After a two-decade hiatus from public performances in Japan, Dogstar stirred excitement among fans in 2022 with a teaser on Instagram. Accompanying the post was a nostalgic picture of Reeves, Domrose, and Mailhouse from their heydays, with the caption, “We’re back. #tbt.”
In April 2023, Dogstar shared another Instagram post featuring a photoshoot of the band members. On May 11, 2023, they announced their billing at the Bottle Rock Napa Valley Festival later that month, expressing their enthusiasm with the caption, “We’ve just been added to play the BottleRock festival! We are over the moon. ❤️”
On May 27, 2023, Reeves and Dogstar performed together for the first time since 2002, commemorating the event with an Instagram post. The snapshot showcased the band on stage, captioned, “Great to be back on stage! What a fantastic day we had. Thank you so much BottleRock.”
Speaking to Billboard, Reeves shared, “I missed playing together, I missed writing together, I missed doing shows together. It’s something I’ve always missed.”
During the performance, Dogstar treated the audience to songs from their two albums and offered a preview of tracks from their upcoming release. The sizable crowd cheered on Reeves, the lead bassist and backing vocalist, with chants of “We love you, Keanu.”
Though initially nervous, Reeves found comfort with bandmate Mailhouse’s support. Reeves mentioned to The San Francisco Chronicle that Mailhouse encouraged him with positivity, advising, “Listen to the music. Just be present in the song, and it will go from there.”
With this successful reunion, fans are hopeful that Dogstar will continue creating beautiful music and memories in the future.
