Bang and Whimper 2017 – The Farewell Tour was a concert tour by the Finnish gothic rock band HIM. Originally formed in 1991, the band announced on 5 March 2017 their plans to disband following a farewell tour that same year. HIM had taken a break during 2016 but began work on new material at the end of the year. According to vocalist Ville Valo, the band felt their new material was lacking, and the band members eventually decided to disband while they were all still on good terms. The tour began on 14 June 2017 in Barcelona, Spain, and concluded on 31 December 2017 in Helsinki, Finland, as a part of the band's annual Helldone Festival. The tour spanned three legs across Europe and North America. Most shows were sold out and the tour gathered over 110,000 attendees in total. It also attracted mostly positive reviews, with the Nottingham Post noting that HIM "truly went out with a 'bang'". For the tour, the band performed material from all of their studio albums. They played their first-ever outdoor show in Helsinki at the Tuska Open Air Metal Festival, breaking the festival's record for highest attendance on a single date. In conjunction with the tour, a special photo exhibition by Ville Juurikkala was held at the Helsinki Art Museum and the Morrison Hotel Gallery in New York. The exhibition, titled HIM: Right Here in My Eyes, featured photos of the band preparing for the tour. Background HIM had been on hiatus in 2016, during which time the bandmembers worked on different side projects. They regrouped at the end of the year to start work on new material with drummer Jukka "Kosmo" Kröger, who had replaced Mika "Gas Lipstick" Karppinen in 2015. According to vocalist Ville Valo, "We felt like the new material wasn't taking flight. We got along well together, but something was lacking. The stars weren't in alignment." Valo also said, "We felt like there was nothing left to give collectively. It was fun playing the old songs, everybody got along well together, but that spark was missing." In February 2017, HIM held a band meeting at a pub near their rehearsal place, where they discussed the future of the group. The band announced their plans to disband on 5 March 2017 via their Facebook page. In the announcement, Valo said: In the same post, bassist Mikko "Mige" Paananen added,