Powderfinger fans are fizzing with happiness after the celebrated Aussie band confirmed it is reforming and will be touring from next September.

It is 16 years since the rock legends broke up, but rumours of a reunion have been swirling since cryptic clues began appearing on social media and billboards in major Australian cities this week.

On Friday, Powderfinger took to Instagram and Facebook do declare it had “some big news”.

“We’ve got a little announcement to make for you today,” frontman Bernard Fanning said in a video featuring the five members.

“We always said that if we were going to get back together to do some shows that you guys would be the first to know – and so now you’re the first to know.

“We’re going to do some shows all around Australia, from September next year…”

Guitarist Darren Middleton added that the group was “gonna build something pretty special just for you guys”, urging people to sign up on the Powderfinger website to be kept in the loop with further information.

“We will see you from the stage,” Middleton added.

Powderfinger, which started in Brisbane in 1989, is one of Australia’s most successful rock bands, with five albums topping the ARIA Charts and 18 ARIA awards over 21 years of recording and touring.

They have made Triple J’s Hottest 100 countdown list 22 times, winning in 1999 with their hit These Days and in 2000 with My Happiness. Both songs also made the station’s Hottest 100 of Australian Songs last year (My Happiness at number six), along with their 2003 hit (Baby I’ve Got You) On My Mind.

Within an hour of the group’s news on Friday, hundreds of fans took to social media to express their joy at the reunion.

“Guys I really feel like this could fix everything,” wrote one Instagram follower.

“Thank you, my old body will be coming out for this and partying like it’s 1995,” said another on Facebook.

Brisbane Lord Mayor Adrian Schrinner also welcomed news of the band’s return, saying Powderfinger had “provided the soundtrack to a generation of Aussies”.

“They’ve been ‘On My Mind’ ever since that farewell show at Riverstage in 2010… There’ll be plenty of old band shirts coming out of retirement and a few questionable singing voices when the boys get back on stage,” Schrinner wrote on Facebook, adding:

“And if you need someone to ‘Pick You Up’ from the airport, you know who to call.”

 

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Although details of the planned performances are scarce, excitement among music lovers has been building since the emergence of an Instagram account four days ago titled The Return of the Electric Horseman – a reference to the final track on their 1996 album Double Allergic.

The account shared photos and videos of cryptic displays on billboards that have appeared in Sydney, Brisbane and Melbourne, which eagle-eyed fans noticed contained numbers and words alluding to things such as the number of ARIAs the band had won and the date of their last live show.

A new post also appeared on the official Powderfinger Instagram account on Thursday, after it had previously been cleared.

The band ended its 34-show Sunsets Farewell Tour in Brisbane in November 2010, but briefly reunited for an online concert in 2020 during the Covid pandemic to raise money for charities including Support Act and Beyond Blue.

Graham Ashton, who scouted the band for Polygram Records when it was signed to the major label in 1993, told AAP the band’s broad appeal was undimmed – and, if anything, their audience had expanded as a result of their long hiatus.

He said the secret of the band’s success was its relatability.

“Everybody felt like they knew them. They were five guys that could have been your mates.”

There was one other not-so-secret sauce in the band’s mix.

“They had a great f—ing rock singer,” Ashton said.

“There’s only a handful of people who can sing rock music as well as Bernard Fanning.”

–with AAP