The guys from Anberlin are getting the band together, but there’s a catch; it’s for one night only. On Thursday (Oct. 18), the Winter Haven-founded band took to social media to announce plans to reunite for one show. The gig, which will take at the Yuengling Center in Tampa on Dec. 14, will find the formerly defunct band opening for fellow Florida-founded act Underoath.
“We’ve been playing shows in the Tampa area with Anberlin since we were basically kids,” a statement from Underoath begins. “We knew them coming back to play this hometown show with us was a big ask—but it just felt right. We have said we couldn’t be more pumped to close out the Erase Me tour with this show in our hometown. But we’ve been proven wrong.”
Anberlin drummer Nathan Young mirrors Underoath’s sentiments: “All the Anberlin dudes reconnected over this last year, hung on the beach together, and then, when we got asked to play this show with Underoath, in our hometown, the answer was, ‘yeah!”
Young continues: “I mean why wouldn’t we do that? Life is short and we should almost always say ‘yes’ to rad stuff. Plus, we’ve been homies with Underoath for 15-plus years. [Guitarist] Tim [McTague] is my brother-in-law and we’ve never played a proper show together. It’s just way overdue.”
Anberlin will join Crown the Empire, Dance Gavin Dance, and the Plot in You on that night’s roster.
To purchase tickets for the show, head on over the Yuengling Center’s website here.
The surprise announcement comes months after the band members began posting small, band-centric items on social media. The posts weren’t major enough to warrant speculations that a reunion could be in the cards, but enough to make fans wonder if maybe they were up to something.
Anberlin formally announced plans to disband in August of 2014. Before laying the band to rest, the five-piece went on a massive final tour that found them performing across the continent before taking the stage for the last time on Nov. 26, 2014 at the House of Blues in their quasi-hometown of Orlando.
Anberlin’s final studio album was 2014’s Lowborn (via Tooth & Nail).
As for Underoath, the upcoming tour is in support of their recently released record, Erase Me (via Fearless Records). The album was met with favorable reviews by critics and fans alike. The album, the group’s eighth, peaked at the number 16 spot on Billboard’s 200 chart, the number four spot on the Top Rock Albums chart, and the top spot on the Top Hard Rock Albums chart.
This show will also be a historic one for the six-piece as it will be the first time a Tampa Bay band has ever headlined a Tampa Bay arena.
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