Tuesday morning, Kenny Rogers announced the date of his final performance in Nashville. The show in October 25, will mark the last time he performs with his longtime friend Dolly Parton.
The final concert will be held at Bridgestone Arena, and it will be a star packed show that includes performances of Idina Menzel, The Flaming Lips and more.
The final performance for a legendary duet
The show titled ‘All In For The Gambler: Kenny Rogers’ Farewell Concert Celebration’ will bring together fans, friends and music icons to celebrate the singer.
It will feature performances by Kenny Rogers, Little Big Town, Alison Krauss, The Flaming Lips, Idina Menzel, Jamey Johnson, Elle King and many other special guests to be announced in the coming weeks.
It will also feature performances of Dolly Parton, Kenny’s longtime duet partner.
In his 60-year career, Rogers has had several successful duet partners, including Dottie West, Kim Carnes, Sheena Easton and Linda Davis. But Parton’s star power made their collaborations a tour de force.
“We can go three years without talking to each other and when we get together, it’s like we were together yesterday,” Rogers said. “We both feel that comfort.”
“Performing with Kenny for the last time ever on October 25th is going to be emotional for both of us, but it’s also going to be very special,” Parton said in a statement.
Rogers and Parton first joined their talents together in the fall of 1983 for their No. 1 “Islands In The Stream,” The last time they performed in public was 12 years ago when CMT crowned their version of “Islands in the Stream.” Originally written by the Bee Gees.
“It’s going to be really exciting,” Rogers tells Rolling Stone Country of his final Nashville show. “It’s a chance, while they’re doing something for me, for me to say goodbye to these people as well.”
About Rodger’s farewell tour
In September 2015, Rogers announced his intention to retire after one final tour.
Those performances are still being scheduled through the end of 2017. Roger’s farewell tour started last year, his upcuoming performances include California and Nevada. Including a Temecula show Sunday and a Costa Mesa concert July 30.
“I felt it was important to do a farewell tour while it was still possible for me to do one. I felt I owed it to the people who would like to come out and see it,” he said in an interview. The concerts are a multimedia trip down memory lane for the fans and Rogers, with film clips of his storied six-decade career.
Reflecting on his career, Rogers says that during his commercial peak years of the 1970s and 1980s, the career pace was so fast and furious that it was tough to absorb all of the career moments that happened to him.
Even now, viewing his career collectively, it’s still tough to believe the successes he has had.
“It’s much more than I ever expected to – and much more than I deserve. It’s really been something to behold for me. It’s very hard to put it in perspective and say ‘That was my career,’ because it wasn’t what I set out to do. I was just trying to survive in the business.”
Life after the final show
With his solo career now in its 59th year, he is ready to finally retire.
Or, as he put it in his 2013 Union-Tribune interview: “I don’t think I have anything left to prove. The older I get, the better I used to be.”
While Rogers, who has tour dates scheduled throughout the summer and fall, is confident he’s made the right decision, he muses that his youngest children, twin sons who turned 13 earlier this month, aren’t as sure.
“They said, ‘Dad, what are you gonna do when you quit singing?’ I said, ‘Well, I thought I would quit singing and spend all my time with you boys.’ And they both went. ‘Oh my god!’ So, that apparently was not a great idea,” Rogers says with a laugh.
“I’ve had a great life, I can’t complain, but it’s time for me to hang it up.”
Source: San Diego Union Tribune