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Canadian indie rock band Hey Rosetta! is reuniting after nearly a decade for four concerts in St. John's in February, plus one show each in Montreal and Toronto, with all seven original members returning.
Canadian indie-rock band Hey Rosetta! is returning to the stage for a short Canadian reunion tour, announced September 26, 2026. The seven-piece group will play four concerts in St. John's in February, followed by one show in Montreal and one in Toronto.
Hey Rosetta! Reunion After Nine Years
The reunion ends a nine-year gap since the band last played a concert in St. John's. Most of the seven members are back living in or near St. John's, and singer Tim Baker recently returned home after living in Berlin. There is a question that has followed Baker for years, through a solo career and moves out of the country. When were Hey Rosetta! going to get back together?
The indie rock group became legendary in some circles, particularly their home province of Newfoundland and Labrador. People have been asking forever, ever since we closed our doors, when we're going to get together and do it again, Baker said, sitting in a cafe owned by bandmate Phil Maloney. I got asked a few months ago and I couldn't think of why not.
Things had changed a lot in the nine years since the band last played St. John's, but the timing was somehow right. I played some of the old music again, just played on guitar. I hadn't played it in a long time and didn't feel the resistance and the distance with it that I had over the last little while, Baker said. I thought, this could be a laugh, really.
This could be really fun and beautiful and nostalgic. After an all-hands meeting, all seven members agreed to sign back up. It just kind of takes someone saying out loud, and I think it was Tim, maybe we do this, said Maloney. We'd kind of whispered it amongst ourselves years ago, like, what would it take?
Returning to the Seven-Piece Stage
You sit down across from each other, and you say, well, would you do this again? Baker continued recording and performing with a solo career. But for Maloney, this upcoming concert represents a crash landing back into professional performing. I think it's going to be terrifying, Maloney said.
The very first song of the first night is going to be terrifying. But I feel like, by song three, then it's just going to be like floating through it. As a band, Hey Rosetta! thrived with a rich seven-piece sound. The shows featured horns, a cello and violin, along with piano, guitar, bass and drums.
Although not strictly Celtic-inspired Newfoundland music, Baker says the band was still firmly rooted in St. John's. The group scored several local awards in Newfoundland and Labrador, regional awards at the East Coast Music Awards, and were shortlisted for the Polaris Music Prize in 2009. The band released four albums and toured extensively outside the province. Baker is not sure yet whether the reunion will lead to more.
St. John's Legacy and Christmas Tradition
Everyone seems to have a lot more responsibility than they did almost a decade ago, with jobs and businesses and families. But I felt like that doesn't mean we can't get together and play some shows and have fun and celebrate what it was, what it meant to us, Baker said. What it meant to other people and just see how it feels. To a generation, particularly in St. John's, Hey Rosetta! meant a lot.
Despite four albums and many out-of-province tours, the band returned nearly every year to play a Christmastime concert, just in time for hundreds of Newfoundlanders living away to return for the holidays. It became this beautiful tradition, Baker said. The band really wanted to return with a Christmastime concert this year, but Baker said they could not find any available venue space. Not just to get together, but to do it justice, he said.
You know, there's a pressure to it. I think that's one of the reasons it's taken so long to happen. It was a precious thing to many people. It was a precious thing to us, and to be able to do it justice, it's a little scary, Baker said. But here we are.
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CP24:This story was compiled and edited by the HeadTopics newsroom and HT AI from the reports above.
Hey Rosetta! Reunion Tim Baker Phil Maloney St. John's Concerts Canadian Indie Rock Tour
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