2019 gave us some awesome anniversary tours from acts like Incubus, Built to Spill, Liz Phair and Machine Head, to name a few. And it looks like the trend will continue into 2020, with Alanis Morrisette already announcing a 25th anniversary tour for “Jagged Little Pill.” So it’s fair to get excited and speculate who else will be hitting the road to celebrate a landmark album.
Sadly, there’s some big milestones which will likely go uncelebrated. We’re all “never say never” about anything, but here are a few anniversary tours we don’t think we’ll be seeing in 2020.
Tragic Kingdom by No Doubt
Anniversary: turning 25 in 2020
Why the album was important: This was No Doubt’s mainstream breakout and helped turn Gwen Stefani into a music and fashion icon. It features some of their most lasting hits with “Just a Girl,” “Spiderwebs” and “Don’t Speak.”
Why it won’t happen: The band has been on semi-hiatus since 2013, playing a handful of special events and festival dates. Also, lead singer Gwen Stefani will see her “Just a Girl” Vegas Residency extended into 2020, which complicates matters. But the sad part: in a 2016 interview with Rolling Stone, Gwen said directly “I don’t know what’s going to happen with No Doubt.”
Parachutes by Coldplay
Anniversary: turning 20 in 2020
Why the album is important: Coldplay’s debut album broke through international markets and launched their massive career with songs like “Shiver,” “Don’t Panic” and of course “Yellow.”
Why it won’t happen: Don’t hold your breath for this or any other Coldplay tour in the near future. At the end of 2019 the band announced they won’t be touring until they can find an environmentally sustainable way to do so, ideally being carbon-neutral, solar powered and featuring no single use plastics.
A Fever You Can’t Sweat Out by Panic! at the Disco
Anniversary: turning 15 in 2020
Why the album is important: This debut album turned Panic into a seemingly overnight phenomenon. Hitting at just the right time, the mixture of pop-punk and theatricality it provided sent the band almost immediately into headlining tours.
Why it won’t happen: It’s entirely because of that “send the band immediately into headlining tours” thing. Panic spent a good portion of their early career playing Fever in full night after night because they were doing a headlining tour on only one album of material. Plus, you really can’t blame Brendon Urie for not wanting to revisit an entire album he and the former members of the band wrote when they were teenagers.
No Strings Attached by NSYNC
Anniversary: turning 20 in 2020
Why the album is important: After two very typical but successful “boy band” sounding albums, NSYNC made some major changes for No Strings Attached, exerting more creative control over their sound and incorporating more hip hop and R&B influences. Beyond that, the band was just coming off of a huge legal battle against their management and label, inspiring the title of the album.
Why it won’t happen: There’s a lot of reasons, the band members have settled into their own grooves post-NSYNC and seem to be...okay, I’ll just say it. Justin Timberlake. We pretty much know it’s Justin Timberlake and there’s nothing wrong with that.
Cowboys from Hell by Pantera
Anniversary: turning 30 in 2020
Why the album is important: This was Pantera’s breakthrough, but more than that, it is one of the most important metal albums ever released. IGN has even called it “...one of the defining albums of early '90s metal.”
Why it won’t happen: Sadly, after a contentious break-up in 2003, two members of the band passed on. In 2004 Dimebag Darrel was murdered in a club shooting and his brother, Vinnie Paul, died in 2008 from a heart attack. Prior to his passing, though, even Paul had reportedly stated a reunion was “never going to happen.”
However, on the bright side, former lead vocalist Philip H. Anselmo along with his band The Illegals have been playing some all-Pantera setlists since 2018, so we may see some kind of tribute even if it isn’t from the original band themselves.
(What’s the Story) Morning Glory by Oasis
Anniversary: turning 25 in 2020
Why the album is important: Arguably the biggest album of the Britpop scene, and probably the one that made the biggest splash in America (we’d also hear arguments for Blur’s 1997 self-titled). It also holds the distinction of being one of the biggest and, again arguably, best albums of the 90’s.
Why it won’t happen: Even when the band was functional, brothers Noel and Liam Gallagher were infamous for their infighting. The band’s break-up was announced literally minutes before a festival gig only days after Liam sued Noel over claiming he had a hangover when he actually had laryngitis. Now both brothers have their own projects and occasionally break out Oasis covers live and maybe it’s just best we all leave it that way.
