When The Dillinger Escape Plan disbanded in 2017, it seemed like the end of an era for one of the most innovative and chaotic bands in heavy music. But the band’s return to the stage, marking the 25th anniversary of Calculating Infinity, has proven that their legacy still holds strong—and that demand for their music is higher than ever.
The first reunion show took place in Brooklyn, New York, last June, where the band played Calculating Infinity in its entirety for the first time. Original vocalist Dimitri Minakakis – who originally exited The Dillinger Escape Plan in 2001, making way for Greg Puciato – joined guitarist Ben Weinman, bassist Liam Wilson, and drummer Billy Rymer for the occasion. Since then, they’ve continued to play select shows, digging deep into their early catalog.
Reflecting on the experience, Weinman admitted (via Blabbermouth): "It's been a lot of years [since we last played together], and it was kind of a tough decision to make [to return to the live stage], but we're really glad we did it because we've been having a really good time."
He continued, "In addition to playing all of Calculating Infinity, we've been playing an EP that we put out with the original singer before that called 'Under The Running Board' and then also cuts from our very first early, early stuff that we did when we first started the band. And then we try to do some covers — a different cover every night — and we're just having a good time up there, man. But it is definitely the first time we've done all that kind of early material all back to back like that. So it's been interesting and challenging."
Revisiting this material hasn’t come without its difficulties. "Honestly, when I was writing that stuff, I couldn't play any of it. I just was', like, 'Let me write songs I can't play and then I'd better get good enough to play 'em.'" While later versions of the band incorporated some older tracks, many of these songs had either never been played live or hadn’t been performed in decades. "The later incarnation of the band did play some older songs from those albums, but there are a lot of them that we hadn't played in a very, very long time, if ever," he explained. "So those ones were definitely more challenging because we just didn't even have the muscle memory."
The overwhelming fan response has also caught the band off guard. "Well, we put the first [Brooklyn] show on sale, and it was really quickly that we decided — it wasn't even that much time between agreeing to do this and actually announcing it. And we knew we might do two nights if it did well, but it ended up selling out three nights in, like, an hour or something — just instantly. And that was super surprising because it ended up doing far better than even our final Dillinger shows."
Weinman elaborated on the unexpected demand, saying, "So the fact that there were so many people who wanted to see this, even in this form of the band, and there was so much more movement… I mean, the final shows were exciting and the tickets sold quick and it was amazing, but to see that there was even more interest now than there was when we fully announced, 'This is it. This is your last chance to see us,' that felt pretty crazy."
He also emphasized that this reunion is being fueled by both fan enthusiasm and the band’s own enjoyment. "And so I think the additional shows we've been playing is definitely because of the fans and the fact that we're having a good time. We're just having a good time together as friends and enjoying it. We're hanging out together and we're enjoying it and we're playing music that was important to our youth and there's a lot of people who still wanna see it."
As for what the future holds, Weinman remains open-ended. "So it's kind of like we're playing it by ear — if there's a real need for it and people really want it, we entertain it. There's no plan — we don't have a plan with it — but we're definitely not closing the door to playing shows here and there."
