Simon "Berkfinger" Berckelman of Philadelphia Grand Jury | CREDIT: Martin Philbey/Redferns.

Philadelphia Grand Jury Announce 2024 Reunion Tour

September 16, 2024

Philadelphia Grand Jury have announced their first tour in over five years, set to take place in late October and early November 2024. The reunion of the eccentric Sydney indie-rock band is to commemorate the 15th anniversary of their debut studio album, 2009’s Hope Is For Hopers, which the band will be playing in full as part of the tour. The full list of tour dates, as well as ticketing information, can be found below.

The band, known colloquially as the “Philly Jays”, last played a show in their native Sydney circa November 2020, in support of their stand-alone single ‘Nervous Breakdown’. Given the restrictions on live music at the time, the show was a seated affair and limited to 50 punters. At the time, the band teased that they were working on their third studio album, but the band soon fell into inactivity.

Following the band entering another hiatus period, frontman Simon Berckelman – AKA Berkfinger – resumed work as in-house engineer and producer at Sydney’s Golden Retriever Studios, while drummer Dan Williams (AKA Dan W. Sweat) resumed playing with both Art vs. Science and as part of Thelma Plum‘s backing band.

Philadelphia Grand Jury – ‘Going To The Casino (Tomorrow Night)’

The band then raised intrigue by posting on social media for the first time in almost two years, sharing a photo of a hard drive. “With the aid of three adapters and some good luck, Simon has revived the 2009 band hard drive,” the caption read. “The tape is on there due to a skateboarding mishap. But why is he even plugging it in?”

It was later revealed that the band would be releasing Hope Is For Hopers on vinyl for the first time, and subsequently launching the release with a series of headlining shows. It is not yet known whether Williams will join the band for any of these shows, as the duo of Berckelman and bassist Joel “MC Bad Genius” Beeson have employed what they describe as “a cavalcade of drummers” in the past. These alum include current Skeleten drummer Ivan Lisyak (also known as Emergency Ivan), current Alice Skye drummer Sullivan Patten and veteran American drummer Calvin Welch.

Hope Is For Hopers was originally released in September of 2009. It peaked in the top 40 of the ARIA Albums Chart, while the album’s single ‘The Good News’ reached number 57 in the triple j Hottest 100. The band parted ways in 2011, but reunited again in 2013 and released their second studio album Summer Of Doom in 2015.