Which Classic Rock Acts Should Call It Quits?

I think it's safe to say that in the wake of the global shutdowns associated with the COVID-19 pandemic, we are starved for the return of many of the things that up until last year we took for granted.

Topping the list for music fans is the opportunity to experience live, in-person concerts from our favorite acts.

Luckily in Sioux Falls, the wait is almost over with the Night Ranger show at The District, May 27 and the Foreigner concert at the Washington Pavilion, June 25.

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Those, hopefully, will usher in a wave of other acts to follow suit and resume touring - safely and responsibly of course.

But just because it may be safe to hit the road again are there some acts out there that might want to think about hanging it up for good rather than taking yet another spin around the globe?

The website Grunge recently posed that question to their followers and the top six vote-getters might surprise you.

6. BON JOVI

They've been at it hard and heavy since the early 80s with one massive worldwide tour after another, most recently the This House Is Not for Sale tour, which ran from 2017 to 2019.

Bon Jovi doesn't appear to be hanging it up anytime soon, although Jon Bovi Jovi did admit that those days of lengthy tours are over. In March, he told Rockonteurs podcast:

'I had a conversation about [playing in] Australia a year from now. As long as we do it in a manner that’s pleasurable, we want to do some dates. Because I just don’t see me doing 100-show tours anymore. It’s not really motivational for me.'  

5. THE ROLLING STONES

Very few acts have been doing it as long as these rock & roll legends, who were in the midst of their four-year No Filter tour when COVID hit last year. There are currently 16 dates remaining from that tour that they never got to. I know because I still have tickets to the Minneapolis date from last May.

Make no mistake, with Mick Jagger and Keith Richards both turning 78 and Charlie Watts hitting 80 this year, it's only a matter of time before we've seen the last of The Stones on a concert stage.

4. LYNYRD SKYNYRD

This may be a moot point for the band that first began touring nearly 50 years ago.

Since the middle of 2018, they've been on what they're calling their farewell The Last of the Street Survivors tour. It's scheduled to wrap up in September of this year.

3. U2

Like Bon Jovi, these guys have made a habit out of touring the world repeatedly over the last 40 years, most recently The Joshua Tree tour in 2019.

They haven't shown any signs of slowing down and haven't made any comments publicly about hanging it up anytime soon.

2. MOTLEY CRUE

I know what you're saying: 'didn't they already retire?'.

Yes they did - in 2015.

Remember when The Final Tour made its way to Sioux Falls less than a month before they supposedly called it quits?

Despite signing a 'contract' that legally prohibited them from touring again, they announced The Stadium Tour with Poison and Joan Jett for the summer of 2020.

COVID-19 had other plans and now that tour is scheduled to get underway next month.

1. KISS

Cher's idea of 'retirement' (her first farewell jaunt was nearly 20 years and three tours ago) has apparently rubbed off on these guys.

KISS' End of the Road tour is their second 'farewell' tour since 2000 and included a stop in Sioux Falls in March of 2019.

As things stand now, they're supposed to be back on stage in less than a month to resume the tour.

KISS and Motley Crue are hardly the only acts that have reneged on their own retirement plans. Elton John, Tina Turner, Judas Priest, The Who, and even Frank Sinatra all returned to the stage after very public pronouncements that they were done.

So which acts do you think should call it a career?