Swedish hardcore band “Refused” is going on a 2012 world reunion tour.

This first reunion show since the band came apart, was held as a secret concert - mostly
for friends - in a small venue in the band’s hometown Umeå. “Refused” performed their last
show in a basement in Harrisonburg, Virginia in 1998. And rumour has it that there were
approximately a hundred people present when the police decided to shut it down. Meanwhile,
a reluctant "Refused" kept playing their song Rather Be Dead, despite the presence of the law
and their flickering flashlights.

In their 14-year long absence things have certainly changed…
Their last album - the ambitious The Shape Of Punk To Come - had broken out of the
underground and eventually came to be a reference and influence for contemporary rock and
metal bands, essentially bands such as Metallica, Guns N. Roses and Marilyn Manson.

When Refused announced their plans to reunite in 2012, the tour did not include any
basements in Harrisonburg, Virginia, but rather main stages at major summer music festivals such as
Coachella and Rock Am Ring. But as the vocalist Dennis Lyxzén puts it while playing their first tour stop in Umeå: “Before we head over to earn millions playing for Americans we wanted to do a show for our friends.”