A dose of reminiscing brings us back to when our lives were simpler and helps us cope with our present. That’s not conjecture—it’s science.
A month ago, the British band Oasis announced they will reunite for a world tour in 2025. Founding brothers Liam and Noel Gallagher ended an infamous and much publicized 15-year feud, much to the delight of their faithful followers. The response was overwhelming—tickets were sold out 10 hours later, with many fans having spent the day in online queues.
The Spice Girls, the girl group of my high school years, also had their own triumphant reunion concert tour. Following their split in 2001, the first concert to see all five members reunited was The Return of the Spice Girls Tour which ran from December 2007 to February 2008. The tour reportedly grossed over USD70.1 million with ticket sales soaring up to 581,066, and an additional $100 million from merchandising as the cherry on top.
If you are the sum total of your memories, then anything that evokes them would surely strike at a basic level of your being.
More recently, they reunited for the Spice World tour in 2019, which marked the group’s only tour without Victoria “Posh Spice” Beckham, who had other commitments. Bringing over 700,000 fans to their shows, the tour raked in USD78.2 million in 13 sold-out shows.
Guns ‘N Roses, meanwhile, boasts the highest-grossing reunion tour to date with its Not in This Lifetime… Tour which spanned three and half years from April 1, 2016, to November 2, 2019. Billboard data shows the tour grossed $584.2 million from 5.3 million ticket sales, making it the third highest-grossing tour in history at that time.
Other bands that have enjoyed successful reunion concerts are The Eagles, The Police, and Fleetwood Mac. For millennial titas such as myself, we have the Backstreet Boys, Boyzone, and Westlife. For the slightly younger ones in our generation, we can count the Jonas Brothers in, who continue to sell concert tickets after a six-year hiatus in 2019.
We don’t have to look very far to see bands reuniting after years of solo careers for concerts that turn out to be huge successes. First to come to mind is The Eraserheads, whose reunion show “Ang Huling El Bimbo” in 2022 was an immense success. Then there’s Rivermaya’s reunion concert early this year which was just as successful.
You can almost hear Mr. Krabs exclaiming “Cha-ching!” Yep. Band reunions make money. Tons of it.
A band’s “life cycle”
Before trying to understand why reunion concerts sell, it helps to take a look at the “life cycle” of bands—well, at least, most of them.
For bands, the process of formation, achieving success, breaking up, and reuniting is pretty straightforward, according to Glenn Fosbraey in an article on The Straits Times. Using examples such as British boy bands Take That and Boyzone, and girl groups such as the Spice Girls, All Saints, and Sugababes, Fosbraey says “the formula is simple.”
First, he says, is when the band’s success starts to wane. Then, the most popular member “thinks (or is told) he can do better on his own and leaves to begin a solo career.” I know we can think of a lot of examples for this.
People with nostalgic tendencies feel more loved, have reduced anxiety, are more likely to have secure attachments, and are even supposed to have better social skills.
Next, the popular member releases a successful solo single. The band he left behind still enjoys success, thanks to loyal fans rallying around the remaining members. Inevitably, the band further splinters, with the rest of the members embarking on solo careers, each of which is less successful than the last.
The popular band member “soldiers on with diminishing returns” as the rest of the former bandmates make do with the vestiges of fame, such as TV guestings, reality show appearances, or the occasional solo tours.
“Following years of dwindling sales for band member A, and high-profile divorces, lawsuits or bankruptcies for the rest (and possibly band member A as well), the band announces it is reforming,” Fosbraey continued. “Not because of the members’ faltering individual popularity or the need to finance those divorces, lawsuits or bankruptcies, but ‘for the fans.”
Fans get all nostalgic, celebrate, queue up for tickets, crash websites. “Repeat as necessary depending on upcoming anniversaries and TikTok trends,” he added.
If we were to follow Fosbraey’s life cycle, then a reunion tour is inevitable for groups such as One Direction, Little Mix, and Fifth Harmony, who are now hovering midway through the process. And I’ll bet an arm and a leg—these comeback or reunion projects are going to be huge. Cue Mr. Krabs: “Cha-ching!”
Cashing in on nostalgia
It makes one wonder then, why are band reunions successful? Why is looking back on the past profitable? Why does nostalgia sell?
“It feels good to reminisce; it feels good to be reminded of the journey you have been on; it just feels good,” wrote Ramesh William, also in The Straits Times. “If you are the sum total of your memories, then anything that evokes them would surely strike at a basic level of your being.”
Furthermore, the National Geographic magazine cited several clinical studies which found out that nostalgia had positive effects on the brain, inducing creativity and optimism and even encouraging people to go for their dreams, all while enhancing one’s well-being.
An article by Agnes Arnold-Forster on The Guardian mentioned how most experts agree nostalgia is a “predominantly positive emotion that arises from personally salient, tender and wistful memories.” Add to this, nostalgia is more than just benign, it can be actively therapeutic!
As one psychologist put it, during moments of nostalgic reflection the mind is “peopled.” Nostalgia affirms symbolic ties with friends, lovers and families—with those you hold dear being “momentarily part of one’s present.”
Moreover, people with nostalgic tendencies feel more loved, have reduced anxiety, are more likely to have secure attachments, and are even supposed to have better social skills, she continued.
The POST interviewed sociologist Warren Francisco to help us further understand why nostalgia sells, especially in the context of reunion projects in the entertainment industry.
One reason Francisco cited—and a very relatable one at that— is that those who are fans of certain groups, films, and shows from the past who did not have the capacity to make fan-related purchases at the height of their idols’ popularity can now already afford to do so. “Personally, I’ve only recently become capable of going to concerts of artists I liked in my teenage years, because of course, who has money as a teenager?” he said.
On the business side of things, Francisco explained: “Would you rather take a gamble, for example, on a romantic comedy film led by two actors you are unsure about in terms of chemistry, or would you rather spend your hard-earned money on a pairing that you’ve already become emotionally invested in around 10, 15 or 20 years ago?”
Bands of bygone eras, or even cast members of much loved films or series, are what Francisco described as “known quantities.” “In the mind of people in charge of production and organization of content such as new films, shows, or even concerts, there is lesser risk in such projects involving those we already know from the past,” the University of the Philippines Diliman instructor continued. “In terms of cost as well, there would be less cost in relation to marketing, because again, we already know these entities, what they do, and how well they work together.”
On a deeper level, when looking at why nostalgia sells, it is important to examine the present. What are current societal conditions that impact our everyday lives? What challenges do we face every single day, and how different are these circumstances compared to the past that we long for? I, for one, fondly remember buying a P39 meal at Jollibee, and leaving full and satisfied. Where have the (more affordable) times gone?
This is where nostalgia being therapeutic comes in. “We used to see the world differently because we were younger, we knew less of the world, and things felt simpler,” Francisco said. I bet we can all relate to this, the longing for “the good old times,” especially in these harsher, less kinder times.
“In a world where personal troubles and social issues seem to be never-ending, where we feel like we lack the agency to do anything about these, where it all feels overwhelming,” he continued, “maybe reconnecting with past versions of ourselves might be necessary, not simply as an escape or distraction, but as a means of coping.”
So if the reunion concert of your favorite band is the balm which could soothe your weary soul and help you cope with this cruel world, then by all means line up for a ticket now and get that dose of nostalgia!
