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?

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