7 Bands That Reunited After More Than 20 Years Apart

A band breaking up is usually treated as final. Still, a few groups have walked back on stage after two decades or more, often when nobody expected it. Some did it for a one-night tribute, and others did it for a full tour or a new album.

The seven bands below all passed the 20-year mark between their last shared work and the reunion. Each entry sticks to the dates and facts that are well documented.

1. Cream

Cream split in 1968, after farewell concerts at London’s Royal Albert Hall. Eric Clapton, Jack Bruce and Ginger Baker then went their separate ways, and the trio’s fierce, improvised blues rock became legend. For decades, a reunion looked unlikely, partly because of long-running tensions between Bruce and Baker.

In May 2005, the three came back to the same Royal Albert Hall stage for a run of shows, roughly 37 years after the farewell. They followed with dates at Madison Square Garden in New York that October. It wasn’t a long comeback, but it closed the story where it began.

2. The Stooges

The Stooges, led by Iggy Pop, broke up in 1974 after a turbulent run. Their records sold modestly at the time, yet they became a major influence on punk. For years, the band existed mainly as a reputation.

In 2003, they regrouped with guitarist Ron Asheton, and a high-profile appearance at the Coachella festival that year was part of the return. That was nearly three decades after the split. The reunion led to the 2007 album The Weirdness, and Asheton’s death in 2009 ended that chapter of the lineup.

3. Led Zeppelin

Led Zeppelin ended in 1980 after the death of drummer John Bonham. The surviving members chose not to continue under the name, and they only appeared together on a handful of one-off occasions after that. The band stayed in the spotlight through reissues and the weight of its catalog.

On December 10, 2007, Robert Plant, Jimmy Page and John Paul Jones played London’s O2 Arena as a tribute to Atlantic Records founder Ahmet Ertegun. Bonham’s son Jason took over the drums. That full headline set came 27 years after the band’s end, and a concert film, Celebration Day, followed in 2012.

4. The Police

The Police released their last studio album, Synchronicity, in 1983. After that the trio of Sting, Andy Summers and Stewart Copeland drifted apart, and the band went quiet in the mid-1980s. Sting’s solo career grew, and the idea of a full comeback faded.

That changed in 2007, when they opened the Grammy Awards with a performance of Roxanne and announced a world tour. The tour ran into 2008 and was reported to be among the highest-earning of its time, with figures widely cited at well over 300 million dollars. It was a nostalgic victory lap more than a new chapter, since no new album followed.

5. The Specials

The Specials were central to the British 2 Tone ska movement, and their original lineup broke apart in 1981 after the single Ghost Town. Members later formed other projects, such as Fun Boy Three. The group’s political edge outlasted the band itself.

A reunion tour began around 2008 and 2009, more than 25 years later, though founder Jerry Dammers did not take part. The comeback proved lasting, with the 2019 album Encore reaching number one in the UK. Singer Terry Hall died in December 2022, which brought a sad close to this version of the band’s second life.

6. Pink Floyd at Live 8

Pink Floyd’s classic lineup was effectively split once Roger Waters left in the mid-1980s, and legal disputes over the band’s name followed. The four members of the classic lineup had not played together since the early 1980s. Many fans assumed it would never happen again.

On July 2, 2005, Waters, David Gilmour, Nick Mason and Richard Wright took the stage at the Live 8 concert in London’s Hyde Park, roughly 24 years after they last shared a stage. They played a short set for the cause of global poverty relief. Wright died in 2008, which made this one-off appearance even more meaningful in hindsight.

7. Bauhaus

Bauhaus, the English band often credited as a founding force of gothic rock, split in 1983. Their best-known song, Bela Lugosi’s Dead, had come out in 1979 and became a cornerstone of the genre. Members went on to projects including Love and Rockets and Peter Murphy’s solo work.

In 2005, the band reunited and played Coachella, about 22 years after splitting. A studio album, Go Away White, followed in 2008. The group’s reunion was brief, but it gave a new generation a chance to see a band they’d only known on record.

Looking across these seven stories, the reunions happened for different reasons: a tribute, a charity concert, a festival invitation, or simply the right moment. Some lasted for a tour or an album, while others were single nights. What they share is a long silence broken on terms the musicians finally agreed on.

Sometimes the most surprising thing about a band is that it can come back at all. After 20 years, the songs are still there, and the audience usually is too.