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.
