WHY ARE YOUR FAVORITE ROCKERS RETIRING?
Some of the biggest rock stars of the past 50 years are saying goodbye to the rigors of touring, and it’s not just classic rockers throwing in the towel. You know it’s serious when heavymetal mainstay Slayer wants to retire.
Over the past few months, more than a handful of landmark musical acts have announced final tours, booking dates around the globe to say “so long” to fans.
The most recent act to begin that long, slow goodbye was Ozzy Osbourne, who announced his No More Tours 2 tour. The name pokes fun at the fact that he previously announced his retirement in the ’90s but ended up getting a second wind as the decade progressed.
Paul Simon has released dates for his own last run of shows. At 76, it appears that he has run out of gas. And in the R&B realm, both Anita Baker and Aretha Franklin have said that 2018 is the last year fans can see them on the road.
Of course these acts, like Elton John, probably aren’t saying adios to the performing stage entirely. Many can still do special residencies in Las Vegas — a la George Strait — and charge a premium to fans for a more intimate setting, if the demand is there.
And don’t be surprised if a farewell tour gets lengthened, either, assuming the money is still coming in. The Who has “retired” a few times, and each time they say they are done, they
miraculously come back.
While some artists appear to be wrapping things up to due age, some are being forced off the road by the limits of their bodies.
Crooner Neil Diamond and rocker Glenn Tipton of Judas Priest are both fighting Parkinson’s disease and have called it a day.
Thrash-metal pioneers Slayer shocked fans in January by scheduling dates for a farewell blast of shows. We could still see Slayer playing the stray festival gig, though.
Some acts retire only to un-retire later, when their minds change or their bodies recover.
Phil Collins, for instance, is back on the road after an extended period of time spent “retired” due to health and family issues. Garth Brooks went away to be a dad for a decade or so and came back more beloved than ever.
The lesson? If an act has a decent catalog, the people will wait.
“To continue touring, it definitely has to be for the love of the music, but the paycheck definitely comes into play,” says John Escamilla with Jetspeed Productions, a Houston-based booking agency. He’s worked with surf-guitar pioneer Dick Dale in the past. At 80, Dale still tours but keeps his overhead lean.
“Dick Dale travels on his own. He drives one of his two touring vans and hits the road to tour once a year,” Escamilla says. “His band is in charge of setting up and testing the gear before each show, which, by the way, is all vintage and some of the gear that he actually created.
“His wife, Lana, is a part of his day to day. Lana is his nurse, wife, booking agent, manager and the love of his life.”
The wave of musical retirements makes you wonder, who could be the next musical star to hang it up?
Well, don’t count ZZ Top as a possibility. According to guitarist Billy F. Gibbons, the Houston act isn’t thinking of hanging anything up anytime soon.
“When we’re asked if we’re going to pack it in, we ask what that means,” Gibbons says. “If it has something to do with not getting out there and rocking out, with not getting down, with not playing for people who have been in our corner for generations, we say, ‘No way.’
“The long and short of it is, we really like doing this and, after all this time, we feel we’re starting to get the hang of it. We truly believe, as Mr. Sinatra sang, ‘The best is yet to come.’ ”
Appropriately, in 2019 the Texas trio will be going on an extensive 50th anniversary tour.
Charlie Daniels won’t be looking for the retirement chair, either. At 81, the country legend is still playing the fiddle like a mad man and has a full touring schedule slated for the rest of 2018. Oh, and he just released a memoir late last year.
Daniels says that he doesn’t know any other kind of life.
“I’m just as at home on my bus as I am at my home, one just moves and one sits still,” Daniels says. It’s not a view shared by all. George Strait, 65, retired from touring in 2014, but fans can still see him at special one-off dates. He’s playing both New Orleans and Austin later this year and just finished a run of shows in Las Vegas. Making fans come to you instead of the other way around might be the future for aging musical acts. Get a cushy venue in Vegas and have a ball.
Some bands don’t stop, they just restock, replacing key members with young blood — like Queen, Stone Temple Pilots, Dead and Company and Journey have. When it works it works, in the case of the Grateful Dead with John Mayer filling in for Jerry Garcia. But that is just one Deadhead’s opinion.
There are also holograms, too, if management is especially hard up for cash. Just don’t ask Prince’s family what they think.
The onus now appears to be on younger acts to fill the void as these oldsters retire to their mansions, yachts, and fifth wives and/or husbands.
Will we see the Foo Fighters on tour in their 80s? Will Zac Brown Band have great-grandkids on the tour bus? With medical technology advancing at such a high rate, we shudder to think about the possibility of seeing a 100-year-old Justin Bieber playing Vegas in 2094.
We truly believe, as Mr. Sinatra sang, ‘The best is yet to come.’ Billy F. Gibbons, ZZ Top guitarist