Rod Stewart is retiring after more than six decades on stage and will close out his career with one final tour after a heart procedure sidelined him.
Sir Rod Stewart, the 81-year-old rock star behind hits like “Da Ya Think I’m Sexy?,” says his next run of shows will be his last. Page Six reported he is calling the send-off The Final Encore and framing it as the close of a career that began when he was 19.
The tour is set to open next year at Dublin’s 3Arena. Stewart made the retirement plain in his own words.
Stewart said:
“After more than six decades, The Final Encore will most definitely be my last.”
He has sold more than 250 million records worldwide and was inducted twice into the Rock & Roll Hall of Fame, once as a solo artist and once with The Faces. That kind of run does not end quietly, and he is treating the final lap as a thank-you, not a fade-out.
Stewart also said:
“I’ve been singing the music I love since I was 19 years old, and I’ve had the privilege of taking it around the world to all of you. It has given me a life beyond anything I could ever have imagined, and I hope I’ve given you some fond memories in return.”
He added a direct invitation to fans: he hopes they will show up so he can repay them “with the music and one h*** of a show.”
The retirement news lands right after a serious health stop. Last month Stewart had a stent fitted, a small wire tube placed in the coronary arteries to keep blood moving if a blockage hits. On doctors’ advice he canceled the remaining 11 shows of his U.S. tour, including a six-date Las Vegas residency.
Entertainers get reminded fast that the body can halt the schedule cold, much like when Carrot Top’s Luxor run was interrupted by a personal health crisis.
Stewart posted on Instagram that he was already feeling better and “very much on the mend.” He thanked the doctors and nurses who treated him and said he was “deeply disappointed to miss these shows and sorry to let my fans down,” while still looking ahead to getting back on stage.
His representative followed with a clearer recovery timeline. Doctors were “pleased with his recovery.” The rep said Stewart had returned to normal daily activities and would take the next four weeks to recuperate and regain full fitness before performing again. The same statement made the hard call: he could not continue the current tour dates, and promoters and venues would handle the fallout with ticket holders.
Stewart’s own message tied the medical pause to a larger decision. After more than sixty years of live work, The Final Encore is the planned exit. The Dublin open next year is the first firm marker on that map. Absolute dates for the announcement, the procedure, and the full remaining routing were not detailed beyond those relative markers.
Stepping back from the road is not unique in music right now. Country star Jelly Roll paused touring for up to two years after major personal upheaval, another reminder that even big acts eventually choose family, health, or sanity over endless dates.
Stewart’s catalog and sales put him in rare company. Two Hall of Fame inductions, global record numbers past 250 million, and a voice that carried from small rooms to stadiums give the farewell weight. Fans who grew up on those songs now get a clear closing chapter instead of a vague slowdown.
Other recent losses in entertainment have been permanent, from the death of longtime voice actor Peter Cullen at 85 to sudden tragedies elsewhere in public life. Stewart’s announcement is different: he is choosing the ending while he can still deliver the show.
He kept the tone grateful rather than grim. The work, he said, gave him a life he never imagined. The last tour is how he wants to say thank you, under lights, with a band, not in a press release alone. For an 81-year-old who just had a stent placed and still talks about “having a good time” with the crowd, that is a straightforward trade: recover, rehearse, then finish the job.
In a business that often milks nostalgia past the point of sense, a clean goodbye still counts for something. Stewart earned the ovation; the smart move is to leave while he can still stand there and claim it.