What a weird year it’s been, right?
If you’re erring on the side of hopeless about the body politic devolving into full-blown “Idiocracy,” then there has been a silver lining in all of it. Although often overshadowed in the news cycle by the aforementioned theatrics and general insanity, 2024 has been a momentous year for music. So many great bands and artists have either reunited or taken back to the stage after lengthy hiatuses.
A couple of big-deal ‘90s rock bands have been all over the news for patching up differences and whatnot to start plying their trade again. Those bands, Creed and Oasis (the latter of which I wrote about recently in this space) are not really priorities of mine to see or listen to, but hey, if that’s your thing, more power to you. Also of note: Pantera reunited and went on the road this year, but, in my opinion, there is no Pantera without the Abbott Bros. God rest their rockin’ souls.
Two band reunions of favorites of mine, which seemed about as improbable as the Chicago Cubs winning the World Series at one time, occurred recently, and after the Cubs seized the pennant in 2016, pretty much anything could happen, in retrospect.
Those two bands, the mighty, fantastic Okie country-rockers Cross Canadian Ragweed and the sludge metal unit born from the Louisiana swamps, Acid Bath, each managed to amass enormous followings in their absence, and when each band begins playing shows again in 2025, they’re likely to see audiences far larger than anything they played to in their original iterations.
Despite what I wrote a few sentences back about the Cubs as an analogue, I would never have predicted an Acid Bath reunion. The band’s frontman, Dax Riggs, he of enchanting vocals and poetic lyrics, said it would never happen, due to the death in 1997 of founding bassist Audie Pitre. Riggs, of course, has been less accessible than Jimmy Hoffa in the past decade or so, and suddenly re-emerged in October with a new single and news of the Acid Bath reunion.
With Ragweed, I figured it would happen someday, but still, the news of their reunion, which was prefaced by several breadcrumbs on social media sites, had me excited like the proverbial kid waiting on Santa’s deliveries.
Other acts who have already started playing again, like Sturgill Simpson and Tripping Daisy have me excited, too.
Simpson, of course, is about the most exciting thing labelled as country music these days, and announced his return to the stage, and on record, after a break of three years or so following a vocal cord hemorrhage in 2021.
It’s easy for an old fart like me to get jaded about music these days. My ears catch cursory audible glances at stuff from the big regional pop music station when I’m out driving around and I think back to when music was a much bigger factor in culture, especially youth culture, as opposed to the lifestyle signifier it seems to be for many these days.
I’ve seen first-hand the effect music has had on people, especially when their favorite bands take the stage again after long periods in limbo.
There are many accounts of grown men bursting into tears when the impossibly great Turnpike Troubadours hit the first notes of “Every Girl” on the Cain’s Ballroom floor on April 8, 2022, after a nearly three-year hiatus. Next year, Turnpike will share the stage with Ragweed, for a four-date “Boys From Oklahoma” run of shows at OSU in Stillwater. Fitting, since without Ragweed there would be no Turnpike.
I was not at that first Turnpike show back in 2022, but I’ve seen them since, and they’re better than they’ve ever been. Their newfound mainstream popularity goes back to the old adage about absence and the heart.
In 2017, another of my favorite bands got back together when, again, it seemed like all the smart money would have been with the naysayers.
Jawbreaker, the poetic pop-punkers from the San Francisco Bay Area, reunited to play again for the first time since 1996 at Riot Fest in Chicago. I had actually won tickets to that show, and had every intention of making the trek, but just wasn’t feeling it when it came down to it. I gave the tickets to a friend who is probably an even bigger fan of the band than me, and she greatly appreciated it. I was in a funk at the time, and, coincidentally, it was another band reunion show that year that broke me out of that funk.
Incidentally, I did finally see Jawbreaker, in 2023, with my amazing girlfriend Angelina, and when frontman Blake Schwarzenbach kicked off their set with the opening notes of “I Love You So Much It’s Killing Us Both,” from the band’s 1995 masterpiece Dear You, I wanted to cry tears of joy AND get into that mosh pit.
Back to 2017, though, I was able to catch a couple of reunion gigs by regionally legendary heavy psychedelic/cowpunk/sludge metal band the Beef Masters in Nacogdoches, and seeing a lot of old friends having fun really broke me out of that funk I mentioned.
As great as those shows were, it was about more than just the loud music and elaborate, trippy light shows; it was a great show of community, and people coming out to celebrate something positive.
At the end of the day, that’s what great music and the performance of it does: it elevates positivity and consciousness, and fosters connectivity by adding to a universal conversation.
There will always be uncertainty in the world, and there will always be those who claim the sky is falling, but despite that, there will always be the possibility that your favorite band might get back together (if they’ve not already).
