MARK BRODIE: All right, Steve, have you ever been able to say you were in the room when a band got back together?

STEVE GOLDSTEIN: That's kind of how I feel if you and I haven't seen each other over the weekend, and then we come in the studio together.

BRODIE: That's true. And if we had musical talent. At all. Well, after last night, a lucky few Phoenicians can brag how “they were there” when the local band The Format reunited in the warehouse of Hello Merch in downtown Phoenix.

GOLDSTEIN: Well, that must have been pretty cool. How did that happen?

BRODIE: Well the band had been on hiatus since 2008. Then two weeks ago, they announced that they were doing a viewing of their "Live at the Mayan Theatre" DVD the day before it goes on streaming platforms. There were only 150 limited spots to RSVP for, but those dedicated fans didn’t see a pre-screening.

GOLDSTEIN:  OK, so then, when the curtains were pulled back, it revealed two microphone stands and a surprise acoustic set of the Format’s biggest hits, followed by a reunion announcement.

BRODIE: Yeah, lead singer Nate Ruess, who later went on to create the Grammy award-winning band fun., commented on feeling nostalgic when he listened to the Format, so he called up the second half of the band Sam Means and decided to dust off a few old tunes.

Amanda Luberto/KJZZ

The Format play a surprise acoustic set following their film screening on Feb. 3, 2019, in Phoenix.

GOLDSTEIN: And the band announced that they’ll be performing six shows next month with stops in New York, Chicago and Phoenix.

BRODIE: You can see photos and videos taken by our producer Amanda Luberto, who was lucky enough to be there last night — you can see that on our website at kjzz.org.

GOLDSTEIN: Well since your middle name is "fun.", it makes sense we talked about this.

BRODIE: With period after it. Yes, indeed.

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