Metal Comeback Of The Year: Acid Bath Gets Its Due With Sellouts, Arena Homecoming, System Of A Down Tour

Each year sees its share of reunion tours and reboots on the concert calendar, and 2025 was particularly ripe with examples, including a monster run from Oasis, a revamped Linkin Park touring worldwide and even a somewhat sudden Radiohead run in Europe, but one comeback story may be the most unlikely and surprising of all.

Having released only two albums, the influential and innovative When The Kite String Pops and Paegan Terrorism Tactics in the mid-’90s, the musical career of Louisiana-born Acid Bath abruptly ended in 1997 when a drunk driver ran a stop sign and struck the car carrying bass guitarist Audie Pitre and brother Kelly Pitre, killing Audie and his parents. The horrific event ended the band seemingly for good before it had a chance to realize much commercial or financial success.

Part Pantera, part Celtic Frost, part Alice in Chains, showing prescient flashes of what would later develop into post-grunge chock full of spooky moods akin to those popularized by bands like Korn, Deftones and Godsmack, the legend of Acid Bath has lived on in metal circles and the band’s native Louisiana, influencing bands like Slipknot and becoming core listening for many metalheads.  

Now, 28 years later, the band has somewhat suddenly and unexpectedly put together an impressive run of sold-out headline gigs, high-profile festival appearances and is on the brink of headlining its first arena show, not to mention heading to Europe for the first time as support on the System of a Down / Queens of the Stone Age stadium tour.

“I feel proud for them, for the guys who never reaped any sort of rewards from being in this band,” says Dan Rozenblum of talent agency 33 & West, who is also handling management for the reunited Acid Bath. “They never made any money on this band, and it ended in tragedy, so it’s gratifying that they’re able to have this opportunity to play for people, half of them who weren’t even born at the time and the other half maybe had seen them or maybe had not.”

Rozenblum has worked with guitarist and former Goatwhore member Sammy Duet for almost 20 years, and often would get offers or hear pitches for Acid Bath, but the band was for all intents and purposes over, with no sign of coming back.

“They were always kind and would consider it, but (frontman) Dax Riggs was always like, this isn’t really part of my life anymore,” Rozenblum said. The situation remained for years, with other members doing small solo projects or playing with other notable bands. But an offer for 2025’s Sick New World festival in Las Vegas showed additional interest in the band, and coincidentally Riggs had already been entertaining the idea of getting the band back together.

“So they weren’t just saying yes to this offer but wanted to do it anyway, so it worked really well,” said Rozenblum.  While the 2025 edition of Sick New World was ultimately canceled, the band needed to plan its first gig in nearly 30 years, which meant a lot of unknowns. A hometown New Orleans show was booked at the House of Blues for April 25, with the onsale set for just days before the 2024 U.S. presidential election, which was not ideal.

Rozenblum and talent buyer Dave Magazine of Live Nation decided to just go for it and see what happened. “He sent me a link on the Friday afternoon, we tossed up zero marketing dollars, and it sold out in like eight or 10 minutes,” says Rozenblum. “Later the same day he’s like, do you wanna do another one? Another link and it sold out in 12 minutes, so we had sold 4,500 tickets in under an hour.”

With obviously some pent-up demand in the band’s home market, Rozenblum said the real test was how sales would go outside Louisiana, leading to discussions about other major markets. The results were similar.

“We booked a (Hollywood) Palladium and put up an artist presale on a Tuesday and then general public [onsale] on the Wednesday, and it ended up selling out in about an hour and a half, so we added a second show. That one also sold out,” said Rozenblum. Those shows sold a combined 6,933 tickets and grossed $300,717, as reported to Pollstar Boxoffice, with support from High on Fire, Windhand and Pig Destroyer.

“Then we went to Chicago, and same thing – put up a ticket link on one day, onsale the next day. We sold 3,300 tickets at the Salt Shed in Chicago, and then we added the Brooklyn Paramount and added a second show there too. We were like holy shoot, this is way more than we’d thought. The guys in the band were scratching their heads. None of them realized what it was going to be.”

That’s given way to similar stories in Seattle, Oakland, Des Moines, Florida, Atlanta, and the Caverns in Tennessee. Rozenblum says the booking strategy has developed in a way that allows for some freedom in picking different support and special guests for each show, and helps keep the band fresh, too.

“We’re doing one show per week because, and I think this is really genuine and respectful, that the singer was like, these people have waited for almost 30 years to hear us play songs, I want to make sure my voice is as good as possible,” says Rozenblum. “A lot of people have asked me why we do these one-off shows and why not go on tour? This just won’t ever be a ground touring band. This is just a model that works for us that is comfortable for the band. In Europe, obviously that’s not the case, but those are mainly support shows. So the sessions are a lot shorter and we’re able to navigate that.”

While the demand was there to sell tickets, the band still needed to perform, another potential unknown.

“Everyone was extremely nervous, and I think that’s really endearing,” Rozenblum says. “They just had no idea there’d be such a response. It was a genuine surprise to all of them and me as well. With each show I come back saying that was the best one, and then the following week I’m like, ‘Nope, that was the best one.’”  

One of the biggest surprises may be the age of those attending the shows. “Seventy percent of the crowd is under 35, and half of those are female,” Rozenblum says. “So it’s not only older dudes saying, ‘Oh yeah, I remember Acid Bath.’ They’re definitely there, but it’s not even half.” 

While the band is typically not repeating markets, a special occasion is being made in its hometown, with a UNO Lakefront Arena show on Nov. 15. 

“I said, based on how the Fillmore shows went, have you guys ever headlined an arena? They were doing 200 people in most places back in the ‘90s,” said Rozenblum.  

 Live Nation’s Magazine was supportive of the idea and helped put together the lineup, which includes Mastodon as main support, along with Power Trip and Amigo the Devil.  Rozenblum says there’s added production and other surprises in store for the show, with ticket sales headed in the right direction for a hopeful sellout.

The buzz led to the chance to join the System of a Down / Queens of the Stone Age European stadium run next summer.

“I knew that System of a Down were fans of Acid Bath, and they told me Queens of the Stone Age was direct support, which is just a beautiful lineup in my opinion,” Rozenblum said. He said the call came from Live Nation Global Touring’s Rich Best. “Acid Bath has never been to Europe, so there wasn’t much convincing other than let’s figure out how to make it work for budget purposes. We’re extremely grateful.”

The tour includes major modern stadiums including Tottenham Hotspur Stadium in London and Stade De France in Paris, with Rozenblum crediting the System of a Down team and management at Velvet Hammer for being a pleasure to work with and going out of their way to accommodate Acid Bath.

Looking ahead, Rozenblum says he’s had to do some educating on the band’s story to promoters and venues, but that if someone isn’t on board, it doesn’t take long to find someone who is.

“There has definitely been a crop of folks who are like 100 percent in the know and having a pulse for what it was going to do,” says Rozenblum, mentioning promoters like Christian McKnight at Live Nation in New York and Luke Hanna in Los Angeles. “And there were people calling and they knew it was something but weren’t really sure what it was, so there’s a bit of an education process to a degree, but I think most people find it extremely exciting and want to support it. I’m not forcing it on anyone. This is supposed to be fun and I want people on board who understand what it is and are psyched to be part of this history, because it really is a part of a historic moment.”