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Sir Rod Stewart has confirmed that his upcoming live run, titled The Final Encore tour, will “definitely be my last.”
The 81-year-old musician was obliged to shorten his One Last Time farewell tour across Mexico and the U.S. earlier this year following heart surgery. That leg had been set to extend into September and featured a Las Vegas residency.
Next year, Stewart’s The Final Encore tour will head to mainland Europe as well as scheduled concerts at Belfast’s SSE Arena, Dublin’s 3Arena, London’s The O2, and Glasgow’s OVO Hydro. Stewart will bookend the tour with a handful of stops in the U.S.
He said: “My dear friends, the time has come to say farewell to life on the road. After more than six decades, The Final Encore will most definitely be my last.
“I’ve been singing the music I love since I was 19 years old, and I’ve had the privilege of taking it around the world to all of you. It has given me a life beyond anything I could ever have imagined, and I hope I’ve given you some fond memories in return.
“So, may I take this opportunity to thank you for making this extraordinary life possible. I hope you’ll join me so I can thank you the best way I know how, with the music and one hell of a show. See you there.”
Opening for Stewart during his dates in the U.K. and Ireland will be 1980s synth pop artist Howard Jones.
The tour announcement follows earlier show postponements this year by the “Maggie May” singer due to health issues, including a respiratory infection that caused laryngitis, alongside a sinus infection. Stewart then canceled his Las Vegas residency last month following a “routine coronary stent procedure” that required additional recuperation time.
Lady Penny Lancaster, Stewart’s wife, told the Press Association that he was set to “come back stronger than ever” in the wake of his surgery.
She said: “He’s back at full speed in his day-to-day activities, but doctor’s orders were to kind of postpone or cancel the current tour, because you know the risk factors involved.
“I did have to explain to the doctor what Rod’s performances are like, he doesn’t just sit down on a stool or behind a piano, he runs around for nearly two hours with four different costume changes because he’s sweating through everything.
“So, I compared him to either a boxer coming out of his dressing room on the way to the ring, or a horse coming out of the blocks. I mean, he runs on and he’s like, you know, straight into it, 100 miles an hour and doesn’t stop.”
She said: “It’s like running a sprint for him, so just for precaution, that tour unfortunately had to be cancelled, which he was devastated about.
“I mean he does not sit down, I can never find him, he’s, you know, he’s got his hobbies, I mean he’s just been in the gym working out, but we were under strict instructions about the level of workout he could do, and it’s a gradual, build him up, build him up, kind of thing.
“But he’s going to come back stronger than ever. I found it hard enough as it was to slow him down, so now he feels like he’s got a new lease of life.”
Before rising to prominence with The Jeff Beck Group and subsequently the Faces, Sir Rod began his musical journey in the early 1960s as a London street busker alongside guitarist Wizz Jones.
As a solo artist, he has achieved 25 U.K. top 10 singles, including six number ones, with iconic tracks such as “You Wear It Well,” “Sailing” and “Da Ya Think I’m Sexy?.”
He has also reached the top spot on the U.K. album chart on 11 occasions.
General ticket sales for the tour open on October 2 via the singer’s website, following several presales.
