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David Howells
Hey Rosetta!
Music News
Hey Rosetta! Reunite After Nine-Year Hiatus
The Newfoundland indie band have reunited for the first time since going on an indefinite hiatus in 2017 to play a series of comeback shows in Canada, including a homecoming stop in St. John's, plus Toronto and Montreal.
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After nearly a decade, Hey Rosetta! are back.
The long-running indie outfit from Newfoundland have announced a series of comeback shows for 2027, returning for the first time since taking an indefinite hiatus in 2017. The group will hit the road with their most recent lineup for four homecoming shows at JAG Soundhouse in St. John's on Feb. 19-20-26-27, before heading to Montreal's Beanfield Theatre on March 3 and Toronto's History on March 4.
Hey Rosetta! are reuniting with their full lineup at the time of their disbandment, including vocalist and instrumentalist Tim Baker, bassist Josh Ward, guitarist Adam Hogan, drummer Phil Maloney, cellist, guitarist and keyboardist Romesh Thavanathan, violinist Kinley Dowling and horn player and keyboardist Mara Pellerin.
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While the idea of a reunion was floating around among group members, solo ventures by Baker and Dowling added to the busyness that made a reunion seem "almost impossible," to Baker. That was until he realized nothing was truly getting in the way of the band.
"About six months ago someone asked me, as we’ve all been asked countless times in the last decade, why we don’t play again, and I couldn’t think of a good reason at all," Baker says in a statement. "Here we were, all still alive and well and seven of us back in town and life so short and times so bleak and it’s like I couldn’t remember why not. Why not go back to into it, enjoy it, celebrate it for what it was, what it took to do, and what it gave."
The announcement arrives after a trio of cryptic teasers showing a man pulling two road cases out from a garage and wheeling them around St. John's, passing by local staples like the Majestic Theatre, Shamrock City Pub and the Mary Brown's Centre arena. The initial trailer was captioned "09.22.2026," pointing to the grand reveal date. The band first teased a reunion just days earlier by posting a video showing the pieces of a Kintsugi bowl coming back together, a direct nod to the album cover for their fourth and final LP as a group, Second Sight, released in 2014. It was the first new post to their Instagram account since 2024, when Baker posted a tribute commemorating the album's tenth anniversary.
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Since the band's hiatus, Baker has released four solo albums, including the 2024 holiday album Full Rainbow of Light.
Earlier this year, Hey Rosetta! quietly checked off another milestone as their debut album Plan Your Escape turned 20 years old in August. The group's following effort Into Your Lungs (2008) earned them critical acclaim and a coveted spot on the shortlist for the 2009 Polaris Music Prize.
"I screwed up the courage to ask Phil, Romesh, Adam, Josh, Kinley and Mara, and every one of them said yes right away," Baker explains. "The more we talked about it, laughed about it, the more it just sounded so fun. Somehow, throughout everything, the dynamic between the seven of us, which carried us so far, is the same as it ever was. So while we don’t really know what it will be, it will probably be a lot like it was — heart-warming, hard, hilarious, sacred, big and loud.”
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A presale begins Wednesday (Sept. 23), followed by the general on-sale Friday (Sept. 25), both at 10 a.m. local time. Check out the full list of tour dates below and find more information on Hey Rosetta!'s website.
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