It's rare to have a band reunion that stops us in our tracks. Beloved bands from the past seem to get back together as often as new bands form.
But the report from Central Track yesterday about an upcoming Tripping Daisy hometown reunion show in May indeed had us wondering: Man, really?
After 17 years, Tim DeLaughter will revive one of the most popular bands to emerge from the Deep Ellum golden days of the 1990s for at least one show. The band will headline Homegrown Festival May 13 at Main Street Garden in downtown Dallas. Tickets, $53.50 to $105.75, are on sale now.
This is big news for local music fans many reasons. In 1999, the group tragically dissolved after the drug-related death of lead guitarist Wes Berggren. There was one more album from the group, released posthumously in 2000, but this millennium hasn't experienced the frenzied joy of a live version of "My Umbrella" or "Piranha." Over the course of four full-length albums and a slew of EPs, Tripping Daisy never offered the standard issue alt-rock or post-grunge that was en vogue, but a unique combination of those sounds with psychedelic and pop styles mixed in.
Many of the other beloved local bands that hit it big in that era, such as the Toadies and Deep Blue Something, have already gotten back together, giving Gen X-ers a chance to relive some Clinton-era youth. But many fans have long wondered if Tripping Daisy would ever join them.
Of course, DeLaughter has found success as leader of the Polyphonic Spree, a choral rock collective featuring a far different style than the psych-tinged garage rock of Tripping Daisy. At the very least, it will be interesting to hear how songs well over two decades old sound now after such a break.
Tripping Daisy has never fully existed in this new media age. Until this May, it seems.
