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Mark Lee Talks Third Day 30th Anniversary Reunion Tour

Mark Lee Talks Third Day 30th Anniversary Reunion Tour

Last updated on: March 12, 2026 at 8:17 am by DeWayne Hamby

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Mark Lee Talks Third Day 30th Anniversary Reunion Tour 2026-03-12T08:17:57-04:00 DeWayne Hamby

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After a surprise announcement back last summer, GRAMMY and GMA Dove Award-winning Christian rock band Third Day is kicking off its 30th anniversary tour next week, marking the first time the original core lineup has performed together in more than a decade.

Third Day image courtesy of The M Collective.

Guitarist Mark Lee, who started the band with vocalist Mac Powell in high school, said the idea of hitting the road again lingered long after playing their farewell tour.

“Even when we did the farewell tour, Mac and I were both hesitant to even call it a farewell tour, because we figured at some point, we were gonna’ decide we want to crank the machine back up again,” Lee said.

Third Day, which has sold more than 7 million albums, is led by Powell on vocals, with Lee on guitar, David Carr on drums, and Tai Anderson on bass. Discussions about a return surfaced periodically. “Mac and I, like every couple years, we’d be like, ‘Does it feel like it’s time?’, and it just never really did,” Lee recalled.

The final push came about two years ago when promoters from Awakening Events approached the band. Initially uncertain, Lee said the timing aligned unexpectedly. “Maybe a week later, I was with my daughter, who’s in college now, and she said, ‘Dad, you know what? It’s just time. You guys should do another tour,'” he said. “And I was like, ‘Well, they asked us about it a couple weeks ago’.”

The 30th Anniversary Tour, presented with special guest Zach Williams, features arena dates across the U.S., starting March 19 in Jacksonville, Florida, at VyStar Veterans Memorial Arena. It includes stops in familiar markets and wraps in the band’s hometown area near Atlanta. Lee noted most venues are ones the band has played before, except for one new addition. “We’ve probably played most of these places, every town except for State Line, Nevada,” he said, joking about the outlier.

Fans can expect a setlist focused on hits spanning the band’s catalog, which includes 31 No. 1 singles across 14 albums. Lee emphasized the deliberate choice to avoid new material. “For this tour, I’m glad that we’re not trying to do a new song, new album,” he said. “Because we always had a new album. So, you had the fans that are like, ‘Hey, we really want to hear you play ‘Cry Out to Jesus.’ ‘Well, we don’t have time to play those because we’ve got all these new songs’.”

Read: “How a Truck Knocked Jesus and Music into Third Day’s Mark Lee”

The subtitle “All the Hits” guides the show, which Lee described as the longest the band has assembled, clocking in at two hours.

“We’re just able to go up there and just try to put ourselves in the shoes of the fans and go, ‘Okay, what do they want to see us do?” he said.

Rehearsals have reignited the group’s signature sound. “Just getting in a room and playing together—the first even before we were like officially rehearsing. We were doing some acoustic stuff and making music, and it sounded like Third Day,” Lee said. He added that muscle memory has carried the band through, though occasional lapses occur.

“There have been a couple times I’ll forget the arrangement of the song and everybody’s looking at me,” he admitted with a laugh.

Lee reflected on the emotional weight of the songs for fans. Many connect deeply due to personal struggles.

“A lot of people were maybe going through a really difficult season of their life and a song like ‘Tunnel’ or ‘Cry Out to Jesus’ or ‘I Need a Miracle’ really spoke to them and helped them through a difficult time,” he said. “So, I know people have this attachment, emotionally and spiritually to these songs.”

The band’s enduring camaraderie stands out in an industry where rifts are common. Lee attributed it to their original motivation.

“We started out as a band,” he said. “We were just young, literally kids out of high school, genuinely excited about our faith and loved playing music and wanted to use music as a way to just share our faith with people. And here we are at 30 years, that’s still the goal. We love God. We want to just share our faith with other people through the music.”

Since the farewell, Lee has taught commercial music at at a private Christian school, mentoring young musicians.

“I’ve been teaching commercial music,” he said. “It’s the same school where my daughters went. Just didn’t have that on my ‘life bingo card’ at all.”

The tour revives memories for both the band and audiences. Returning to venues stirs recollections of past shows and life moments tied to the music. “It’s not just the song, it’s the memories that you have of what you were going through in your life when you discovered that song,” Lee said.

As Third Day prepares for the stage, Lee expressed excitement and optimism.

“It’s going to be a really special night,” he said.

For more information about the Third Day 30th Anniversary Reunion Tour, click here.

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