AIL, AIL ROCK 'N' ROLL
Not willing to let their glory day pass them by, aging musicians give new meaning to ‘live in concert’
t was a reasonable question in 1963: What did John, Paul, George, and Ringo plan to do when all those screaming Beatles fans lost interest in the lads from Liverpool?
“We can’t keep playing the same sort of music until we’re 40,” replied McCartney. “Old men playing ‘From Me to You’ — nobody’s going to want that sort of thing.”
Turns out, Sir Paul was spectacularly wrong. More than a half-century later, the world is still mad for the Fab Four and countless other artists whose heyday was eons ago. But as a slew of vintage acts are discovering, age and illness do intervene eventually. Playing rock ’n’ roll is not a leisure pursuit, and the demands of singing (or shrieking), strumming nimbly, and keeping a thunderous beat — or even just a steady one — are a lot for senior citizens.
While McCartney has managed to persist into old age — he performed for nearly three hours at Fenway Park on the eve of his 80th birthday in 2022 — an alarming number of oldsters are being sidelined of late: Aerosmith postponed its farewell tour after just three shows because 75-year-old Steven Tyler, the “Demon of Screamin,” fractured his larynx; Bruce Springsteen, 74, shelved several concerts due to a peptic ulcer; blues great Buddy Guy, who’s 87, had to cancel a string of dates as a result of an unspecified “medical issue”; and Madonna, who notched her first No. 1 four decades ago, delayed her “Celebration” tour to recover from an infection that landed her in a medically induced coma last summer. It seems Mick Jagger was onto something when he sang “what a drag it is getting old.”
But the effects of aging aren’t just agonizing for artists. It’s complicated for fans as well when the
heroes whose songs have been the soundtrack of their lives get wobbly. Glen Campbell sounded marvelous at the Wilbur Theater in 2012, but it was clear, mostly in the quiet moments between songs, that he was affected by Alzheimer’s disease. (He’d revealed the diagnosis a year or so before.) As unsettling as that was, it felt important to be there precisely because he wasn’t well. Would this be the last chance to hear Campbell perform “Wichita Lineman” and “Gentle on My Mind”? It was. He stopped touring soon after and died five years later at the age of 81.
“Most of us are just happy to be in the presence of the real-live version of the person we’ve admired all these years,” said rock ’n’ roll historian John Covach, a professor at the University of Rochester’s Eastman School of Music. “It doesn’t matter that they can’t sing the high notes anymore. It doesn’t matter that they’re kind of stooped over. We’re seeing the person we remember from 40 or 50 years ago.”
Covach recalls seeing Little Richard toward the end of his life when the “Tutti Frutti” singer was so rickety he needed help getting to the piano.
“But people loved it,” he said. “It was touching history.”
And that’s why the Rolling Stones, or what’s left of them — Jagger and Keith Richards, both 80, and 76-year-old Ronnie Wood — won’t have trouble filling 60,000-seat stadiums when they hit the road in April. (The tour — sponsored by AARP — pulls into Gillette Stadium May 30.) Wise guys always poke fun at geriatric rockers — some are dubbing this the Stones’ “Steel Wheelchairs” tour — but what’s the harm in giving fans what they want even if it is not exactly how they remember it?
Sixty-plus years after the Rolling Stones’ first gig at London’s Marquee Club, there’s no financial imperative for the band to tour; Jagger is worth an estimated $500 million, which should be enough for his offspring (eight kids and counting) and future generations of Jaggers to always get what they want. But most rock ’n’ rollers of a certain age don’t have that luxury. Streaming has upended the music business, rendering record sales a thing of the past and compelling many acts to carry on into old age.
Yet that’s not always easy. Consider Peter Frampton. His landmark 1976 album, “Frampton Comes Alive!,” was a sensation, selling more than 20 million copies and yielding three hits —
“Show Me the Way,” “Baby, I Love Your Way,” and “Do You Feel Like We Do” — whose melodies remain maddeningly imprinted in our brains. Frampton will be able to sell tickets forever, but playing guitar is another matter. Nearly a decade ago, the 73-year-old Englishman was diagnosed with inclusion body myositis, a degenerative condition that weakens muscles in the hands, arms, and legs.
Frampton, a star since forming Humble Pie at the age of 18, decided to retire from performing five years ago. He later reconsidered, though, devising a rigorous, houra-day workout with doctors at Johns Hopkins University that helped him get strong enough to resume touring. Frampton walks with a cane now and plays sitting down, but that didn’t seem to bother the fans who went to see his “Never Say Never Tour” at the MGM Music Hall last summer.
“There’s been a de-stigmatization of aging,” said Tim Appelo, entertainment editor of AARP:
The Magazine, which often puts celebrities on the cover. “Occasionally we do have musicians who shy away from us because they don’t want that 50-plus association, but that’s very much dwindling.”
Still, it can be jarring to see older, infirm artists perform songs that the audience associates with adolescence. Cindy Sullivan, a personal trainer who works mainly with seniors, went with her daughter to see Genesis at TD Garden in 2021 and was stunned at the frailty of Phil Collins. (Due to a spinal injury related to his many decades behind the drum kit, Collins, 73, can no longer play and is barely able to stand or walk.)
“He sat for the whole show. Honestly, it was hard to watch,” Sullivan said. “I’m also in my early 50s, so it was a little bit of a mind game for me.”
Her advice for aging rockers determined to stay ambulatory, or at least upright, is this: Do 30 minutes a day of cardiovascular exercise; focus on improving strength and balance; get plenty of sleep; and go easy on the booze. “It’s never too late to start, and you can definitely improve your stamina,” Sullivan said. “I saw Billy Joel at Madison Square Garden last year and, in his 70s, he definitely had the stamina to pull it off.”
Inevitably, as artists get older, many end up on the rock ’n’ roll equivalent of the disabled list. Singer Lucinda Williams and Iron Maiden drummer Nicko McBrain are both 71 and recovering from strokes; Paul Simon is unlikely to perform again due to hearing loss; Rod Stewart, Duran Duran guitarist Andy Taylor, Grateful Dead bassist Phil Lesh, and Judas Priest’s Rob Halford have all taken time off to be treated for prostate cancer; Ozzy Osbourne and Neil Diamond are more or less retired after being diagnosed with Parkinson’s disease; Linda Ronstadt stopped singing after being diagnosed with a neurological condition that causes problems with balance, vision, and speech; and U2 drummer Larry Mullen Jr. sat out the band’s stint at The Sphere in Las Vegas because, he told The Washington Post, “I have lots of bits falling off — elbows, knees, necks.”
Dr. Ronald Petersen, the Mayo Clinic neurologist who treated Campbell, said Campbell’s decision to tour after being diagnosed with Alzheimer’s was made after “a very sincere heart-to-heart” with his wife and children, two of whom were in his band. Performing is what Campbell had done his whole life, Petersen said, and as long as he could play guitar and, with the aid of a Teleprompter, sing his many hits, he wanted to do that.
“He had mild to moderate Alzheimer’s disease. It wasn’t trivial. It was noticeable to him and to everybody around him. He was impaired,” said Petersen, who directs the Mayo Clinic Alzheimer’s Disease Research Center. “But in the appropriate circumstances — on stage, with the lights on, the auditorium full, the band behind him — it was still Glen Campbell, and the fans absolutely adored him.”
Perhaps because the end is in sight, the will to perform is fierce in many older artists. Aerosmith, forced to abandon its “Peace Out” tour last fall after Tyler’s vocal injury, has vowed to be back in the saddle in 2024; Springsteen is reconvening the E Street Band next month to embark on a tour expected to last through November; Willie Nelson, who turns 91 next month, will be at the Xfinity Center in July with 82-year-old Bob Dylan; and Madonna, gravely ill just last June, is back on the road playing to packed arenas.
During her show at Madison Square Garden in January, the 65year-old Queen of Pop quit vamping at one point to thank the woman who helped her convalesce. It was an emotional moment. Quietly thrumming an acoustic guitar, Madonna then began to sing the Gloria Gaynor hit “I Will Survive,” and the crowd, grateful to be there, went wild.
‘It doesn’t matter that they’re kind of stooped over. We’re seeing the person we remember from 40 or 50 years ago.’
JOHN COVACH, Rock ’n’ roll historian
‘I have lots of bits falling off — elbows, knees, necks.’
LARRY MULLEN JR., U2 drummer, explaining to The Washington Post why he sat out the band’s shows in Las Vegas