Garbage have announced that the upcoming fall leg of their 2025 “Happy Endings” tour will officially be their “last North American headline tour.”
The band shared the news via a post on Instagram, writing: “Yesterday saw the commencement of rehearsals for our last North American headline tour. We haven’t played an extensive headline tour like this one in the States for almost a decade. If the truth be told, it is unlikely we will play many of the cities on this tour ever again.”
They continued, praising their “spectacular” supporting act Starcrawler and calling the band’s lead singer Arrow de Wilde “one of the most exciting front people of her generation.”
“We are going out in style and we hope you will join us,” they concluded. “That’s life my friends. Nothing stays the same forever. Everything must change. All beautiful things come to an end. We love you.”
Garbage’s “Happy Endings” tour will see the band perform 30 shows over the course of two and a half months, with it kicking off in Orlando, Florida on September 3rd.
Last year, the band was forced to cancel the remainder of their 2024 tour after frontwoman Shirley Manson sustained an injury that required “surgery and rehabilitation.”
Over the years, Garbage have dealt with the realities of being a veteran touring act. While the core lineup of Shirley Manson, Duke Erikson, Steve Marker, and Butch Vig has remained intact since their 1995 debut, there have been long stretches where not every member was able to hit the road. Vig in particular has occasionally sat out live dates due to health reasons, with substitute drummers filling in behind the kit. These adjustments never diminished the band’s chemistry on stage, but they underscored just how demanding the touring lifestyle can be three decades into a career.
The band also experimented with adding extra players to expand their live sound. Bassist Eric Avery, best known as a founding member of Jane’s Addiction, joined Garbage’s touring lineup in the late 2000s and was a fixture during their reunion era. His presence gave the live arrangements extra weight, but by 2022 Avery stepped away from the role, leaving the band to once again reconfigure how they presented their music on stage.
Shirley Manson has never shied away from addressing the challenges that come with constant travel and grueling tour schedules. In interviews, she’s been candid about the toll it takes on both body and mind, while also acknowledging that performing live remains one of the most rewarding aspects of her career. “Touring is brutal,” she once said, “but when the lights go down and the music starts, there’s nothing else like it.” That mix of exhaustion and exhilaration defines Garbage’s live legacy, and it’s part of what makes the “Happy Endings” tour feel like both a farewell and a celebration.
