10 Classic Rock farewell tours… that weren’t actually farewells

10 February 2026, 11:38 | Updated: 19 March 2026, 12:16

Which rock acts have found it impossible to retire? When has the curtain come down on a stellar career... only to come up again, just a couple of years later?

1. Mötley Crüe - The Final Tour, 2014-2015

   

   Mötley Crüe - The End, Live In Los Angeles (Trailer)

   On 28th January 2014, the glam rockers held a press conference in which all four members of the band signed a "cessation of touring agreement", which prevented them from performing again under the Crüe name after the end of 2015. The final show of the Final Tour took place on New Year's Eve 2015 at the Staples Center in the band's hometown of Los Angeles.

   The "cessation of touring agreement" was evidently filed away somewhere and forgotten about, because in 2019 Mötley Crüe announced they'd be embarking on a high-profile Stadium Tour with Def Leppard - the shows were delayed until 2022 and were followed by a European leg in 2023 and further dates in '24. The "Return To The Carnival Of Sins" tour will take up much of the summer of 2026.

2. KISS - Farewell Tour, 2000-2001 & The End of the Road World Tour 2019-2023

   

   The original line-up of Gene Simmons, Paul Stanley, Ace Frehley and Peter Criss had reunited in 1996 and had made the glam rock titans bigger than ever, with 1998's Psycho Circus jaunt utilising 3D technology to pep up the show. After such heights, where could KISS go next?

   Nowhere, that's where, which is why the new Millennium saw the announcement of the KISS Farewell Tour which, as Paul Stanley said, was "for the fans and to celebrate the whole history of the band". For Frehley it really was the end, as he permanently left the group after the final show on Australia's Gold Coast in April 2001. He died on 16th October 2025 after a fall at his home in New Jersey. He was 74.

   But that was not the last we'd seen of the costumed crew, as they were back in 2003 for the World Domination Tour with Aerosmith. The End of the Road World Tour was billed as another last hurrah for the rockers, with their final gig taking place on Madison Square Garden on 2nd December 2023.

   The band used it as an opportunity to usher in a "new era" and preview their KISS hologram show. Even then, Stanley didn't rule out a "one-off" reunion date at some point.

3. Tina Turner - Foreign Affair: The Farewell Tour, 1990

   

   With her crowning as the biggest female rock star of the 80s assured, Tina was looking forward to more acting roles over the next decade, so the shows in support of her Foreign Affair album in 1990 had the words "The Farewell Tour" appended.

   However, the star later told Jet magazine: "I've always thought this would be the final one but I must admit I now have mixed feelings." Instead, Tina took a year off and was back in 1993 for the "What's Love" tour, while 2000's "Twenty Four Seven" outing was also tagged as her last outing. She finally retired from live performance in May 2009 with a show at Sheffield Arena.

4. The Who - It's Hard Tour, 1982

   

   After Keith Moon's death in September 1978, The Who issued two albums with former Small Faces man Kenney Jones on drums, Face Dances (1981) and It's Hard (1982). The tour in support of the latter was meant to be the final jaunt for the influential British band, with frontman Roger Daltrey telling the Daily Mirror in December 1982: "We are getting too old to do kick-arse rock and roll every night and it will be a relief when it's all over."

   The Who, of course, brought further "kick arse rock 'n' roll" to Live Aid three years later and their first full reunion tour took place in 1989. The current "long goodbye" series of live dates began in November 2014, with the "Song Is Over" tour being touted as their last ever North American outing, with a show at the Acrisure Arena in Thousand Palms, California on 1st October 2025. But they were back two days later for a seven-song charity set in LA, so don't be retiring the parka just yet.

5. Ozzy Osbourne - No More Tours Tour, 1992

   

   The Prince Of Darkness seems to have been perpetually on the brink of retirement for most of his career, but in 1992 it really did seem like the end of the road when Osbourne was diagnosed with multiple sclerosis and decided to spend more time with his family.

   The "No More Tours" tour was punningly designed to promote the album No More Tears and even featured a couple of support slots from Black Sabbath, leading the frontman to briefly reunite with his old band on stage.

   The MS diagnosis turned out to be false alarm and Oz was back in 1995 with the defiantly-titled "Retirement Sucks" tour. The "No More Tours II" tour kicked off in April 2018 but the European leg was cancelled after the singer came down with pneumonia.

   The very, very last show that Ozzy played was, of course, his Back To The Beginning show at Aston Park in his hometown on 5th July 2025. The legendary metal star died just over two weeks later aged 76, bringing the curtain down on an incredible career.

6. Judas Priest - Epitaph World Tour, 2011-2012

   

   The British metal legends offered fans "one last chance" to see their extravagant live show in 2011 when the "Epitaph" tour made its way around Europe, Latin America, North America and Asia, taking up the best part of a year. Despite frontman Rob Halford falling off his motorbike onstage in Brazil, the tour came to a close at the Hammersmith Apollo in London on 26th May 2012 and that was that.

   Until, of course, the "Redeemer Of Souls" cranked up in October 2014. Priest are back in the saddle in 2026, with a tour that includes an appearance at Bloodstock on 9th August Hold onto that bike, Rob.

7. The Damned - We Really Must Be Going Now tour, 1989

   

   By the time of 1986's album Anything, frontman Dave Vanian and drummer Rat Scabies were the only original members of the pioneering British punk band and they left their label MCA the following year. When it seemed like The Damned's career had run out of steam, founding members Captain Sensible and Brian James returned for a number of "farewell shows", which included the "We Really Must Be Going Now" tour that wound up at Brixton Academy in December 1989.

   And they've not called it a day - in fact, 11th April 2026 will see The Damned play a 50th anniversary show at the OVO Arena in London.

8. Slayer - Final World Tour, 2018-2019

   

   In December 2019, Slayer frontman Kerry King's wife Ayesha said in a post on social media that there was "Not a chance in hell" that the thrash metal legends would play again. They were back in 2024 for more shows and will perform at the Sick New World festival in Texas in October 2026.

9. Aerosmith - Aero-Vederci Baby!, 2017-2018

   

   Aerosmith News Network: Aero-Vederci Baby! European tour announced

   "We’re doing a farewell tour, but only because it’s time," Steven Tyler told Howard Stern in November 2016. And the Boston rockers' 2017 tour was tagged "Aero-Vederci" as a hint that this would be their last innings.

   Of course it wasn't - they returned for a Las Vegas residency in 2019 and embarked on another final outing in 2023 - Peace Out: The Farewell Tour. However, Aerosmith didn't manage to finish the run of shows; frontman Tyler suffered vocal cord damage and the group announced in August 2024 that they'd cease performing live with immediate effect.

10. Lynyrd Skynyrd - The Last Of The Street Survivors Farewell Tour, 2018-2023

    The country rock band announced their retirement with a series of shows that kicked off in West Palm Beach, Florida in May 2018, taking a break in 2020 during the COVID pandemic.

    By the time the band appeared at the Red River Valley Fair in West Fargo in July 2023, the jaunt had been renamed the Big Wheels Keep On Turnin' Tour, indicating the show would go on, despite the death of original member Gary Rossington that March. Skynyrd will spend much of 2026 on the Double Trouble Vision tour with Foreigner.

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