Following breaking news Sunday night that INXS announced the end of the band while performing in Perth, the Australian group have officially confirmed the split.
On Monday, INXS posted a full statement regarding the news on their website, which read, in part:
It ended fittingly where it began 35 years ago, in Perth, when INXS drummer Jon Farriss declared to a 15,000+ capacity house on the opening weekend of the brand new Perth Arena and the final night of the Matchbox Twenty / INXS Australian tour that from this point INXS would bring down the curtain as a live touring band.
The remaining band members of INXS, Tim, Andrew and Jon Farriss, Kirk Pengilly and Garry Beers issued this statement.
“We understand that this must come as a blow to everybody, but all things must eventually come to an end. We have been performing as a band for 35 years, it’s time to step away from the touring arena. Our music will of course live on and we will always be a part of that.”
“We would like to express our heartfelt thanks to all the friends and family that have supported us throughout our extensive career. Our lives have been enriched by having you all as a part of the journey.”
“It’s been 35 years for INXS as a live touring band and unbelievably it’s been 15 years ago since we lost [singer] Michael [Hutchence]” said Jon Farriss. “We lived for each other in the trenches and we loved each other. It was the six of us against the world and then suddenly and inexplicably we were but five. We were lost right at the moment we were on top.”
The band struggled to deal with the enormity of it all and the easy solution was to just call it a day. “We never took a soft option, it was the adversity, the challenge and the struggle that forged us into the live working band we became. And this was as big as it could possibly get when it came to a challenge” said Andrew Farriss, “and in the end we decided for a whole bunch of reasons to march forward. To us there was no other option, families always move forward.”
“They believed unconditionally in each other and they also believed unconditionally in the music,” said the band’s manager Chris Murphy. “People fade, sometimes way too early… that is life whether we like it or not. To live to 80 plus is a life well lived. To lose Michael so young was a tragedy for all of us. But with this band, their legacy, their music was just so damn good, it was always destined to live beyond all of us.”
As Jon Farriss says, “INXS’ touring days could never last forever. We wanted it to end on a high. And it has.”
The band will be making no further comment at this time.
In a fitting homage to the band, Matchbox Twenty’s Rob Thomas joined INXS and vocalist Ciaran Gribbin on stage and performed INXS’s signature closer, “Don’t Change,” in the band’s encore. Watch video of the final INXS live song below.
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