I'd see was one of the Cream shows at MSG in 2005. It was good! It helped that I didn't pay for the then-insanely-priced ticket, which was $300-plus iirc — a friend had a spare and gave it to me. It would probably be $2,500 now or something. I mean, if it were still possible to have a Cream reunion.

Having seen Clapton a few times before, it was a bit revelatory. He didn't seem to be phoning it in at all, I think the tensions within the band pushed all of them to work at it, nobody wanted to be shown up. It was pretty cool to hear those songs by the OG guys, even if Bruce's never-great vocals had deteriorated significantly.

FWIW, I think I've formally written about this kind of thing twice specifically -- once for the OC Weekly back in 2007, centered around a particular tour but more about the wider subject, and I tried not to let myself off the hook in the end:

https://www.ocweekly.com/music-all-of-this-and-nothing-6365954/

More recently for my Patreon, a little more indirectly but even so:

https://www.patreon.com/posts/when-youre-of-92658315

does anyone know of a disastrous attempt to get a reunion going with a band and having it fall apart?

Bauhaus?

does anyone know of a disastrous attempt to get a reunion going with a band and having it fall apart? i have to imagine drugs might be a factor. would probably make a good movie.

― scott seward, Tuesday, June 4, 2024 7:45 AM

this post made me say out loud, "uggghh, remember BANDS REUNITED on vh1?"

i don't really remember it but now i want to see it.

does anyone know of a disastrous attempt to get a reunion going with a band and having it fall apart? i have to imagine drugs might be a factor. would probably make a good movie.

― scott seward, Tuesday, June 4, 2024 10:45 AM (twenty-five minutes ago) bookmarkflaglink

sunny day real estate (third reunion)

sad person wallowing in their middle-aged crisis whereas I, a distinguished critic,

I have definitely fretted that the late career records that I've thought were totally top rank (Read and Burn EPs, No Cities to Love, The Seer) are actually Voodoo Lounge level fodder, but trapped in my generational context, I cannot see. Those have held up though.

The Breeders seem like the exception to everything in the rock band arc. Deal so doesn't give a fuck and is such a confident, self-contained artist. I listed to the catalog last week, and while I'd still rate the records in descending chronological order, there's very little drop off.

oh yeah that cream show. agree that was good! i wish he'd been playing his les paul standard and not that stupid strat but that's a quibble. we were all the way in the rafters but side view so they were decent seats. they weren't too expensive.

we saw Go4 last year and he was still doing that lol

What a durable microwave!

that last Genesis tour definitely had the makings of it, Phil Collins' condition was deteriorating rapidly and they had to postpone everything a year due to COVID, he got through it somehow though

against all odds

does anyone know of a disastrous attempt to get a reunion going with a band and having it fall apart?

The Love reunion apparently ended with Arthur Lee threatening to have a band member's family murdered, although it seems to have worked for a while.

Simon & Garfunkel reuniting, breaking up again, and Simon erasing G-Funk from what would become Hearts and Bones.

Pixies were the huge $$$$ reunion that a lot of these bands looked at, yes. But I have to think they were following Mission of Burma who reunited a couple years before they did. I was so happy to catch Burma, it didn't feel like they were doing it just for money because how much would there even have been? They went on to put out a couple very decent "reunion albums"- but they truly felt like a going concern.

I think another vector in the equation is: how much of a commercial enterprise were these bands to begin with? I mean you see some of these post-rock bands that were pretty much only playing basements in their heyday now selling like, tote bags? No new music, but lots of merch and an Amex pre-sale.

― encino morricone (majorairbro)

yeah i fuckin' loved mission of burma's reunion - _the obliterati_ is my favorite mob record full stop. they broke up when i was 7! i couldn't have seen them originally

i was seeing... there's this band whose '90s demo cd went viral, and they're touring the us, which the original never would have done. they have fans now and they didn't before. i don't know if i'd see them or if they're good, but people get to _hear_ them live, they get to _play_ for audiences they never would have. and it's the same for a lot of reunion bands, i think. i saw magma's second-ever US gig. their first was in 1973, three years before i was born.

i'm old and a lot of the music i listen to is, i guess, "oldies" music for lack of a better term. what concerts have i seen recently? i saw the sleepytime gorilla museum reunion. in that case i did see the original band, and honestly, the reunion show was ok. i meant to see faun fables a month later but time slips away. i bet i would've liked faun fables better. the SGM reunion was better than free salamander exhibit, who were kinda meh, but i did at least get a chance to see cheer-accident, who are another one of those bands who've been around forever and whose work i... occasionally check in on, i haven't heard all their stuff. the last one i really clicked with was "fear draws misfortune", which is 15 years ago now. i should check out, like, _chicago xx_ or something.

i saw deerhoof with a friend last year and they were fun. i never listened to them much, i don't know their originals. they did the "knight rider" theme. the friend is a fan and i just kind of know who they are. again, they didn't break up.

i don't think melt-banana broke up either... they've been touring, they just haven't released a record in 11 years. they're releasing a new one this year. i never saw them live before. they were pretty amazing to watch to be honest. it wasn't all older hipsters like at the deerhoof concert. or at least i don't think so, i look at 40 year olds these days and think they're young. it was pretty great because of how yasuko is using technology. she and agata showed up there and just fucking killed. their last album was their best one yet, but that was over a decade ago... and with them being a duo i wasn't sure how they'd be able to play their songs live. i figured it'd be a lot of playing to backing tracks.

and what they did wound up being way cooler than that. yasuko had her phone out and she was using it to change up the bass and drum patterns on the fly. it's the first time i've ever seen technology used to create something that doesn't sound like singing to a backing track like on _top of the pops_ or some dude sitting behind a laptop. they were full-band songs performed by a duo but had the freedom of interpretation that i'm only used to hearing from rock groups - the songs _didn't_ sound exactly like the albums at all. it was felt like she was using the rhythms to kind of conduct the mosh pit. there was a mosh pit, too! they're a noise-rock duo of people in their like 50s and people were out there moshing. i was out there moshing, even though i regretted it. i'd rather hear melt-banana play "uncontrollable urge" than hear DEVO play "uncontrollable urge". devo are cool and all but i've never seen them and never really wanted to.

turns out yasuko is a guest vocalist on an album by a group called _squid pisser_, on the title track. it sounds great! yasuko sounds amazing!

the drop nineteens reunion interests me a little bit, but not for the new stuff... i'm just hoping they get to actually release the _mayfield_ demo, which is my favorite of their stuff.

My general rule with reunions is I will maybe go if I didn't see them the first time around or if they are doing mostly new material. I don't begrudge anyone wanting a payday but don't feel a need to see it.

i was all about the ATCQ reunion before it resulted in recorded music, I saw them in 2006, but had no idea how badly they were squabbling behind the scenes at the time

though disagreeing w/ upthread, I always enjoy listening to the reunion album they put out

I'd pay like $30 to go see Jane's but unfortunately prices are like 5 x that. Same issue I had with the Pavement shows.

Well, it's Jane's <and> Love And Rockets, so...

$150 for two bands!! that seems high.

i was thinking about going to the first day of the New England Metal And Hardcore Festival in September and its about $120 for, like, 20+ bands! i am a concert value shopper.

Headliner: KILLSWITCH ENGAGE - 25th ANNIVERSARY SHOW

Lineup (alphabetical order): 200 Stab Wounds, After The Burial, Alluvial, Balmora, Better Lovers, Converge, Emmure, Full of Hell, Incendiary, Integrity, Machine Head, Mammoth Grinder, Missing Link, Nails, No Cure, On Broken Wings, Overkill, Psycho Frame, Simulakra, Since The Flood, The Red Chord, Tribal Gaze, Xibalba + MANY MORE TBA

the second day is good too but i think i could only handle one day. and Converge/Full of Hell/Nails on the first day are the ones for me.

Headliner: SLAUGHTER TO PREVAIL

Lineup (alphabetical order):

As I Lay Dying, Bane, Brand Of Sacrifice, Brat, Corpse Pile, Death Before Dishonor, Disembodied Tyrant, Ends of Sanity, Fleshgod Apocalypse, Ingested, Jarhead Fertilizer, Life Cycles, Mouth For War, Pain of Truth, Peeling Flesh, Shadow of Intent, Snuffed On Sight, Suicidal Tendencies, Suicide Silence, The Zenith Passage, Throwdown, Trail Of Lies, Two Piece, Upon Stone, With Honor + MANY MORE TBA

in today's uncertain times, hardcore still good bang for the buck.

if i were a union tradesmen punk fan i would be able to afford the $325 Saturday VIP package:

SATURDAY DELUXE VIP PACKAGE

- ONE (1) GENERAL ADMISSION TICKET (SATURDAY ONLY)

- MEET & GREET WITH SELECT ARTISTS (SATURDAY ONLY - FULL LIST OF BANDS TBA)

- SEPARATE VIEWING AREA WITH PRIVATE CASH BAR + PRIVATE RESTROOMS

- COMMEMORATIVE FESTIVAL T-SHIRT

- EXCLUSIVE FESTIVAL POSTER

- EXCLUSIVE VIP NEMHF DICE

- EXCLUSIVE VIP NEMHF FOAM FINGER

- NEMHF 2024 KOOZIE

- NEMHF 2024 DRAWSTRING BAG

- EXCLUSIVE VIP SOUVENIR LAMINATE WITH LANYARD

- CD GRAB BAG FROM NUCLEAR BLAST AND SHARPTONE RECORDS

- FESTIVAL RE-ENTRY

PRIVATE CASH BAR say no more

There's some pretty sketchy bands on that bill. Slaughter To Prevail's frontman is some kind of Russian white nationalist, and the singer from As I Lay Dying went to prison for hiring a hit man to kill his wife. One of the dudes from the Red Chord is a cop, too, if that's a problem for you.

On the first day I'd want to see Converge (again), Emmure, Full of Hell, Integrity, Machine Head (again), Nails, and Xibalba.

On the second day I'd really only want to see Suicidal Tendencies (again) and Throwdown. And there's no way ST would be as good as they were in 1990, with Rocky George and Robert Trujillo in the band, so...

the only people i really like on that second day are fleshgod apocalypse and jarhead fertilizer. so much of that stuff is for hardcore lifers. i don't need to see bane.

Best reunion I've seen was Page/Plant, they very much had the intensity and excitement of a Led Zep show. Rocked way harder than I expected.

I caught Love and Rockets last year and they were really good, they stuck to the hits but it all sounded very modern and big and they had tons of energy.

The most lackluster ones were the Yes Union tour and the first time Donald Fagen and Walter Becker got back together in the 90s. Both very dull shows.

good thing I already hate Slaughter to Prevail based purely on their music

Pain of Truth are sick

i don't think i've ever even listened to Slaughter to Prevail. don't even know why they are top dog at a festival. i never go to things like that but i thought maybe if i could get my one and only hardcore friend to go with me that it might be something to do that would somehow be memorable. i try to get myself to do things. but i never do things. still feel bad that i didn't go see Arnold Dreyblatt down the street a couple of weeks ago. also didn't go see IlxOr Milton Parker two nights ago with his combo Negativland at the same spot. and my friends were opening. i have social issues. but converge and full of hell might be just the ticket to get me out of the house...

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=w6PEX3vvWtI

gotta say that it felt like an absolute privilege for me to have been present when Shirley Collins did her first and totally unannounced live performance in 35 years as a guest of current 93 in london in 2014

was also present when all the members of YMO played on stage together for possibly one of the very last times in london in 2018 at what was supposed to be a hosono solo show

both of these were complete surprises and both of them felt utterly magical to me

i hope that i experience something like that again one day, just don't know what it will be!

(and not quite the same magnitude but i loved the records polvo made when they got back together)

Slaughter to Prevail are 'deathcore' that borrow as much from nu-metal and djenty crap as from death metal and the vocalist's name is Alex Terrible

The whole kind of shaggy, underground version of Led Zep basically just became Led Zep.

like everybody else around LA I saw Jane's a bunch of time in their original incarnation and they were very good the first time you saw em and after that you increasingly had to ignore that they were a solid ass band whose frontman was steering the ship into cringey waters. at no point in their history however did they "become Led Zep" unless we modify that to "became Led Zep except not good"

the last pavement tour they were way better as a live band than they had been originally

too bad

?

I prefer them shambling and slightly amateurish

i was seeing... there's this band whose '90s demo cd went viral, and they're touring the us, which the original never would have done. they have fans now and they didn't before. i don't know if i'd see them or if they're good, but people get to _hear_ them live, they get to _play_ for audiences they never would have.
― Kate (rushomancy)

This is Panchiko fwiw!

Keyes otm. The professionalism of current reunion pavement clashes with a key part of their 90s essence. Felt like watching an INSANELY GOOD AND ACCURATE Pavement cover band, fronted by all the original musicians.

This is Panchiko fwiw!

― really looking forward to wearily scrolling past all your posts (Champiness)

them, yeah

it's weird seeing old stuff that catches on because i listen to it and i'm like "yeah that's alright" and there's tons of other stuff from that era that nobody's heard of and to me, you know, like hazeldine or whatever could go viral at any time. but it won't i guess because they hear and see that stuff in ways that people my age didn't. if i'd heard panchiko in '97 i probably would've said "yeah they're pretty good". maybe it just takes time for something like that to stand out. because i think it does, honestly, it just wouldn't have been obvious in '97 that it stood out.

what about specific lineups within a band's history?

like the cure is still around and great, but what if pearl started back up with them again? i just laughed in excitement at the thought!

they got a lot of fanfare when lol tolhurst returned for a few shows.

do these count as a "reunion"?

the best thing about those Lol shows was seeing a version of the Cure where Robert Smith was the sole guitarist - was really interesting and cool to be able to focus on his playing

definitely a return to the full "classic" lineup (ie Boris and Pearl) would be a big deal

like everybody else around LA I saw Jane's a bunch of time in their original incarnation and they were very good the first time you saw em and after that you increasingly had to ignore that they were a solid ass band whose frontman was steering the ship into cringey waters. at no point in their history however did they "become Led Zep" unless we modify that to "became Led Zep except not good"

― J Edgar Noothgrush (Joan Crawford Loves Chachi), Tuesday, June 4, 2024 4:31 PM (five hours ago) bookmarkflaglink

Yeah, I meant "became Led Zep" as in went from weirdo alternative culture band to familiar arena rock cheese

See also the incredibly rapid evolution of Porno for Pyros from horny punkbro philosopher hard rock band to electronic beach hippies.

That first P4P album is an absolute classic to me, and I still couldn't work up the energy to hit the reunion shows, but that's also partially unemployment & residual covid paranoia

Well it was pretty awesome to see Television a number of times.

that beach boys / joni / csny show i saw as a kid in 1974 was technically a csny reunion. that show was formative. the jury's in -- reunions rule!
https://jonimitchell.com/chronology/images/1405_user10675_130608-151205.jpg

i saw CSN in 1984 outside somewhere. and i remember being surprised by how good they sounded. i was expecting something much worse. that was the year of the freebasing gun charge after all.

^saw them around 95, still sounded good then too

I saw the Pink Floyd reunion tour in 1987 and didn't listen to Pink Floyd for something like two years afterwards. Just completely burned me out on their music.

from the nytimes article on that 1974 csny show:

“Everybody's getting along great,” said David Crosby of his group, which has been famed for its periodic tensions. Crosby, Sills, Nash & Young hadn't played together for four years before their reunion this summer.

“We seem to have a two‐month half‐life, and then it blows,” Mr. Crosby said, smiling, this afternoon as he waited during Miss Mitchell's set for Crosby, Stills, Nash & Young to go on. “Actually there are no hard feelings now. We just want to take a well‐deserved rest, and then we'll go into the studio in November and record an album.”

ha ha! what album?

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Human_Highway_(album)

Crosby told journalist Dave Zimmer that Human Highway "would have been the best one, man."

After the tour ended, the band gathered in December 1974 at Nash's basement studio in San Francisco to continue the album. These sessions were marred with disagreements, leading to Stills slicing up Nash's demo tape of Wind On The Water with a razor, to which Nash responded by kicking Stills out of his house.

ha always such dramaz...I guess the drugs will do that

Nash, in his memoir Wild Tales, recalled that "some business, some cocaine thing, went down, and suddenly we weren't talking to each other."

if you haven't read that barney hoskyns Hotel California...maybe don't read it. its so bleak. in that book i learned that Stills was doing so much cocaine that he was starting to have flashbacks to his time as a soldier in Vietnam! !!! that is some heavy coke psychosis.

the only people who come out of that book unscathed are linda ronstadt and jackson browne.

Hotel California BOOK. just to be clear.

They talk about that in Shakey too. Stills even bought a surplus uniform and claimed it has his gear from 'Nam.

Its funny in that book when Tom Waits says about the Eagles “they don’t have cow shit on their boots, just dogshit from laurel canyon”

Is that the book where Linda Ronstadt and Joni Mitchell meet on J. D. Souther's doorstep, one leaving and one arriving?

i want someone to make a biopic that is just joni, james taylor, and warren oates going across the country while they made two-lane blacktop hanging out in warren's trailer. a road movie within the making of a road movie.

https://pitchfork.com/news/the-jesus-lizard-announce-tour-and-first-album-in-26-years/

Well it was pretty awesome to see Television a number of times.

― encino morricone (majorairbro), Wednesday, June 5, 2024 4:49 AM (eight hours ago) bookmarkflaglink

It really was!

they got a lot of fanfare when lol tolhurst returned for a few shows.

iirc both nights were sold out before Lol was even announced as guesting on Faith

(also iirc the tickets were sold on a lottery system so effectively all sold out before they even got assigned)

still feel a bit uncomfortable about seeing the jesus lizard the first time round tbh. david yow told a joke about raping a twelve year old and then played the rest of the show with his testicles dangling out of his jeans xps

i saw them in the early 90s - after Liar came out maybe - and they were so amazing. just otherworldly good. they had a good run. i didn't really play Blue much but they never made anything bad. to me, jesus lizard were better than shellac or rapeman and scratch acid were as good as big black.

andy gill produced their last album just to bring things around to reunions.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Human_Highway_(album)

― A So-Called Pulitzer price winner (President Keyes)

is there a good comp of all the human highway tracks in one place? either floating out there on slsk or, dare i ask, ysi?

still feel a bit uncomfortable about seeing the jesus lizard the first time round tbh. david yow told a joke about raping a twelve year old and then played the rest of the show with his testicles dangling out of his jeans

I recall the age as 9 but I guess your point stands, probably best not to analyse the Jesus Lizard too deeply tbh

still feel a bit uncomfortable about seeing the jesus lizard the first time round tbh. david yow told a joke about raping a twelve year old and then played the rest of the show with his testicles dangling out of his jeans xps

― Bernard Quidbins (NickB)

this is why i always carry a pair of shears around with me

Billy and his brother

there's an "albums that never were" blog. i don't think 'human highway' is still posted but he describes what he did to concoct it.

I've only seen Yow fronting Fipper but that was a fun time, it's nice for the US to have it's own Mark E Smith

surely the American Mark E Smith is https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/David_Thomas_(musician)?

there's an "albums that never were" blog. i don't think 'human highway' is still posted but he describes what he did to concoct it.

― Thus Sang Freud

wait a second i have that one lol

smdh

thanks :)

surely the American Mark E Smith is https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/David_Thomas_(musician)?

― famous instagram dog (Shakey Mo Collier)

generous of lyric, jehovah's witness

(that's what Genius says the lyrics are, god knows if it's right)

my neighbor lou is going out on tour with his old duo!

https://preview.redd.it/folk-implosion-tour-leg-2-announced-v0-z65cm38r675d1.jpg?width=1080&crop=smart&auto=webp&s=0ce660b15d3b551a37c6572dd93e062083efe5a0

the other half is my neighbor! I fret for both of them about the total lack of a break on that first leg, man...that's a lot of days without some time to just stare at the ceiling

This is kinda specific but I bought tickets to see Bikini Kill this coming September. I’m not sure why, as I was not particularly a fan in their heyday (maybe I was slightly too old, although I’m the same age as the band members). I tried listening to some of their music to get jazzed for the show and it’s just not registering with me. But that aside, I was pondering the strangeness of 50-somethings playing that kind of music today, and the audience of presumably a similar age that would go to see it. I mean, how weird is it, and is there a chance I would be blown away by the show?

Yes

I'm fond of the Comus reunion songs (there were only a few) and wished they had done more. Roger sounds like his body had changed a lot but Bobbie's voice hadn't changed even slightly (to my ears).

I haven't liked what I've heard of the recent Pixies much but I just love Frank Black so much (when he's very good) that I've got a strong hankering to hear something new by him. I should probably keep hunting for old b-sides before I try anything new.

there will be a ton of under 30 year olds at Bikini Kill.

The Sundays would still be a big deal, right? wait, they haven't come back have they...

Nope.

Speaking of Colin Wire, I posted this on the Wire (2015) thread because it's attracted other updates through recent years:

Immersion is excited to announce the release of Nanocluster Vol 2. out June 14. The album will be available as a double 10-inch, CD and on all digital platforms. Nanocluster Vol. 2 features collaborations with Immersion (Colin Newman and Malka Spigel), Thor Harris, and Cubzoa (Jack Wolter from the band Penelope Isles). Matt Schulz from Holy Fuck plays drums throughout the release.

The original X had been touring for years and years before Alphabetland, but def an exceptional reunion in the studio.

Albums That Never Were keeps getting links Ceased and Desisted, but check way down in the comments...

Plastic People of The Universe got back really together for 1997.

Moby Grape's 20 Granite Creek, with good contributions from all originals, incl. Spence, came out in 1971, but that was an epoch for those guys.

Between '67 and '71, I mean.

And even though they made several albums in the years between, this is the reunion of their peak capabilities, for a whole LP (not that you can't cherry pick some of the others).

I deeply DGAF but I feel like an Oasis reunion would probably mean something to some people? I can't rid myself of the suspicion that the last 15-odd years of fraternal sniping and mediocre solo material is a calculated exercise to drive up brand value before cashing in on one final payday tour

Oasis reunion would break the internet.

I've seen Bikini Kill a few times and it's never been good to me, but the music isn't for me and that's ok.

I went to the big la Punkchella fest and there was a lot of reunions (Jesus Lizard sound better than ever). The Black Album Damned lineup with Paul and Rat was one of the best things I've ever seen.

even I would might see a reunited Oasis and I don't like anything they did past their second album

still don't wanna know how their garden grows tbh

i would run screaming from oasis. they are so bland they hurt me. i would go see a Dogfaced Hermans reunion though. one of the best live sets i have ever seen in my life and i want that again in my life.

hope to find them caught beneath a landslide

I don’t really get the point of an Oasis reunion (if one likes them): Liam still tours and sings oasis songs (I think !). What would the difference be with Noel playing basic power chords on the side of the stage instead of whoever plays with Liam ?

they would be using the name Oasis

I love Oasis so so much, would be a major big thing for me if they did it. They’d probably still suck live tho but it’d still be fun.

I don’t really get the point of an Oasis reunion (if one likes them): Liam still tours and sings oasis songs (I think !). What would the difference be with Noel playing basic power chords on the side of the stage instead of whoever plays with Liam ?

Hey Skot, I really liked the Jerry Harrison/Adrian Belew (backed by Turkuaz) Remain In Light show wayyyyy more than I thought I would. The set I caught was at a free outdoor summer festival in the park, but I would totally go see it in a club. Both leadmen were great and it made me realize how significant both of them were (and Nona & Eno of course) when Byrne largely (and infamously & unfairly) claims the credit for RIL.

I'm pretty sure they are still touring that "reunion" this summer.

Last week I saw a dude in Brooklyn non-ironically wearing an oasis shirt (I think). Haven’t sssn that in a bit
I saw them about a year before they broke up. Heard the songs too many times at this point to derive any further pleasure from them

honestly, I probably just need to do Oasis karaoke and I’ll be good

I don’t really get the point of an Oasis reunion (if one likes them): Liam still tours and sings oasis songs (I think !). What would the difference be with Noel playing basic power chords on the side of the stage instead of whoever plays with Liam ?

as stated before the whole point of these things as a fan is to see the people who actually played and performed on the albums you love do it in person which is always a special thing.

i think Oasis got a bit of a resurgence weirdly from the Be Here Now remaster, idk there was a bit of reassessment going on and some level of renewed appreciation. i never saw them, they toured opening for U2 back in '98 iirc but unfortunately on the leg of the tour i went to, it was Fun Lovin' Criminals.

i don't think i'd go to see a reunion but i'd be happy for anyone who'd be excited to see them. there are only a few reunions i've been excited about, the last one was the Stereolab tour just before Covid.

i think Oasis got a bit of a resurgence weirdly from the Be Here Now remaster, idk there was a bit of reassessment going on and some level of renewed appreciation. i never saw them, they toured opening for U2 back in '98 iirc but unfortunately on the leg of the tour i went to, it was Fun Lovin' Criminals.

I like FLC way more than Oasis

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=o5NqDb6PA90

here’s your medal

here's my scooby snack

Yeah but no tour

Free Beer Now

that feels like a different category of albums to me, albums from bands who knew they were breaking up and weren't gonna tour again, so not only is everyone more assertive and willing to get weird it also means it's now or never for all the things they wanted to do but hadn't yet

something like Refused's Shape of Punk to Come or ELP's Brain Salad Surgery. The Beatles somehow recorded 4 LP's worth of this sort of material and most of it is really good

as stated before the whole point of these things as a fan is to see the people who actually played and performed on the albums you love do it in person which is always a special thing.


but there is zero chance Oasis would do this with the ppl that played on those first two albums, is the point being made

That was the case with Guns n Roses too, until it wasn’t

The Beatles didn't invent the reunion but they did invent the breakup

Wasn't there a thread for reunions that could still happen but probably won't? Who else is there, besides Oasis? Talking Heads, I guess.

Spacemen 3

The Jam

Or, reunions that happened once but that will probably never happen again - the Sex Pistols

Sonic Youth

REM

The Sundays would be big though, right? all kinds of people would want to see them. young and old. both my kids love The Sundays. so many Gen X peoples would want tickets.

I don't know who any of the members are though.

Bands who won't reunite (probably):

Pink Floyd (w/ Waters)
The Smiths
New Order
Journey (w/ Perry)

Cocteau Twins
Galaxie 500

The Field Mice

Lush a good bet to join that list at this point.

Also, Chicago (w/ Cetera)

Uncle Tupelo, I s'pose

re: The Sundays

In an interview with the C86 Show Podcast released on August 18, 2020, Patrick Hannan revealed that Wheeler and Gavurin had "never stopped making music" and that he had played drums on a number of their tracks. Hannan added that these recordings may never be released.

Uncle Tupelo probably doesn’t make sense because (among other reasons) Tweedy can make more money continuing to tour Wilco. That’s one of the only reunions I’d be in queue the morning of ticket sales to see, can’t stand Wilco though.

Bands who won't reunite (probably):

Pink Floyd (w/ Waters)
The Smiths
New Order
Journey (w/ Perry)

― A So-Called Pulitzer price winner (President Keyes)

did steve perry do something

morrissey is a racist

i'm not sure how roger waters turned palestinian liberation into stanning putin, but he did. i don't know. also, one of the people who can't manage to support palestine without being anti-semitic about it. i fucking hate it when people do that. he and gilmour were getting along for a bit but gilmour is _not_ on good terms with waters now because of the whole "anti-semitism" thing. also rick wright is dead, so what's the fucking point?

i don't know. i like a lot of oldies, like a lot of reunion music, but aside from some, like, folksingers, i can't think of people from the '60s i'd want to see live.

Journey is super successful touring with their new vocalist. I'm not sure bringing Perry back would help them much. Also, he seems like he has problems with touring.

The Smiths are unlikely to reunite regardless of Morrissey's political views unless someone manages to implement necromancy

there is no way the dead kennedys will play with jello again
keith or henry will not play with greg ginn again

ok maybe keith would

I think Perry owns the Journey name so they have to pay him a royalty to use it? Something like that, sounds like a bad scene (esp. because he's not even an original member). In short, they can't stand each other.

I'd have said Talking Heads until this past year, but they keep doing talks (I think there is another one coming up!), so I guess at this point now I wouldn't be surprised, but I wouldn't count on it either.

I don't think Jon Anderson will ever be back with Steve Howe in Yes at this point either.

Black Flag

Why Galaxie 500 in particular? I know they've said they don't want to reunite, but so has every other band.

but there is zero chance Oasis would do this with the ppl that played on those first two albums, is the point being made

im p sure you'd only need the brothers g to make a gajillion dollars and call it a reunion tour. they aint stupid. they will do it soon.

AFAICT Damon and Naomi still detest Dean Wareham over how he split up the band.

Cocteau Twins I would love ! But there’s zero chance unfortunately…

Wareham also has plenty of other fruitful artistic endeavours at this point and really doesn't need a Galaxie 500 reunion

Liz Fraser's voice is basically shot, right? I watched a few youtubes of her recent shows with Massive Attack and she was half singing, half speaking the words to Song to the Siren. I don't think she could do a whole Cocteau Twins show even if she (and the others) wanted to.

Really ? I thought her voice was still great on her Sun’s Signature project from a couple of years ago. No idea about live shows though

I would love to see Flash and Melle Mel mend their fences and do some shows, but Kidd Creole is still in jail and Cowboy died in the '90s

she sounded great when I saw her with Massive Attack a few years ago

would've been super cool to see the 5-piece Genesis reunite for some shows back in like '07

similarly I thought a reformed YMO could've come up with something really cool back when they were doing shows under the HASYMO name, maybe the only reunion I can think of where they didn't have a new album out but still changed their sound radically. it's too bad because Hosono and Takahashi were doing some great stuff together at the time, so I'm guessing that Sakamoto wasn't really compatible with them anymore

I don’t really get the point of an Oasis reunion (if one likes them): Liam still tours and sings oasis songs (I think !). What would the difference be with Noel playing basic power chords on the side of the stage instead of whoever plays with Liam ?

presumably you wouldn't have to listen to their awful solo material

I would be excited for a Kenickie reunion

That was the case with Guns n Roses too, until it wasn’t

Guns n Roses have never done this, afaik

and if you think Oasis are going to play stadiums with Tony McCarrol on drums…

Huh? They've played reunion shows with all the original members except Izzy--even had Steven Adler for a few shows.

yeah GnR reunited some time ago

guessing he's referring to the omission of Izzy.

the reunion show I went to was incredible

G'n'R didn't even have its original line-up on their 2nd album, so I think Axl, Slash, Duff counts as a reunion.

have to admit, i think the Madness reunion has gone rather well, both for the fans, and the band.

Gnr without Steven ain’t gnr

Matt Sorum is an emotionless robot

that's what his gf says

Sorum left the band in the '90s. They got Frank Ferrer now

CCR

It’s still the 90s to me maaan

modern lovers

xpost A decade when Adler was in the band for 6 months

Weezer could just do GnR and Oasis songs live and then you wouldn't need GnR or Oasis at all.

its always seems weird to me that people still talk bout guns n roses in 2024. or the 21st century in general. i always forget how much people liked that one album. their claim to legendhood based on a very thin body of work.

I like the Illusions!

The Illusions boiled down would be one really good album. One.

The Illusions boiled down would be one really good album. One.

One vinyl LP. 45 minutes of music max.

I would happily accept this.

I would rather see a Wild Flag reunion than most of these

Slash had a cool hat

I saw Guns and Roses in 1993 and it was pretty cool even though no Izzy and too much Sorum

Then I accidentally saw them last year and I dearly wish I had left that memory alone

Which I guess is another factor for me - did I see this band in their (approximate) prime? Then I probably don’t need to see them in 2024

https://pitchfork.com/news/refused-cancel-reunion-show-after-frontman-has-heart-attack/

Trying to think of who I'd want to see if they did, I'd probably buy a stupidly expensive ticket to see R.E.M. Even without Bill Berry, definitely with. I saw them twice and they were really good, I'd enjoy seeing them again.

I guess the tour for Ragged Glory was sort of a reunion of Neil and Crazy Horse. That was one of my favorite shows.

Well now we have a new litmus test for the original question:

https://www.facebook.com/REMhq/posts/pfbid031VDjWwKEGKMTJGZgLWn7k4y4SSvRZ38AKVkjRsn8XsCVuRqaDDh3eZtTPCb4ebVNl

haha I came to post this here as well. Stipe sounding a little weak vocally and obv whole performance has kind of a 'just kicking shit around' feel to it, but I kind of like that TBH. still very much doubt that this will ever result in even a temporary reformation but who knows.

that CBS interview they did was sad and nice. reminded me of the talking heads on fallon.

if they do some 6-month Sphere show in Vegas...that would be sad. but i can't see them doing that. i hope they don't do that. they seem like pretty chill retirees.

they should just do a weekly residency at a bar somewhere

Mike Mills is busy playing in the Big Star tribute band

I’m not a fan of rem but I watched the interview and it was like a class on how to say nothing but still answer questions

_I don’t really get the point of an Oasis reunion (if one likes them): Liam still tours and sings oasis songs (I think !). What would the difference be with Noel playing basic power chords on the side of the stage instead of whoever plays with Liam ?_


presumably you wouldn't have to listen to their awful solo material

and I read somewhere that Bonehead is in his band (for what that’s worth)

I can't say this is something I am into generally.
Loads of friends lately going to see Codeine, Unwound, all those indie bands. Heck I think somebody posted a clip of the Make Up last night?? For me... why would I want to relive the worst years of my life? In a crowded room? And pay $40 for the pleasure?

I DID see Tom Rapp play at one of the Terrastocks, and that was great and I'm glad I did. Likewise, I would see Michael Chapman play whenever he visited the US, and I'll go see Bridget St. John when she plays. I think these folks, though, they don't really do the whole big "first tour in 30 (50) years!" thing, where such a big deal is being made of it. They're just playing a few gigs.

Oh, I saw Patty Waters when she played a couple years ago.. does that count?

when I saw the pretty things (2010ish) one of the cool things about it was that yeah they just felt like a jobbing band - like, sure they had a critical halo but not quite enough to allow them to rest on laurels and phone it in - and I would guess not enough money to take it for granted either - they worked really hard to blow the crowd away

(i know they did “plays album in full” shows etc in other territories but in Australia they just played really killer club shows)

The R.E.M. interview kinda bummed me out, in a way. Their legacy as a band feels "sad" to me. The guys seem (relatively) happy/healthy and on good terms, but they were like former coworkers talking about a job they had for a long time – somewhat fondly, but also without much sentimentality or "pride" (well, more for Michael and Mike maybe). It's hard to explain.

i think r.e.m. were four very different people and its pretty amazing they lasted as long as they did! and i'm sure they have all kinds of conflicting feelings about their time together. they did it about as good as you can for a band that went from nothing to megastardom. i can't say that i really followed their later years but they never seemed to embarrass themselves too much. i did think stipe was going for jesus-hood at one point a la bono but he seems pretty chill and thoughtful now. their drummer seemed bummed during that interview. i felt bad for him. he's got unresolved stuff. but he can totally afford a great therapist.

i watched this thinking it might be some sort of comeback thing and i would listen to it in honor of this thread but i looked and it turns out they never broke up! who knew?

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=y04nc_Hy9EY

“Some bands I forget about completely / and one of them is rem”

I just checked the setlist for one of Liam’s latest shows (June 27th, Manchester) and… it’s all Oasis (+ « I am the walrus »)!

good value!

for Noel's sets seems halfway in he switches to Oasis material

It's been years since I've seen either of them, but I have caught shows by X and the Feelies. However they were both promoting new material which was actually pretty damn good. Other than that, I'm with you. I find nostalgia terribly depressing, but I'm definitely in the minority. Many of my friends keep going to see the English Beat, Squeeze, etc., whenever they get a chance.

both of those bands are really good live. enjoying old music played live isn't depressing. stop thinking that way.

imagine going to see howlin wolf play spoonful and little red rooster in his later years and proclaiming "this nostalgia is so depressing!"

Honest question: isn't it also nostalgia to play old records?

Of course for me neither really qualifies since I wasn't alive first time 'round for most acts I'd be interested in.

Good point

for me, 'nostalgia' when it comes to live acts, in a pejorative sense, means to me things like the current touring version of the Beach Boys, who are great musicians, perform very well, but are very much not the Beach Boys (just Mike Love, Bruce, some Wondermints, John Stamos, etc), and playing an very safe, 'greatest hits for casuals' playlist. there's nothing wrong with the show, but it feels a bit like what Ricky Nelson sang about in Garden Party.

I don't think it means "merely an older band who is still putting on great live shows."

Well could it also be nostalgia for when you first heard the band yourself, and what was going on in your life then, regardless of when the band was active ?

some Wondermints

citation urgently needed

an very safe, 'greatest hits for casuals' playlist

and tbf to the Mike Love Touring Entity LLC, they play long-ass indoor shows with moderately deep cuts for genuinely nostalgic fans, as well as nothing-but-hits sets at country fairs and festivals and casinos

(just looked at setlist dot - they're covering Rockaway Beach on the current tour!)

xp - per wiki four of them (Wondermints) toured with The Beach Boys on the 50th anniversary tour.

it's very interesting how age is perceived in rock music vs. jazz

also ilm has always kinda had this nostalgia is bad thing, i think because by staying current on charlie xcx we can stave off the inevitable slide towards oblivion. i don't see it as good or bad it's a very normal human emotion experienced by everyone, sometimes it's there in your heart and sometimes it's not.

"it's very interesting how age is perceived in rock music vs. jazz"

i explained how i felt on this thead somewhere. i don't treat genre musicians the same as i do rock and pop musicians. country/folk/bluegrass/metal/blues/etc seems like stuff you can do forever. and many do without stopping.

four of them (Wondermints) toured with The Beach Boys on the 50th anniversary tour.

This is because the 50th anniversary tour was Brian's band (plus Mike's then-guitarist/bandleader Scott Totten standing behind him, and drummer John Cowsill - the latter a huge complement). Members of The Wondermints have been the core of Brian's band since 1999, which is a quarter of a century. Five months in 2012 is a) less than that, b) nearly half that time ago, and c) not current.

Sorry, guess I misunderstood your post. I knew they played in his band and were on his version of Smile, but hadn't realized they ever toured with the mothership so was sharing the new to me info.

lol Totten and Cowsill both got fired last year. so by that measure, the current touring Beach Boys in entirety is: Mike rasping, Bruce playing a small probably-unplugged Casio, and John Stamos coming out to guest on a few songs, a few times a year.

xp :)

would be kinda cool if they leased the name to a group of beach-y dreamboats who could shred and sing like angels. more people should think of doing things like when they become decrepit.

Honestly, you are onto something there. They should follow the Dead model at this point, start slowly roping in young ringers one by one and fading the old guys out. Might as well ramp up the money printing machine for the next generation, even when no original members are left in a touring state.

the anti-nostalgia angle has a twinge of gatekeeping to it that comes off kinda boomer-y...

as kids are taught today: don't yuck people's yum.

i also explained on this thread somewhere that i am totally all for people loving reunions and i love a fan's enthusiasms and love for their faves. i think its cool. and i think old bands should do what they want to do!

i'm a fan of fandom. i like watching it from afar. i like movies about it. and i like hearing documentary accounts by fans OF their fandom. its fun and interesting. i don't do any public fan worship. conventions. boat cruises. jukebox musicals. i am a homebody fan.

tempted to watch that Nickelback documentary that includes Nickelback talking about all the hate for their band. i think its on Hulu.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=F__QwEkQeeQ

I think all bands should be made to get back together whether they like it or not

Went to see Mike's Beach Boys a few years ago and to be honest it was fun x3. Good band, decent setlist choices, and the only hilarity was when they did Summer In Paradise and Mike's ridiculous solo song Pieces Brothers, a tribute to George Harrison. Genuinely funny with great clipart on screen. Also got a handshake off Stamos, despite leaning in to try and get to Mike or Bruce

I think all bands should be made to get back together whether they like it or not

lol why is it ok for metal bands and not rock bands? so it's ok for Judas Priest to still be a band but not ZZ Top?

I mean...9 times out of 10 nobody wants to see an 'aging band', it's code for one of a few things:

1) "wow, the vocalist really fucking sucks now" - 95% of the time

2) "they are recording new music and playing it, fuck that." - 3% of the time

3) "this is embarrassing, they're playing a tractor pull" - 2% of the time

----------------------------

#1 is usually my hang-up. I don't expect 70 year old singers to sound like they did in their 20s, just that they sound enjoyable. don't care if they lower keys of songs either (Sabbath did when I saw them). but sounding outright bad, well...that's hard for me to get past.

#2 = ehh, some people want a setlist that matches up with one from 1988. though I can understand it if the entire set is going to be songs you don't know or care for.

#3 = who the fuck cares where they're playing, are you that sad to see your former heroes at a low in popularity and thus dont' want to be seen or associated with their lameness? go out and rock!

would totally see ZZ Top tbh.

also the King Crimson show from 2021 was maybe one of my favorite shows of my life.

Thought it was funny when Mark Eitzel said his fans are tired of hearing him sing "I've Been A Mess" but he just keeps singing it because he loves to

I saw King Crimson in 2017 and they were amazing. The thing is, they really were as anti-nostalgic as it's possible to be. Fripp assembled a new lineup that was nothing like any previous lineup despite featuring former members, and the songs were completely re-arranged for the new band. "Yeah, we're playing that — but it sounds like this now, and if you don't like it, there's the door."

lol everyone is such a tough guy, it's ok to just want to see a band do some old songs that meant something to you in a certain time in your life

re question upthread about rock vs jazz (and maybe why metal gets a pass) - isn't squeamishness re some ageing rock/pop acts really because those genres (by broad brush definition) are so deeply associated with teenage dreams & preoccupations?

like I know I have a totally indefensible reluctance to watch New Order in 2024 looking like normal sixty-something humans - because I was so in love with their beautiful inscrutable promo pix, and their tunes that somehow seemed to capture how I felt about love and life in my teens and early 20s

king crimson and zz top played for so long by the same people made it folk music. you can play folk music forever.

I saw Brian Wilson live some years ago and lol upper mississippi OTM as fuck about the inevitable slide towards oblivion thing, his voice was really shot and he was visibly depleted which made me think "wait but I listened to his '03 live album, he was super old then too but in fine form", which lead to me doing the maths on how long ago 2003 was, that Wilson had continued aging since then and so have I and so will I and *existential scream*

the anti-nostalgia angle has a twinge of gatekeeping to it that comes off kinda boomer-y...

Yeah a big part of the kneejerk sentiment comes from my parent's appaled reactions at seeing old names from their youth come back playing the same old songs and looking the worse for wear/like they were doing it for the money. And this is partially why my dad later in life gravitated towards exactly the styles scott lists - bluegrass, country, the blues - because there were previous models for old dudes playing that stuff.

I would have expected old ILX to be more anti nostalgia because the let's-push-things-forward urge for musical trends to advance was much stronger then (tho tbf I still remember many of old ILX's most vocal poptimists drooling over seeing, haha, Brian Wilson live), but right now it feels like that narrative has exhausted itself entirely, ppl either don't believe music will advance anymore or more reasonably they believe that it never really did like people used to assume it did, Charli XCX hardly a new kid on the block now either and I don't really see many posts repping for artists that are.

I could well have said this upthread and perhaps multiple times.

Booked tickets with a friend to see Tindersticks later this year. "What do you think they'll play?" wondered friend.

Having checked, their last tour was almost entirely their last two albums with a few other songs ... and there seemed something endearing about this even if only a handful of those new songs would be counted as "favourites".

I think they do seem to do "events" that include more old songs (eg. concerts with strings etc).

I'm not really sure what I'm trying to say. I've had wine.

anonymous people coming to a venue near me. john etheridge i kinda know. that's about it.

https://scontent-bos5-1.xx.fbcdn.net/v/t39.30808-6/454395712_10162048328367137_9004239916635237318_n.jpg?_nc_cat=102&ccb=1-7&_nc_sid=127cfc&_nc_ohc=UM2X65pRRXAQ7kNvgFFQ7GC&_nc_ht=scontent-bos5-1.xx&oh=00_AYAkf8yU_eHyRX5s6Q8G-99HH6ZXQuqh56a5QCeHYkUATA&oe=66B73F50

https://scontent-bos5-1.xx.fbcdn.net/v/t39.30808-6/454494232_10162048342622137_6127866425981948265_n.jpg?_nc_cat=106&ccb=1-7&_nc_sid=bd9a62&_nc_ohc=u2_wy4HbcCwQ7kNvgFGzsgB&_nc_ht=scontent-bos5-1.xx&oh=00_AYD0N8-ADEUhY6CQWptZ76bOF3IvaEF7IvzCSA5LbdWRBg&oe=66B74D1E

To be fair the last original member of Soft Machine (Mike Ratledge) left in 1976. And Daevid Allen said those guys could carry on with the name! It's about as authentic as going to see Skynyrd nowadays though, true.

The Gong guys I mean, don't think he gave a shit about Soft Machine since he got rebuffed at customs that one time and had to go back to France and invent whatever you call that stuff he did

imagine going to see howlin wolf play spoonful and little red rooster in his later years and proclaiming "this nostalgia is so depressing!"
Yeah, I think comparing Howlin' Wolf in the flesh at any point in his career to Squeeze or the English Beat live in the 2020s is a little silly.

I will say that the Soft Machine live album from 2020 (Live at the Baked Potato) was very good.

The lineup there was:
JOHN ETHERIDGE - guitar
THEO TRAVIS - sax, flute, Fender Rhodes electric piano
ROY BABBINGTON - bass guitar
JOHN MARSHALL - drums

But Babbington has since retired, replaced by Fred Thelonious Baker.

...and John Marshall has died, replaced by Asaf Sirkis.

im p sure you'd only need the brothers g to make a gajillion dollars and call it a reunion tour. they aint stupid. they will do it soon.

― kurt schwitterz, Wednesday, 12 June 2024 16:12 (two months ago)

😎

Maxmillion D. Boosted (jon /via/ chi 2.0) at 3:03 6 Aug 24

I will say that the Soft Machine live album from 2020 (Live at the Baked Potato) was very good.

The lineup there was:
JOHN ETHERIDGE - guitar
THEO TRAVIS - sax, flute, Fender Rhodes electric piano
ROY BABBINGTON - bass guitar
JOHN MARSHALL - drums

But Babbington has since retired, replaced by Fred Thelonious Baker.

Soft Machine just seems like a band now that can carry on indefinitely with new people replacing the oldsters as they retire/die.

Secretly kurt s is the opening act and backing band for them bros. Surely.

Britain noshes its yobs

the kinks should open.

and if you think Oasis are going to play stadiums with Tony McCarrol on drums…

― bae (sic), Friday, June 14, 2024 1:06 AM (two months ago)

😎

threatening to come to a venue near me. not a tribute act? i don't think???

https://sheatheater.org/calendar/calendar_20067_full.jpg

Seems to be Rudy Sarzo, Jizzy Pearl and a couple of other blokes. Their last album was called Hollywood Cowboys, of course it was. Please report back!

i scared...

jizzy pearl...good grief. oh he was in love/hate. i remember them.

I saw "Jizzy Pearl's Love/Hate" (are there multiple versions of Love/hate touring?) open for the Dio hologram in 2019.

https://www.stereogum.com/2047136/dio-hologram-concert-review/columns/sounding-board/

jizzy pearl...good grief. oh he was in love/hate. i remember them.

he also took over in Ratt for a while

of course he did.

Saw Love/Hate open for Skid Row in something like 1991. Seb got his dick out and wiped his arse with a copy of the Daily Star. I missed my train and slept at Gatwick airport. Good times.

Jizzy missed out never having the opportunity to join a GNR tribute with Izzy and Dizzy.

They could do a Thin Lizzy tribute - Izzy, Dizzy & Jizzy's Lizzy. Imagine the arguments over the name order!

I saw "Jizzy Pearl's Love/Hate" (are there multiple versions of Love/hate touring?) open for the Dio hologram in 2019.

Opening for a hologram is surely the nadir of anyone's career, it can't get lower than that surely?

Muppet Show
And
Spinal Tap

Legendary musician, artist, record label executive, and philanthropist Herb Alpert has announced he will reform his iconic Tijuana Brass Band for the first time in over 40 years for a string of US tour dates in 2025. With an all-new lineup, Herb Alpert & The Tijuana Brass & Other Delights will commemorate the 60th anniversary of his historic album Whipped Cream & Other Delights performing hits like “The Lonely Bull,” “Spanish Flea,” “Taste of Honey” and “This Guy’s In Love With You.” The tour will also include a once-in-a-lifetime performance at Jazz at Lincoln Center’s Rose Theater on March 31st celebrating Alpert’s landmark 90th birthday.

hemorrhoid cream and other delights

Isn't every birthday a once in a lifetime celebration?

How is he 'reforming' the band if it's an all-new lineup? Thta's just forming a new band with the same name as the old one.

The difference between re-forming and reforming

Just 10 geriatrics in a room

i.e. ILX

lol

Apparently there was no “Tijuana Brass” at the time of Whipped Cream; Herb’s records to that point were him multitracking trumpet parts with LA “Wrecking Crew” session players.

Really enjoyed Alpert's interview on Jesse Thorn's Bullseye podcast a few years ago.

Odd personal connection I have: my sister's father-in-law wrote "Tijuana Taxi" and was part of the Tijuana Bress and Baja Marimba Bands

is Panchiko fwiw!
― really looking forward to wearily scrolling past all your posts (Champiness)

them, yeah

it's weird seeing old stuff that catches on because i listen to it and i'm like "yeah that's alright" and there's tons of other stuff from that era that nobody's heard of and to me, you know, like hazeldine or whatever could go viral at any time. but it won't i guess because they hear and see that stuff in ways that people my age didn't. if i'd heard panchiko in '97 i probably would've said "yeah they're pretty good". maybe it just takes time for something like that to stand out. because i think it does, honestly, it just wouldn't have been obvious in '97 that it stood out.

― Kate (rushomancy), Tuesday, June 4, 2024 6:07 PM (eleven months ago) bookmarkflaglink

caught a few minutes of panchinko’s set tonight (I was there for alison’s halo, who was the last opener. the story is pretty crazy — a few random high school friends produce 30 copies of a demo CD, no one really ever hears it, they disband and live otherwise normal lives…then 20 years later someone finds a copy in a used bin and it somehow goes viral, the guys reunite and live out their rockstar dreams in their forties. should be an extremely mediocre movie.

their music wasn’t bad though. sort of a heavier refracted radiohead vibe. they were tighter than I’d expect and their lead singer really was pretty commanding. I saw him taking pictures with kids all throughout the alison’s halo set. kids seem to know who he is.

that’s the other thing — probably my first show where I really realized I was cooked. most of the people there were under 25, maybe a majority being under 21. (almost everyone was there to see panchiko.) I’m 35 and felt kind of weird being there

Hey, I was one of those OG Alison's Halo fans, I didn't know about their rediscovery, well deserved.

If you feel weird at 35 wait until you're over 50! But at that point you won't give a shit and you'll just enjoy being in the crowd.

https://i.postimg.cc/gkxs7MMj/IMG-2647.webp