Say it with me now: Refused are fucking dead. Again.
The veteran Swedish post-hardcore wreckers played their final concert Sunday at Väven in their hometown, Umeå, concluding a protracted farewell that made them just barely eligible for this year’s In Memoriam video. It’s been almost two years since the band announced their final Swedish festival show without actually confirming they were breaking up. Later in 2024, frontman Dennis Lyxzén suffered a massive heart attack, and Refused revealed details of a farewell tour and tribute album. The tour kicked off back in March of this year, and in September the band rolled out a few final European dates, concluding with a run through Sweden capped off by three hometown gigs.
According to setlist.fm, Refused’s final show did not feature covers or special guests. Instead, the band tore through a 17-song career-spanning set plus a four-song encore. It ended, of course, with “New Noise,” the song that first blasted Refused into my consciousness via late-night MTV airings a quarter-century ago.
Refused already broke up once, in 1998, in the middle of an excruciating American tour in support of their landmark album The Shape Of Punk To Come. Lyxzén went on to lead the (International) Noise Conspiracy throughout the 2000s and dabbled in the side projects Final Exit and AC4 before Refused came roaring back in the 2010s.
Speaking of side projects: Three out of four Refused members have already launched a new band called Backengrillen, so be on the lookout for more tunes from that camp soon, and check out footage from Refused’s farewell shows below.
SETLIST:
“Circle Pit”
“The Shape of Punk To Come”
“The Refused Party Program”
“Rather Be Dead”
“Malfire”
“Liberation Frequency”
“Summerholidays vs. Punkroutine”
“The Deadly Rhythm”
“Re-Fused”
“I Wish”
“Hate Breeds Hate”
“Pretty Face”
“Life Support Addiction”
“Coup d’état”
“Refused Are Fucking Dead”
“Elektra”
“Worms Of The Senses/Faculties Of The Skull”
ENCORE:
“Burn It”
“Everlasting”
“Pump The Brakes”
“New Noise”
