Article Contributed by Big Hassle Media
Published on November 7, 2025
The Hold Steady is marking the 20th anniversary of their landmark 2005 second studio album, Separation Sunday, with a deluxe new edition arriving on their own Positive Jams label via Thirty Tigers on Friday, December 5. The expanded release sees the original 11-track album joined by nine newly remastered bonus tracks on vinyl for the first time, including rare demos, outtakes, and four songs previously released as 2005’s internet-only EP, The Virgin Digital Sessions. Separation Sunday (20-Year Anniversary Edition) will be available digitally and on 2xLP standard black vinyl and limited edition 2xLP gold-swirl vinyl. Pre-orders are available starting tomorrow, Friday, November 7, at 12:00 p.m. ET via theholdsteadymerch.net and at indie retailers.
“‘Separation Sunday’ changed everything for The Hold Steady,” says frontman Craig Finn. “We found a new lineup, a solidified sound, and through incessant touring started building the THS community that exists today. It was a thrilling time to live through, and to revisit with this new look at the album.”
PRE-ORDER SEPARATION SUNDAY (20 YEAR ANNIVERSARY EDITION)
Recently named by Paste as one of the “250 Greatest Albums of the 21st Century So Far,” Separation Sunday proved a sensation upon its May 2005 release, instantly catapulting the Hold Steady to the forefront of American rock ‘n’ roll bands. A dazzling collection that forwarded the band’s signature sound and distinctive vision on virtually every level, the album was greeted by critical applause around the world. At year’s end, the album was ranked among the top 10 of 2005’s best in SPIN and on The Village Voice’s prestigious Pazz & Jop Critics Poll, with legendary critic Robert Christgau writing, “This literature with power chords addresses not only the crucial matter of vanishing bohemias as cultural myth but also the crucial matter of re-emerging spiritualities as cultural fact.”
Further Praise for Separation Sunday:
“The elegiac Biblical lost-innocence junkie odyssey that Denis Johnson never wrote…
[Finn is] the poet laureate of the loading dock behind the mall
where the runaway kids get together to sniff cheap coke at 5 a.m.”
– PITCHFORK
“Separation Sunday is at once surreal and gloriously sweaty…
a whirlwind tour through an overstuffed brain.”
– ROLLING STONE
“Delivered within purgative rock ‘n’ roll.”
– THE GUARDIAN (5 STARS)
“A record that takes straight-forward rock and makes it poetic through a singular, compelling vision…[Finn’s lyrics] make it near impossible to do anything but listen closely.
Except, perhaps, to drive. Quickly.”
– POP MATTERS
The Hold Steady will further mark the milestone anniversary with a full album performance of Separation Sunday as part of their upcoming Massive Nights 2025: 10 Years of Killer Parties!, the 10th annual edition of their beloved multi-night concert event at Brooklyn, NY’s Brooklyn Bowl. This year’s weekend runs from Wednesday, December 3, through Saturday, December 6, kicking off with the first-ever Massive Nights installment of the band’s intimate “Storytellers” show, a special seated performance that will see the Hold Steady stripping down familiar songs along with additional classics not usually heard during regular sets. Entry for “Storytellers” will be limited, including a small number of standing-room tickets.
Massive Nights 2025 will then see the Hold Steady performing two unique sets each night with no opening acts on Thursday, Friday, and Saturday, including a full album performance and a second set stacked with fan favorites and more. Thursday, December 4, will celebrate Separation Sunday, followed by surprise full album performances on Friday, December 5, and Saturday, December 6. A limited number of tickets remain available for Wednesday’s Storytellers set and Thursday and Friday. Saturday is sold out. For complete details, please see theholdsteady.net.
Next year will then see the Hold Steady crossing the Atlantic for The Weekender 2026, a four-night concert event set for various London venues on Thursday, March 5-8, 2026. The Weekender 2026 will include a “Storytellers” performance at The Dome (Thursday, March 5, 2008), followed by two headline shows at Electric Ballroom (Friday, March 6 and Saturday, March 7, 2026), and an intimate headline set at Camden’s iconic Dingwalls (Sunday, March 8, 2026). Add-ons include a Saturday Soundcheck/Happy Hour at Electric Ballroom, a Sunday Pub Quiz at Dingwalls, The Weekender 2026 Merch Bundle, and a limited edition The Weekender 2026 lanyard. Limited single-night GA tickets for the Electric Ballroom and Dingwalls shows remain available.
THE HOLD STEADY – LIVE 2025-2026
MASSIVE NIGHTS 2025: 10 YEARS OF KILLER PARTIES! – BROOKLYN, NY
December 3 – Brooklyn Bowl (Storytellers)
December 4 – Brooklyn Bowl (Separation Sunday Full Album Play + THS Favorites)
December 5 – Brooklyn Bowl (Surprise Full Album Play + THS Favorites)
December 6 – Brooklyn Bowl (Surprise Full Album Play + THS Favorites)
THE WEEKENDER 2026 – LONDON, UK
March 5 – The Dome (Storytellers)
March 6 – Electric Ballroom
March 7 – Electric Ballroom
March 8 – Dingwalls
THE HOLD STEADY
SEPARATION SUNDAY (20 YEAR ANNIVERSARY EDITION)
(Positive Jams/Thirty Tigers)
Release Date: Friday, December 5, 2025
Tracklist:
Hornets! Hornets!
Cattle and the Creeping Things
Your Little Hoodrat Friend
Banging Camp
Charlemagne in Sweatpants
Stevie Nix
Multitude of Casualties
Don’t Let Me Explode
Chicago Seemed Tired Last Night
Crucifixion Cruise
How a Resurrection Really Feels
212-Margarita *
The Most Important Thing *
Your Little Hoodrat Friend (The Virgin Digital Sessions) *
Don’t Let Me Explode (The Virgin Digital Sessions) *
Crucifixion Cruise (The Virgin Digital Sessions) *
212-Margarita (The Virgin Digital Sessions) *
Cattle and the Creeping Things (Demo) *
Charlemagne in Sweatpants (Demo) *
Crucifixion Cruise (Guitar Demo) *
* BONUS TRACKS
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