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Rod Stewart Hints at Possible Road Retirement After Completing 2027 UK One Last Time Dates: ‘That’ll Probably Be It’

The 81-year-old singer has been on the road for more than six decades.

Rod Stewart performs on stage at Tele2 Arena on June 8, 2024 in Stockholm, Sweden.
Rod Stewart performs on stage at Tele2 Arena on June 8, 2024 in Stockholm, Sweden.
Iwi Onodera/Redferns

Sir Rod Stewart has hinted that he might retire from major touring commitments after completing as-yet-unannounced dates on his yearslong One Last Time farewell tour. The 81-year-old pop icon has been on the road on the outing since 2024 and in a new interview with the TalkSport soccer chat show in the U.K. on Monday (May 18), Stewart laid out his plans.

“I’ve got 40-odd shows this year and that’s not really a lot,” Stewart told hosts Jeff Stelling and Ray Parlour. “And I’m touring the U.K. next year and doing the O2 and that will probably be it, I think. I’ll have to do something new … come on your show more often.”


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Stewart has a run of residency shows booked at the Colosseum at Caesars Palace in Las Vegas in May and June, followed by seven shows in the Western U.S. in June and eight more in July and August before returning to Vegas in August for The Encore Shows at the Colosseum. At press time, his last scheduled show is a Sept. 5 gig at the Ravinia Festival in Illinois with special guest Richard Marx; at press time he has not officially announced any 2027 dates.

The indefatigable pop star with four Billboard Hot 100 chart toppers in his career — 1971’s “Maggie May/Reason to Believe,” 1976’s “Tonight’s the Night (Gonna Be Alright),” 1978’s “Da Ya Think I’m Sexy?” and 1993’s collab with Bryan Adams and Sting on “All For Love” — has discussed retirement in the past.

Back in 2023, Stewart cleared up rumors about his reported plans to retire after saying he wanted to “leave the rock ‘n’ roll stuff behind for a while.” In an Instagram post at the time, Stewart wrote, “I’d like to clear up any confusion that I may have caused with my dear fans and the media. I shall never retire! I was put on this Earth to be a singer and will keep doing so for as long as the good Lord lets me. I’ll be playing the hits as advertised for the U.K., U.S., South America and Vegas and into 2024 but no retirement as such.”

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A year later, in Nov. 2024, he clarified that he was done with “large-scale world tours” once he finished that year’s gigs in Europe and North America. “I have no desire to retire. I love what I do, and I do what I love,” Stewart wrote at the time. “I’m fit, have a full head of hair, and can run 100 meters in 18 seconds at the jolly old age of 79.”

At press time a spokesperson for Stewart could not be reached for additional comment on his future touring plans.

Watch Stewart talk about his future road plans below.

This article was first published by Billboard U.S.

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Billboard France Announces the Launch of Billboard Paris
Media

Billboard France Announces the Launch of Billboard Paris

The French edition of the world's leading music media outlet is creating a local vertical to cover music news in the Greater Paris region.

Billboard France, the French edition of the world’s leading music media outlet, today announced the official launch of Billboard Paris.

This new vertical, which has already reached 10 million views on social media, will focus exclusively on music news from across the Paris region, covering local events — from small-scale concerts and club nights to music exhibitions — as well as major celebrations such as Fête de la Musique, Nuit Blanche, Techno Parade, and Pride Month.

Billboard Paris will be operated by Billboard France under the leadership of Nicolas Baudoin and Ulysse Hennessy. Yanis Si Youcef has been appointed editor-in-chief, with support from Julien Zeidan.

“In the space of a year, Billboard France has established itself as both a leading outlet for French and international music news and a reference point for industry professionals," Nicolas Baudoin and Ulysse Hennessy, president and managing Director of Billboard France and Billboard Paris, said in a joint statement. "This new Paris-focused event vertical allows us to build a highly localized audience while simultaneously expanding both our editorial and commercial offering. We are pleased to entrust it to Yanis Si Youcef, whose expertise closely aligns with our editorial ambitions.”

“Paris deserved its own benchmark music platform. Billboard Paris will tell the story of the city through its music, its scenes, and its nightlife, with the standards that have defined the Billboard brand for more than a century," added Yanis Si Youcef, editor-in-chief of Billboard Paris.

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