Saying goodbye was hard for these seven bands that reunited after announcing a grand farewell tour for their fans.
Okay, so maybe the goodbye wasn’t the hard part for some of these acts. Instead, it was the potential money to be made by getting the band back together for a reunion tour.
Regardless of how it happened, here are seven big rock and metal bands that returned after their farewell tours and how long it took each of them to reconsider.
Judas Priest
Year of farewell tour: 2011-12
Year reunited: 2014
Length: two years
What happened: Judas Priest were ready to call it quits with the 120-show Epitaph World Tour that ran from June 7, 2011 through May 26, 2012 and spanned five continents.
The tour seemed cursed before it even started. Guitarist K.K. Downing departed the band less than two months before the first show and was replaced by Richie Faulkner. This was also the same tour when Rob Halford took a tumble while riding a motorcycle onstage in Brazil.
All of that wasn’t enough to keep the mighty Judas Priest down. The band was back two years later with a new album, Redeemer of Souls, and a subsequent tour.
KISS
Year of farewell tour: 2000
Year reunited: 2002
Length: two years
What happened: For more than a year, KISS embarked on a 142-date “farewell” tour that was promoted to be the end of the band. Ace Frehley and Peter Criss had rejoined Gene Simmons and Paul Stanley and all four original members were riding off into the sunset for a fitting end.
But in Stanley’s eyes, it wasn’t the entirety of KISS that needed to go.
“After the tour was over, it didn’t take me very long to realize I didn’t want to say goodbye to the band. I wanted to say goodbye to two members,” Stanley told Rolling Stone in 2018.
The band would continue to play one-off shows with new members in subsequent years before launching The World Domination Tour in 2003.
In 2019, KISS started their second farewell, the End of the Road Tour, which spanned 250 shows before ending Dec. 2, 2023 at Madison Square Garden in New York City.
Motley Crue
Year of farewell tour: 2014-15
Year reunited: 2019
Length: four years
What happened: Motley Crue announced The Final Tour during a press conference in January 2014.
To further cement their decision, all four members signed a deal pledging they would never tour together again. The Cessation of Touring Agreement was signed during the press conference, ensuring Motley Crue members would be sued if they played any shows following The Final Tour.
In July, the band headed out on the road for what was supposed to be a nearly five-month tour ending on Nov. 22, 2014. However, all of that ultimately turned out to be just the first leg of The Final Tour. A second leg began in Japan on February 11, 2015, and concluded in Los Angeles on New Year’s Eve of the same year.
The final shows were recorded for the band’s “The End – Live in Los Angeles” DVD, with each night ending with the recording of Frank Sinatra’s version of “My Way” blaring throughout the arena.
What could possibly lead to a band overcoming a finality as strong as this one?
A stadium tour.
The idea of a 36-date stadium tour with large-scale shows alongside Poison, Def Leppard and Joan Jett was brought up to the members of Motley Crue in 2019. At that time, band members had already been in the studio working on new music for their biopic, The Dirt, which would later premiere on Netflix. Another tour certainly made sense financially.
Legally, things remained a bit questionable due to the Cessation of Touring Agreement. While the details of the agreement were never made public, Motley Crue released a video of what appeared to be the contract being blown up to announce their 2019 reunion.
Nine Inch Nails
Year of farewell tour: 2009
Year reunited: 2013
Length: four years
What happened: What started as the NIN 2009 tour was later renamed the Wave Goodbye tour less than two months later. Trent Reznor would go on to say the tour would be the band’s last for the foreseeable future, with no real guarantee they would ever return.
The tour included several festival dates and shows with Jane’s Addiction in the U.S., Europe, Asia and Australia. The final scheduled tour date was set for the ETP Festival in Seoul, South Korea on Aug. 15, 2009.
Reznor would later share on NIN.com that, upon further consideration, the run didn’t seem like the proper way to send off Nine Inch Nails and that the band would be adding shows at mid-sized indoor venues in New York, Chicago, Toronto and Los Angeles.
“Upon reflection, the NIN/JA tour felt like we had to rush through sets due to a limited allotted set length and many shows were in daylight – it just didn’t feel right to end NIN that way.”
Nine Inch Nails ended their hiatus in 2013 following the release of Hesitation Marks, the band’s eighth studio album.
Ozzy Osbourne
Year of farewell tour: 1992
Year reunited: 1995
Length: three years
What happened: Following the release of his No More Tears album, Ozzy was initially diagnosed with multiple sclerosis (it was later determined to be a misdiagnosis). What was supposed to be the No More Tears tour was then turned into the No More Tours tour with the idea that he would need to stay home for the foreseeable future following his diagnosis.
“So we talked and I said I thought it was time to call it a day,” his wife, Sharon, said in her 2005 autobiography. “The constant touring and the constant abuse of his body with drink and drugs had finally taken its toll, I told him. But he would be going out on a high.”
The tour wrapped with a pair of shows in Costa Mesa, California with Black Sabbath as the opener. Judas Priest’s Rob Halford filled in for Ronnie James Dio during Sabbath’s performance. Ozzy also reunited with the band for four songs during the set.
Less than three years later, Ozzy would have a change of heart. He launched the appropriately named Retirement Sucks tour in Nottingham, England on June 9, 1995.
Scorpions
Year of farewell tour: 2010
Year reunited: 2012
Length: two years
What happened: Scorpions were ready to call it a career after touring in support of their 17th studio album, Sting in the Tail, in 2010. But then more tour dates kept getting added to the band’s schedule.
Ultimate Classic Rock reported in 2012 that Scorpions members had a change of heart and would instead rethink how the band schedules its constant grind of touring and recording.
In January 2013, singer Klaus Meine told Classic Rock Magazine that the response from Scorpions during the tour helped keep the band pushing forward.
“It was amazing. And you know that with the best parties it’s sometimes hard to find the door.”
The Who
Year of farewell tour: 1982
Year reunited: 1985
Length: three years
What happened: The Who put out what was thought to be their final studio album, It’s Hard, on Sept. 4, 1985. Less than a week later, the band embarked on what was believed to be its farewell tour with dates in Britain.
A North American tour followed the next month and included two shows at Shea Stadium in New York. The farewell tour wrapped up with a show in Toronto on Dec. 17.
The Who would go on to first regroup to play Live Aid at Wembley Stadium in 1985 and then once more during a live TV broadcast from London’s Royal Albert Hall after receiving a BPI Lifetime Achievement Award in 1988.
In 1989, The Who were back touring again to celebrate the 25th anniversary of “The Kids Are Alright” single with a 43-date trek throughout the U.S. Another 10 dates were later added for Britain.
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Gallery Credit: Lauryn Schaffner