It’s been a rough Autumn to be a Chameleons fan in North America, or Canada at least. Toronto, for sure. First, the band – less the “Vox” moniker on account of the return of guitarist Reg Smithies – was supposed to embark on a North American tour with The Mission, but that whole tour was postponed in July for a whole year to Fall 2023 with the following statement:

“It is with huge disappointment that we have to inform you that our North American tour scheduled for Sept / Oct 2022 has had to be postponed until the same time period 2023. This is due to logistical problems beyond our control. We offer our sincerest apologies for any and all inconveniences caused. Please hold on to your tickets as they will be honoured at the rescheduled date, which we hope to be able to announce very shortly. If you do need to seek a refund, then please do so at the point of purchase. We hope you don’t though, and keep them for next year. We were so looking forward to this tour, and now to next year, having not toured North America to this extent in decades.

The Mission

It looked like there was a silver lining and those Chameleons work visas weren’t going to waste when they were added to the bill for She Wants Revenge’s reunion tour and were slated to come through town to the same venue a month later than originally planned, but a day before the show was set to come to town, there was this:

Hi folks, I’m very sad to report that Chameleons WILL NOT now be able to perform the two shows we had scheduled in Canada due to logistical and economic problems associated with the two shows at Toronto and London Ontario. We’re deeply disappointed, and we were trying to resolve these issues right up until yesterday, but in the end we had to make the sad decision to pull out. Our remaining shows in the U.S. – Nov 10th Philadelphia Underground Arts; Nov 11th New York Le Poisson Rouge; Nov 15th Buffalo NY Asbury Hall; Nov 16th Pittsburgh Spirit remain UNCHANGED.

We profoundly apologize for having to make this decision.

All the best

Chameleons.

London Music Hall

Meaning my money went to an act I am on the record as greatly disliking and I’ve nothing to show for it. And while it’s entirely possible that next October’s show with The Mission will go ahead… I’m not holding my breath.

So what does a Hogtown Chameleons fan do for a fix? Well, we could rewind 22 years to the last time The Chameleons were The Chameleons, with the full original lineup – their early 21st century reunion, which lasted from 2000 to 2003 – I remain eternally thankful I saw them in Toronto in October 2002 – and produced one studio album of new material, 2001’s Why Call It Anything?.

The first big reunion show at The Academy in the band’s hometown of Manchester took place on June 3, 2000 and was recorded and released in 2001 on VHS as Resurrection Live. The digitized version doesn’t look amazing, but is pretty good and sound quality quite decent, but most importantly it’s a chance to see Mark, Dave, Reg, and John on stage again.

The current Chameleons lineup – Mark and Reg – had originally intended to recreate the show and set in June of 2020 for the initial reunion’s 20th anniversary. That was derailed by the COVID pandemic, of course, but it did prompt The Kaboom Room to reflect on attending that 2000 reunion show:

The Chameleons – Resurrection LIVE @ THE ACADEMY JUNE 3rd 2000 @ The Kaboom Room