Reformation Reformation Reformation

Everyone seems to be at it these days, whereas once upon time groups who reformed seemed to exclusively be the domain of long forgotten one hit wonders of the 1960s-1980's and usually reforming a band either meant the original drummer and 4 hired hands, or in some cases several former members of said band battling it out through the courts for the right to use said band's moniker and the gig listings then being full of 4 different "reformed" versions of the same band all vying for your attention.

Over the past decade the likes of The Pixies, The Stooges, Gang of Four, Blur, Mission Of Burma and Janes Addiction have all kissed and made up and returned to the live arena, in most cases these bands have merely played the "hits" to a field/venue full of misty eyed 30 and 40 something indie kids/punks/etc, in some cases it's lead to new material (Mission Of Burma, Gang of Four) but mostly it's been a nostalgia trip.

I've seen a few such bands during this time, from the Pixies at V-Festival in 2003, to Gang Of Four and the MC5 at ATP in late 2006 to Iggy and The Stooges (twice, once with Ron Asheton, once with James Williamson) all of which have delivered powerful sets, were they as powerful as they were at their peak? probably not in most cases (although the Stooges may possibly have been the exception to that rule) in the case of the MC5 they were somewhat hampered by the fact they were missing 2 members due to the passing of both vocalist Rob Tyner and guitarist Fred "Sonic" Smith (although it must be said remaining members Wayne Kramer, Dennis Thompson and Michael Davis did a fair job with various guest vocalists and a bloke called Adam who used to be in the Sisters Of Mercy).

The floodgates do appear to be well and truly open though and, whilst it's great to be able to see bands that I either never got around to seeing in their prime (Pixies) or was just too young to see (Gang Of Four) or just simply wasn't born (MC5, Stooges) I struggle to see how anyone could get emotional at the "long awaited" return of such musical giants as Shed Seven or Cast?

The Pixies reunion has rolled on for nearly 8 years now, longer than the band were originally together, with the exception of one track (the Kim Deal penned "Bam Thwok") there seems very little chance of new material and surely there comes a time when that particular reunion has probably run it's course (20th Anniversary of "Trompe Le Monde" gigs anyone)?

Jarvis Cocker was honest enough to say in an interview the other year that he would be watching Blur's reformation with interest with a view to whether Pulp would get back together, I guess he liked what he saw (or heard) as this summer see's the return of said band for a series of shows, whilst Jarvis has done okay for himself during the intervening 10 years since the band went on "indefinite hiatus" I suspect most of his fellow bandmates will welcome the pay cheque. I'd rather bands were honest about this then watching interviews with musicians who clearly can't stand each other but tolerate each other's company for the sake of money, The Pixies remain one of my favourite bands, they were exceptional when I saw them in 2003 but watching interviews with them it's a bit painful to see a group of individuals who are literally making music as a business arrangement these days.

So who's next? who hasn't reformed yet, there are a number of bands I'd love to see back together (the more obvious being The Smiths, The Stone Roses, the less so include New Fast Automatic Daffodils, The Chameleons (who did reform but fell out with each other again) and Thee Hypnotics) although I expect the next revival circuit will consist of bands who were around in the dim and distant days of the 00's, McFly anyone?