Before fun., singer Nate Ruess was making waves with the indie band The Format. Now, the beloved group is finally reuniting.
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The Format initially announced a reunion tour in 2020, only for those plans to be canceled due to the COVID-19 pandemic. Now, five years later, Nate Ruess and bandmate Sam Means have reunited once again, this time announcing a trio of live shows to bring The Format back to the stage.
The Format announced three concerts this fall: Phoenix on Sept. 27, New York with Ben Kweller on Sept. 30, and Los Angeles with Phantom Planet on Oct. 10. Tickets are available at the Format’s website.
Meanwhile, the band’s singer, Nate Ruess, announced the shows to his fans over on Instagram in an extremely lengthy message.
“I guess the cat is out of the bag… yet again,” he began. “Now that things have returned to normal (lol not!) Sam and I reconnected last year to try and find a way to finally do these Format shows that were supposed to happen just as Covid started hitting us hard.”
Ruess explained that the band had to cancel the makeup shows after hoping things would normalize sooner and apologized for the difficulties fans faced getting tickets due to the smaller venue choices, which they initially thought would create a more relaxed experience.
The singer explained that, after past issues with venue sizes, the band decided to play larger, more unique venues to ensure more fans could attend. They highlighted The Beacon in New York, Hollywood Forever, and a special hometown show at the Arizona State Fair, inspired by childhood memories.
“…I still think it sounds crazy, but we are gonna do that anyway. AND as our first show back in like 20 years. So here goes nothing!” Ruess added.
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However, many of his fans were less than enthused about the news, as they were hoping for a .fun reunion rather than his OG band.
“I THOUGHT THAT WAS A FUN REUNION [crying emoji] now I’m sad,” one fan whined in the comments section. “I want a fun reunion, please, I want a concert [crying emoji],” another fan added. “Fun Reunion…… please,” yet another killjoy wrote.
That said, many folks were planning to have… fun at the upcoming The Format shows.
“Literally an answered prayer, hell yes!!!” one fan exclaimed. “y’all, I still listen to The Format after all these years. I’m so glad xoxo,’ a second REAL fan added.
“From an old friend on St. John Rd — this is awesome. Congrats on getting the band back together!” a third fan chimed in.