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On That Note<\/a><\/p>\n \n Welcome to On That Note, a rock and roll-centered column that will dive into the big stories, hot trends, and plain-old crazy ideas coming out of the music industry.\n <\/p>\n \n After the Oasis tour, it\u2019s clear there\u2019s plenty of money on the table for broken-up legacy acts. Who will pocket it first? There\u2019s not a year that goes by when the White Stripes aren\u2019t approached with a blank-check offer to reunite. The evergreen nature of the ask has become an amusing tradition of sorts for their manager, Matt Pollack, who gets to deliver the same rejection each time. \u201cIt\u2019s not about money,\u201d he tells me. \u201cTheir breakup wasn\u2019t rooted in acrimony. It was their time to make a decision and not to be a band any longer. That stands because Jack and Meg White are people of belief.\u201d Still, concert promoters are nothing but persistent \u2014 there\u2019s always someone knocking at the door, with a smile, and hoping circumstances may change to entice a dormant band to cash in for a new tour to the tune of tens, or potentially hundreds, of millions. Nearly 20 years ago, each member of the Police commanded $1 million per night<\/a> for their go-around, which is already a startling sum until you realize they played 150 shows. The right band today could easily command an even higher total.<\/p>\n The feeding frenzy for the next big reunion is the dominant conversation for the future of live entertainment. Music promoters, both craving the one-upmanship and genuine satisfaction of getting a lucrative band back on a stage, have more money at their disposal than ever before to make their pipe dreams a reality. \u201cThey\u2019re in the business of surprise,\u201d Pollack says of the attitude. \u201cIf they can own a moment and be the impetus for creating the situation where something gets back together, that\u2019s a major feather in any promoters\u2019 cap.\u201d Even the most principled of artists are being approached left and right and are starting to understand that the big-money offers just can\u2019t be refused. Just last month, both Rush and No Doubt announced their triumphant returns to the stage, the former reversing the staunch mind-set they had as recently as January<\/a>.<\/p>\n That alchemy worked on a band no one remotely suspected would have anything to do with each other ever again: Oasis announced that they would embark on an international reunion tour throughout the summer and fall of 2025. Noel and Liam Gallagher, whose brotherly feud is just as legendary as it is profane<\/a>, have maintained the image of consummate professionals bringing spiritual vibes to the area, often walking out to the stage hand in hand and embracing in hugs after the encore. It was later<\/a> revealed that Paul \u201cBonehead\u201d Arthurs, the band\u2019s co-founder and rhythm guitarist, was a helpful mediator in persuading the Gallaghers to consider serious reunion offers. The bruvs are<\/a> reportedly making \u00a350 million for their efforts for 41 shows.<\/p>\n Mike Kaufman, an executive producer who handles festival livestreams, believes Oasis\u2019s narrative is the perfect template for what promoters will be pursuing with bands in 2026 and beyond. \u201cThere\u2019s the demand for the act and how long they\u2019ve been away,\u201d he explains. \u201cIt had been 15 years since they\u2019ve toured, so there was a pent-up demand combined with what seemed like an insurmountable riff between the two brothers. There was a great story there, but ultimately there was a new generation who wanted to see them.\u201d An added plus for bands is how the ticket industry, albeit one that\u2019s a broken system<\/a>, has changed since they\u2019ve been away \u2014 there\u2019s simply a bigger payday to be realized than ever before. \u201cTickets were pretty expensive 15 years ago, but now people pay more for them,\u201d Kaufman notes. \u201cThe offers Oasis were given now were double what they were offered five or ten years ago. So they\u2019re not going to sell the tickets for less.\u201d<\/p>\n Then there\u2019s the somewhat dispiriting fact that stadium-level rock bands are dwindling for younger generations, so much so that these offers to push out older acts are almost done by necessity. \u201cThere\u2019s no one coming up like that. You\u2019ve got Oasis and Coldplay. Who\u2019s going to be that in years to come?\u201d Kaufman asks. \u201cWe don\u2019t have those types of artists right now.\u201d Green Day, Foo Fighters, and My Chemical Romance have capably sold out stadiums over the past year with the youngest of these names, MCR, approaching their 50s.<\/p>\n There\u2019s a real opportunity, then, for any band with cachet to rehire their accountants and secure one last legacy-cementing swan song. Pollack, who helped facilitate the regrouping of LCD Soundsystem, says that while not every situation is the same, there are some universal truths being cranked up to 11. \u201cAny time you have a band at that level that reaches millions of people globally, those bands never go away,\u201d he says. \u201cThen all of a sudden you have this incredible moment where everything galvanizes and then, boom, we\u2019re having this conversation about it. They seem more far and few between.\u201d Here are the bands that, according to industry insiders, stand to make the biggest financial impact if they were to put aside their differences and pick up their instruments once again.<\/p>\n Far and away, they were the band that analysts say are best primed for the next big reunion. \u201cThey would be tremendously well received,\u201d says publicist and industry veteran Bob Merlis. Perpetually feuding for five decades, the band hasn\u2019t performed since 2019 and lost Christine McVie to a stroke in 2022. Fleetwood Mac fired Lindsey Buckingham before that final tour, a decision<\/a> that was purported to have been initiated by Stevie Nicks. \u201cYou have this perceived bad blood between Lindsey and Stevie, which has always been part of that band\u2019s dynamic.\u201d However, the former paramours set aside their differences this year to rerelease their first album, Buckingham Nicks, as they both warmly wrote about the project on social media and collaborated<\/a> on promotional efforts. And as an additional exclamation mark, they\u2019re now back on speaking terms<\/a>. Like \u201cBonehead\u201d for Oasis, Mick Fleetwood has been a consistent middleman for the duo over the past decade. \u201cLindsey and Stevie together would be something, but they cannot call themselves Fleetwood Mac without Mick and John McVie.\u201d<\/p>\n Merlis notes another element that may encourage a reunion: Fleetwood\u2019s restaurant in Lahaina, Hawaii, burned down in recent wildfires<\/a> and he may need an influx of money that only a tour can provide, which the other band members could be sympathetic to, given their history. \u201cI\u2019m guessing he was insured, but he\u2019s not a songwriter,\u201d he says. \u201cErgo he\u2019s not getting revenue from the catalogue.\u201d Nathan Brackett, a former Amazon Music executive and current<\/a> music writer, agrees that money is the prominent reason for reunions and could influence Fleetwood Mac. \u201cI do think there\u2019s one rule: The drummer always wants it to happen. Often they don\u2019t get songwriting credits and are waiting for stuff to happen,\u201d he explains. \u201cThey\u2019re always in favor. It\u2019s often how well they can persuade the people who are going to make the decision. So it\u2019s money but also inequalities in songwriting-credit makeup.\u201d<\/p>\n For some bands, a reunion can be tied to its legacy and the desire to conclude a career in the most positive light. Merlis thinks the Kinks, who last toured in the mid-\u201990s amid a period of declining commercial viability, would be welcomed with a loud renaissance. \u201cThere\u2019s a band a lot of people don\u2019t think about because they started so long ago,\u201d he explains. \u201cThey\u2019re contemporaries of the Beatles. If the Davies brothers figure that out, this would solidify their place in history. I spend a lot of time with people who compile reissue albums. Their sales are huge. To use the Oasis analogue: You\u2019ve got fighting brothers, and they said it would never happen. Make it happen, and disprove it.\u201d<\/p>\n \u201cThere\u2019s a band who could command the most money and won\u2019t be doing it,\u201d Kaufman asserts. \u201cIt\u2019s just not going to happen.\u201d The public rows<\/a> between David Gilmour and Roger Waters have escalated to a very personal level, particularly in regards to their political leanings about Ukraine and the Israel-Palestine conflict. Their recent $400 million catalogue sale<\/a> to Sony Music put the final nail in the reunion coffin. \u201cDavid\u2019s motivation for that was so he would never have to deal with Roger again,\u201d Kaufman adds. \u201cThey don\u2019t want to deal with each other. It\u2019s a shame they don\u2019t want to do it.\u201d<\/p>\n On a different end of the spectrum, you have the bands whose reunion decisions are dictated by their best-known member. The chief example of this is Talking Heads, whose front man, David Byrne, has enjoyed a prolific solo career since their disbandment, which culminated in a special Tony Award for his American Utopia stage show. (All he needs is the E to EGOT.) Despite Byrne continuously asserting his lack of interest in getting the band back together and lingering<\/a> resentments of the other members, Talking Heads got on well enough to extensively promote<\/a> the rerelease of Stop Making Sense in 2023. \u201cTalking Heads would clean up,\u201d Kaufman says. \u201cThey can all play. But it goes to David. He\u2019s not motivated purely by money or else you would\u2019ve seen a Talking Heads tour years ago. It wouldn\u2019t be at the same level of Oasis, but it would do very good business and work internationally. They\u2019d be bigger now than their last tour.\u201d<\/p>\n Robert Plant, who has embraced a hifting contemporary career<\/a>, holds that role for Led Zeppelin. \u201cIt\u2019s pretty clear that Jimmy Page would\u2019ve been up for a reunion any time in the past couple of decades, and Robert has been super-resistant,\u201d Brackett says. \u201cThey\u2019re equals within the band, but Robert was always a little more active in terms of new projects. Most of Jimmy\u2019s job right now is being the caretaker of the Led Zeppelin legacy and curating box sets, so it makes sense that he would want to get back out there. It\u2019s often who has the most going on.\u201d<\/p>\n Zack de la Rocha has that power for Rage Against the Machine, who had to cancel their most recent tour on account of his leg injury. (The band now says<\/a> their performing career is over.) \u201cThey always have it. They\u2019re a proven commodity. I would never count out the possibility of a reunion for them,\u201d Brackett adds. \u201cThey\u2019re all in pretty decent shape, and it\u2019s down to Zack wanting to do it again. Maybe they could be persuaded because of the political environment we\u2019re in. If I was talking to Zack I would go, \u2018Come on, man, more than ever we need this band.\u2019\u201d<\/p>\n The famously congenial quartet has been unanimous in their belief to never reunite, but they surprised fans<\/a> with a one-song performance at their Songwriters Hall of Fame induction in 2024. That\u2019s already a leap in the right direction. \u201cWhen they stopped they weren\u2019t selling as many tickets, but it was the same with Oasis,\u201d Kaufman notes. \u201cBut by going away, you come back stronger. And Michael Stipe can still hold a tune.\u201d Merlis agrees that R.E.M. and Oasis are more comparable than you may think, although, of all the bands mentioned, he believes that their breakup is the most legitimate: \u201cWhen they say \u2018never,\u2019 I believe them. If they said \u2018except now,\u2019 it diminishes their credibility.\u201d<\/p>\n Sometimes, though, a delicate question needs to be asked: Is a band even popular or stable enough to warrant getting back together? Kaufman points to Roxy Music\u2019s 2022 farewell tour as something that was overvalued in America and didn\u2019t have the resonance promoters were expecting from fans. (They had to downgrade most of their venues and played to a half-empty crowd at Madison Square Garden, which I can attest was a huge bummer.) And as recently illustrated by Jane\u2019s Addiction, some reunions can ruin a legacy just as much as define one. Good luck trying to put a spin on the front man attacking the guitarist on a stage in front of thousands of people.<\/p>\n Still, if you\u2019re holding a torch for your favorite band\u2019s last hoorah \u2014 whether it\u2019s those gentlemen in Aerosmith, Dire Straits, or even Simon & Garfunkel \u2014 you\u2019re not alone. \u201cI\u2019m always prepared to be proven wrong on reunions happening or not,\u201d is how Brackett puts it. \u201cIt\u2019s always the same story, \u2018It\u2019s never going to happen until it\u2019s happening.\u2019 If I\u2019ve learned anything, there\u2019s always hope.\u201d Except when it comes to the Smiths. \u201cThey\u2019re such an obvious one that would never happen<\/a>,\u201d Pollack quips, \u201cthat it\u2019s not even worth talking about.\u201d<\/p>\n Related<\/p>\n
\n Photo-Illustration: Vulture; Photos: Getty\n <\/p>\n