Yeah, that was their chance to do a full album again and go full out like they used to. It’s a shame they didn’t tour Asia and Australia during that tour too.Reading that Headlines was 16 years ago has shaken me. It's such a shame that that comeback tour was so great, all the pieces were there, and they screwed the pooch with new music. They easily could have continued to tour the world and at least release one more album at the time.
I don't see the stars aligning for new music again if they couldn't deliver at that point in time. Maybe there's infinite supply of nostalgia excitement for them to tour the same show rejigged over and over, intermittently, forever... but I doubt it.
I know the whole thing with Simon Cowell, but they missed out on promoting the single and greatest hits on X factor too. I know why they did Strictly, but it never really pushed sales.