As he shuffled around on stage, leaning first on his piano for support and then the tall plastic frame surrounding his drummer, Rod Stewart might have seemed a trifle optimistic when he sang: ‘Young hearts, be free tonight!
uncertain
he → shuffle → drummer
Sure enough, the 81-year-old legend doubled over towards the end of his performance of Young Turks – before a large oxygen tank was rushed on stage.
asserted
tank → double → stage
Gulping through his respirator, the Scotsman croaked to his cheering audience in Utah back in June: ‘I nearly f***ing fainted there ... trying to do a ... little step and the dance and everything ...
asserted
I → gulp → step
Would you mind if I sit down for this one?’
asserted
I → mind → one
After that recent scare the star’s millions of fans might not have been surprised by his announcement this week that his next tour will be his last after having a coronary stent procedure in August.
uncertain
tour → surprise → August
On Monday, Stewart revealed that after ‘much deliberation and sadness’, he will no longer play live after next spring’s 21-date European tour and a handful of US concerts – called, with some decisiveness, The Final Encore Tour.
asserted
he → reveal → decisiveness
‘Next year will be my last tour ever, ever, ever,’ Stewart insisted.
asserted
Stewart → insist → ?
‘Heritage’ stars – as Stewart and his ageing fellow performers are known in their industry – have often made such definitive pronouncements only to announce another ‘final farewell’ tour soon afterwards.
asserted
Stewart → age → tour
But now many of the world’s most successful rock and pop performers are finding themselves having to take a seat at their own concerts as – heading into their seventies, eighties and even into their nineties – they discover that their spirit may be willing but the body often cannot keep up.
uncertain
body → find → nineties
Rod Stewart is still planning to tour next year, when he will be 82
Stewart needed to be given oxygen during a recent show in Utah
Stewart when he was in better shape for energetic performances
Earlier this month, 77-year-old Lionel Richie had his own senior moment when he asked for a chair before launching into his final number, All Night Long, during a sell-out performance in Missouri.
asserted
he → plan → Missouri
Audience members cheered supportively as it became clear that – contrary to the lyrics of his most beloved dance anthem – the pop icon was not going to ‘party, karamu, fiesta, forever’.
asserted
icon → cheer → anthem
But at least he made it through to the encore.
asserted
he → make → encore
In June, by contrast, he was only halfway through a set in Minnesota when – dressed in head-to-toe black leather – he had to sing Dancing On The Ceiling while sitting on the bottom step of his stage set.
asserted
he → dress → set
As his saxophone player helpfully sat down next to him, Richie made ‘cut’ hand signals to his team off stage and told the audience he was feeling ‘dizzy’ and ‘strange’.
asserted
he → sit → audience
He then managed to bash out Three Times A Lady on the piano, at which point he announced an intermission and left stage, never returning.
asserted
he → manage → stage
Sixty-one years after The Who snarled their defiant line, ‘I hope I die before I get old’ in their hit single My Generation, geriatric stars are still on the road and playing to packed-out houses.
asserted
stars → snarl → houses
Age, however, may finally be taking its toll and the casualty list is starting to lengthen.
uncertain
list → take → toll
When rock band Van Halen lead singer David Lee Roth, 71, abruptly curtailed his summer tour in July without explanation, some speculated that it was because he could no longer actually jump in the air as he famously does during his biggest hit, Jump.
uncertain
he → curtail → hit
Dave Lee Roth curtailed this tour, perhaps becasue he could no longer perform on stage as he did in his heyday, right
Keith Richards, the 82-year-old Rolling Stone who has said he’d like to die on stage, cancelled the band’s planned 2026 tour in part because of his arthritis. Two months ago, Mike Love, the 85-year-old frontman of the Beach Boys, also sparked renewed health fears when he announced the band was shelving its remaining tour dates so he could take a ‘short break to recharge’.
uncertain
he → curtail → break
One US critic cruelly suggested the sole member of the iconic 1960s band’s original line-up head down to Florida to consult a charity called ‘Aging With Dignity’.
uncertain
member → suggest → Dignity
In sheer numbers, however, nobody quite matches the stamina of American singer and Grease star Frankie Valli, still touring at 92, even though critics complain he’s simply lip-syncing to a tape, something he has denied.
asserted
he → match → tape
Last month, Valli’s brother announced on the singer’s behalf he was finally retiring, prompting a terse rebuke from the star insisting that he wasn’t.
asserted
he → announce → star
Gladys Knight has finally announced plans to stop touring
asserted
Knight → announce → plans
Some say that ageing female stars are more sensible and less egotistical, but soul legend Gladys Knight, 82, prompted health concerns in July after appearing confused and incoherent and, at times, wandering off stage at the Hollywood Bowl.
asserted
Knight → say → Bowl
She announced she was stepping back from touring next year after her son accused her current husband and manager of ignoring signs of her dementia.
asserted
son → announce → dementia
At the time Knight refuted this, saying: ‘I’m sorry my health and performances have been misrepresented.’
asserted
health → refute → this
The Beatles sang about being retired at 64 but that seems ridiculously premature nowadays.
asserted
that → sing → 64
According to Billboard Boxscore, which collates such information, British heavy metal band Iron Maiden – whose six members are all in their late 60s or early 70s – grossed more than $150million (£130million) from touring in 2025, as did the Eagles, who are mostly in their late 70s and whose singer, Don Henley, turns 80 next year.
uncertain
singer → accord → 70s
Lionel Ritchie had to take a seat before he was taken to hospital during a show
Keith Richards has said he’d like to die on stage - but cancelled a tour because of arthritis
Bruce Springsteen, 76, and Paul McCartney, 84, also earned more than $100million (£75million) from live performances in 2025.
asserted
Springsteen → have → 2025
And neither of them were exactly working themselves to the bone to do it, playing just 24 and 22 gigs respectively.
asserted
neither → work → gigs
Even that notoriously cranky live performer, Bob Dylan, 85, is still ploughing on with his 'Never Ending Tour', playing to sell-out crowds.
asserted
performer → plough → crowds
And difficult as it is to credit it, Barry Manilow is now 83 and still getting knickers thrown at him on stage – despite having ‘retired’ as long ago as 2004 when he unveiled his One Night Live! One Last Time! Tour.
asserted
he → credit → Tour
That’s nothing on Elton John, 79, who first announced he was packing up touring in 1977 and has regularly said the same since, his latest ‘farewell’ tour ending in 2023.
asserted
tour → ’ → 2023
Only this week, he was performing at the Apple Music Hall in London's Battersea Power Station.
asserted
he → perform → Station
Late last year, Manilow announced he was having surgery for lung cancer but he was back on stage in June within six months of having a tumour cut out.
asserted
tumour → announce → months
‘I’m going to do this tour if it kills me,’ he exclaimed.
asserted
he → go → me
And do it, he added, whether or not, he could still sing with part of his lung removed.
uncertain
he → do → lung
Music industry insiders say Manilow’s determination goes to the heart of why stars keep touring: they simply cannot imagine life without it.
asserted
they → say → it
However, it’s not all to do with pampering egos.
asserted
it → ’ → egos
Barry Manilow was back on stage within six months of having a tumour removed
Frankie Valli has been accused of lip-syncing to his greatest hits
Internet streaming has crippled earnings from releasing new songs and albums.
asserted
streaming → have → songs
…and 7 more, not listed.
The Aporia
