Ben Gibson/Rocket Entertainment; Terry Wyatt; Doltyn SneddenThis year, several legendary pop and rock artists either announced or mounted farewell tours, including Elton John, Lynyrd Skynyrd, Paul Simon, Bob Seger and KISS.
In January, Elton held a press conference in New York City to reveal his plans for his Farewell Yellow Brick Road trek, which kicked off September 8 in Allentown, Pennsylvania, and is expected to run for three years.
John explained at the press event that he was retiring from the road because he wanted to be around to watch his two young sons grow up.
As for the tour itself, Elton said, “It’s all around the world, every continent you can possibly think of…and it’ll be the best production I’ve ever done, and it’ll be a wonderful way to thank people, and it’s a way of going out with a bang.”
Lynyrd Skynyrd also unveiled plans for a final outing in January. The Last of the Street Survivors Farewell Tour began May 4 in West Palm Beach, Florida, and has featured a variety of special opening acts, including Bad Company, Cheap Trick, ZZ Top, J. Geils Band singer Peter Wolf, 38 Special, Marshall Tucker Band, Foghat, The Outlaws, Molly Hatchet, Atlanta Rhythm Section, Charlie Daniels Band, Blackfoot, Jimmie Vaughan and Hank Williams Jr.
No end date has been set for the trek, which so far is plotted out through the end of June 2019.
Simon revealed his own intentions to say goodbye to the road in February. The folk-rock legend’s Homeward Bound — The Farewell tour began May 16 in Vancouver, Canada, and wound down September 22 not far from where Simon grew up in Queens, New York.
When he announced his final trek, Paul noted, “After this coming tour, I anticipate doing the occasional performance in a (hopefully) acoustically pristine hall, and to donate those earnings to various philanthropic organizations.”
Seger revealed his plan to mount a farewell tour in September, while announcing that some of the previously scheduled makeup dates for shows he’d postponed in 2017 would be part of the goodbye outing. The trek, initially dubbed The Travelin’ Man Tour but later changed to The Roll Me Away Tour, began on November 21 in Grand Rapids, Michigan, and currently is mapped out through a May 2, 2019, show in The Woodlands, Texas.
As for KISS, the makeup-wearing rockers announced that they would launch a final trek called the End of the Road in September during an appearance on America’s Got Talent. The following month the band revealed the first dates for the tour, which will kick off on January 31, 2019, in Vancouver, Canada, and is expected to run for about three years.
“This will be the ultimate celebration for those who’ve seen us and a last chance for those who haven’t,” KISS said of the tour in a joint statement.
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