Everybody loves a good comeback story, and rock fans were lucky enough to experience several exciting ones in 2024. Here’s a rundown of the most exciting comebacks and reunions the year had to offer:
The Black Crowes
Five years after reuniting on stage, the Black Crowes took their reunion to the next level with 2024’s excellent new studio album Happiness Bastards, their first collection of new songs in 15 years. “There’s a casual reignition of purpose to Happiness Bastards,” UCR’s Michael Gallucci writes in his review of the album. “From the start, when Rich [Robinson]’s dirty guitar kicks into the opening song ‘Bedside Manners,’ the Black Crowes revisit the ’70s markers found in their most satisfying records: slide guitar, Stones-y keys, heavy organ.”
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Oasis
15 years after their nasty breakup, the Gallagher brothers thrilled Oasis fans by announcing that the group would tour again in 2025. “The guns have fallen silent. The stars have aligned. The great war is over,” read their rather dramatic press release. “Come see. It will not be televised.” Their tour kicks off on July 4 in England and is due to hit the States in August.
AC/DC
After performing just one show in the last eight years, AC/DC launched a European tour in May of 2024. The band’s sole remaining founding member, Angus Young, was joined by longtime singer Brian Johnson (who has seemingly recovered from hearing problems that forced him off the band’s 2015 Rock or Bust tour), Stevie Young, drummer Matt Laug and bassist Chris Chaney. The group will return to the road in 2025 for a North American tour, with 13 dates announced so far beginning April 10 in Minneapolis.
Heart
After reuniting at the tail end of 2023, Heart launched their first full-fledged tour in half a decade in April 2024. In 2016, Ann Wilson’s husband was arrested for allegedly hitting one of her sister Nancy’s children. After a short hiatus, the duo came together again for a 2019 trek, but tensions reportedly lingered, leading them to pursue separate recording and touring careers for the next few years. The newly patched up duo were forced to call off their 2024 European tour plans when Ann required surgery and chemotherapy, but the singer reports that she’s fully recovered and ready to hit the road again in 2025.
The Cure
After years of hints and speculation, Robert Smith and the Cure returned to record stores with Songs of A Lost World, their first new album in sixteen years. It’s safe to say it was worth the wait. “Where 2008’s 4:13 Dream often seemed to play like the Cure’s greatest hits without the hits, Songs of a Lost World is something different: a summation of a career that sounds like both a progression and a milestone,” wrote UCR’s Michael Gallucci in his review. Even more exciting: Smith says two more new Cure albums are already on the way.
Billy Joel
Billy Joel gave fans a big surprise this February with “Turn the Lights Back On,” his first new song in nearly 20 years. Although he was quick to douse any hopes that this ballad would lead to the release his first full rock album since 1993’s River of Dreams, Joel kept busy on the road, sharing the stage with fellow superstars such as Sting, Rod Stewart and Stevie Nicks.
Dead and Company
Although they concluded a farewell tour in July 2023, Dead and Company made it clear they would return for special occasions, and one turned up pretty quickly. The Grateful Dead offshoot became the third group to perform at Las Vegas’ innovative Sphere venue, dazzling fans with innovative visuals, including a sequence where the audience was dramatically taken into outer space. Dead and Company will return to the venue again in 2025.
Sex Pistols
Three-quarters of the surviving Sex Pistols reunited on stage for the first time in sixteen years at a pair of August benefit shows in London. Steve Jones, Paul Cook and Glen Matlock were joined by Frank Carter, taking over for Johnny “Rotten” Lydon, who openly and viciously feuded with his former bandmates over the 2022 miniseries Pistol. Guitarist Jones revealed that he hadn’t spoken with Lydon since their 2008 reunion tour ended, and that he was looking forward to playing more shows with Carter in 2025. “He doesn’t try to be John, it’s just fun,” he explained. “Plus we’re playing it how it should be played. He brings a big element to the fun part of it.”
Iron Maiden
OK we’re cheating a little bit here: The first ever-meeting of former Iron Maiden singer Paul Di’Anno with his successor Bruce Dickinson – which took place when the two were separately on tour in Croatia this July – is neither a reunion or a comeback. But it was a sweet and heartwarming moment made all the more poignant when Di’Anno passed away three months later after a long series of health battles. Dickinson lead the tribute to his predecessor at the band’s next concert, declaring the Di’Anno was “devoted to rock and roll right up to the last minute of his life.”
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Gallery Credit: Allison Rapp
