Farewell Tour Tracker: 14 Artists Now Saying Goodbye
All good things must come to an end, including the touring careers of beloved rock artists.
Deciding to come off the road isn't an easy one. As performing artists, being onstage in front of fans is an integral part of the profession. Without an audience, where else can that immediate connection occur? Even now, as some artists enter their 70s and even 80s, touring isn't necessarily off the table.
But touring can also be exhausting, expensive and time-consuming, and for some, 2023 will mark the end of the road. After decades of performing, farewell tours are in order. Even though it should be noted that in many cases, artists have specified that they are not retiring from live performing altogether or from music in general, just the large-scale touring they've been doing for years.
For several in the below list of Farewell Tour Tracker: 14 Artists Now Saying Goodbye, this isn't the end but the start of a different chapter. "Well, it looks like that's it for this outfit," Bob Weir wrote on social media following the news that Dead & Company would be coming off the road. "But don't worry, we will all be out there in one form or another until we drop."
For others, like Elton John and Kiss, this year will bring the end of farewell tours that have been going on for years. (Let's not forget the pandemic that put a halt to some of these.) Whether it's really goodbye this time remains to be seen.