The Format was a 2000s-era rock/pop band featuring Nate Ruess (best known as the lead singer of the group fun.), and Sam Means. And the two reunited for the first time in 20 years in Phoenix, Arizona, at the State Fairgrounds. The reunion show features songs from across their catalogue and also included two new songs, titled “Shot in the Dark” and “Holy Roller.”
During the encore Ruess introduced a special cover by saying, “to make matters a hell of a lot worse, we’re gonna play a cover song from a band that Jim, me—no band in Arizona—would be anywhere without.” And after being joined onstage by Jim Adkins from Jimmy Eat World, they launched into the Gin Blossoms‘ “Hey Jealousy.” (The Gin Blossoms formed in Tempe, AZ in 1987, and “Jealousy” came from their 1992 major label debut, New Miserable Experience.) The cover is what you would expect: a fun, sloppy encore version of the song, with the musicians having as much fun as the audience.
After breaking up in 2008, a 2020 reunion tour was scrapped by the Covid-19 pandemic. The 2025 tour features four dates scheduled for this month and next.
