The rock and roll world has plenty of examples of bands that broke up or planned farewell tours but ended up regrouping and going back out on tour.
Electric Light Orchestra officially disbanded in 1986 after lead vocalist Jeff Lynne called it quits three years earlier. Members of the band, not including Lynne, regrouped in something called ELO Part II in 1989 and toured for a little over 10 years.
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The band reunited as Jeff Lynne's ELO with tours in 2018 and 2019 before scheduling its 27-show Over And Out U.S. tour that started Aug. 24, 2024, in Palm Desert, Calif., and ended Oct. 25, 2024, in Inglewood, Calif.
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The band will perform its final shows in the U.K. in July 2025, with two shows in Birmingham, two shows in Manchester, and its final farewell show in London on July 13, 2025. But will it be their final show?
The Doobie Brothers are a band that just couldn't retire after its farewell tour. The Doobies embarked on their farewell tour in 1982 and released a live album afterward to commemorate the tour.
Then the band got back together in 1989 and continued performing. The band in 2019 scheduled a 50th anniversary tour to begin in June 2020 but needed to postpone shows until 2021 because of the Covid pandemic. The Doobies have a hard time ending tours as well, as the 50th anniversary tour stretched into 2023.
After that tour, the Doobies came back in 2024 for a 38-city tour that kicked off June 15 in Seattle and concluded Aug. 30 in Salt Lake City.
The Eagles, which has been performing farewell tours since its "Farewell 1 Tour" in 2003, said it wrapped up its touring career with a show on its "Long Goodbye" tour in the Netherlands on June 15, 2024.
The band's fans have heard about the band's touring retirement plans for over 20 years and many are skeptical about whether the band is no longer touring.
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Fans have good reason to question whether the band will ever really retire, as the band's late singer/guitarist Glenn Frey rejected the notion that they were retiring on Farewell 1, during a 2005 show in Sacramento, by saying, "If you're payin', we're playin'."
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And they are still playin' as they started their residency at The Las Vegas Sphere on Sept. 20, 2024, and have already stretched the residency to 28 shows through March 15, 2025. The band has not revealed its final show in that residency yet.
Foreigner says farewell to Las Vegas Strip residency
Finally, popular 1970s rock band Foreigner joined bands embarking on farewell tours as it kicked off its The Historic Farewell Tour on July 6, 2023, in Atlanta, which was originally set to conclude on March 13, 2024, in Fort Myers, Fla.
Like the Eagles, Foreigner keeps extending its farewell tour. They just don't want to stop performing. The band has 25 shows lined up on the continuing Farewell Tour resuming March 12, 2025, at the Seminole Hard Rock Hotel & Casino in Hollywood, Fla., and finishing Oct. 10-11 at Hard Rock Live at Etess Arena in Atlantic City, N.J.
The "Hot Blooded" singers have one show to complete on their farewell residency at Apollo Global Management's (APO) Venetian Theatre at The Venetian Resort, before taking a break to recharge their batteries for the 2025 Farewell Tour.
Foreigner last performed a residency on the Las Vegas Strip in 2023 before the farewell tour with eight shows in March and April for its Best of Foreigner 4 & More Live residency at the Venetian Theatre.
That return engagement followed a previous eight-show residency at The Venetian in March and April 2022. The band also scheduled a residency to start in January 2020, but that residency was interrupted by the Covid-19 pandemic after several shows.
Foreigner can't get enough of the Las Vegas Strip, as the band scheduled a 16-show farewell residency at the Venetian Theatre on the Strip only days after it was set to complete its farewell tour on March 13.
The band kicked off the farewell residency with five shows in March and three in April 2024. After a six-month hiatus, the band scheduled three more residency shows in October and five more in November.
Foreigner will finally wrap up its Venetian Theatre Farewell Residency on Nov. 9 at 8:30 p.m. Very limited tickets were available at Ticketmaster midweek with prices ranging from $145 to $300 plus fees.
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