Pick a Day

Music History Events: Final Performances

May 22, 1967 Florence Ballard makes her last appearance with The Supremes when the group performs on The Tonight Show Starring Johnny Carson.

August 26, 1963 British singer Cilla Black makes her concert debut, opening for The Beatles at the Odeon in Southport, Lancashire, England.

September 29, 1962 After a wildly successful six-and-a-half-year run, the musical My Fair Lady closes on Broadway.

July 24, 1956 Ten years to the day after their act began, Dean Martin and Jerry Lewis break up their wildly popular musical-comedy act after a farewell show at New York's Copacabana nightclub.

September 27, 1942 In Passaic, New Jersey, Glenn Miller plays his last concert as a civilian. Ten days later he joins the Army, where he performs for troops. In December 1944, his plane disappears over the Atlantic Ocean.

August 5, 2021 Tony Bennett and Lady Gaga play the second of two sold-out shows at Radio City Music Hall in New York City. It's Bennett's last performance; a week later the 95-year-old singer, who was diagnosed with Alzheimer's disease in 2016, announces he's retiring from performing.

November 30, 2019 Slayer call it a career, playing their final show at The Forum in Inglewood, California. The last song is "Angel Of Death."

October 14, 2018 Fifty years after they first started touring, Steppenwolf play their last show, a concert in Baxter Springs, Kansas.

January 26, 2018 Fleetwood Mac perform at the Musicares benefit in Radio City Music Hall, where they are honored. It's Lindsey Buckingham's last performance with the group; three months later he is ousted, replaced by Mike Campbell and Neil Finn.

December 31, 2017 Britney Spears wraps up her Vegas show Britney: Piece of Me, after four years. It's her last concert for a while; a subsequent residency is cancelled, and she refuses to perform under the terms of her conservatorship, which has been controlled by her father since 2008.

November 7, 2017 Aretha Franklin plays at Elton John's AIDS Foundation gala at the Cathedral of St. John the Divine in New York City in what turns out to be her final performance. "We were witnessing the greatest soul artist of all time," Elton says.

May 20, 2017 At the Palladium in London, The Cranberries play their last show with lead singer Dolores O'Riordan, whose health issues for cancellation of the remaining dates. She dies on January 15, 2018.

February 4, 2017 Black Sabbath play the final concert of their farewell tour at the Genting Arena in their English home city of Birmingham. Their final song of the night, "Paranoid," is streamed live on Facebook so fans around the world can witness the historic moment onstage.

October 28, 2016 The BBC Radio show Desmond Carrington: The Music Goes Round ends after 36 years when the host retires at age 90.

August 30, 2016 The Go-Go's complete their final tour, playing their last show at the Greek Theatre in Los Angeles.

December 3, 2015 Crosby, Stills & Nash, which formed in 1968, finally implode at the White House National Christmas Tree Lighting concert when Stephen Stills throws a pick at David Crosby for talking over him. They get though a performance of "Silent Night," but never play together again.

November 13, 2015 A Tribe Called Quest re-issue their debut album, People's Instinctive Travels and the Paths of Rhythm, and perform "Can I Kick It?" on The Tonight Show Starring Jimmy Fallon, making their first TV appearance in 15 years. It is their last-ever performance, as Phife Dawg dies four months later.

August 1, 2015 Rush play their last concert, closing out their R40 Live tour with a show at The Forum near Los Angeles. It's not announced as their farewell, but the band has hinted it might be. At the end of the show, drummer Neil Peart uncharacteristically comes to the front of the stage to take a bow with his bandmates.

July 14, 2014 Johnny Winter plays the Cahors Blues Festival in France. It's his last performance, as he dies two days later.

November 30, 2012 At the Uptown Theatre in Napa, California, 76-year-old Glen Campbell plays his final concert. It's the last stop on his Goodbye Tour, which began in September 2011 after he was diagnosed with Alzheimer's disease. The tour runs much longer than expected, but when Campbell becomes disoriented during the show and struggles to get through eight songs, it becomes clear he can no longer perform.

November 11, 2012 INXS, with Ciaran Gribbin on lead vocals, play their last concert, performing at Perth Arena in Australia as the support act for Matchbox Twenty. The band had re-formed with various lead singers since the death of frontman Michael Hutchence in 1997.

April 24, 2011 American Idiot: The Musical, based on Green Day's 2004 album, closes after 422 performances.

April 2, 2011 LCD Soundsystem play their final ever gig at Madison Square Garden in New York City. The show lasts four hours and features Arcade Fire and Reggie Watts.

November 7, 2009 At the Municipal Auditorium in San Antonio, Texas, Linda Ronstadt makes her last concert appearance. Four years later, she announces that she has Parkinson's disease.

October 9, 2009 Bruce Springsteen plays the last concert at Giants Stadium in New Jersey. Part of his set includes an early version of "Wrecking Ball" that he wrote for the occasion.

October 15, 2006 Patti Smith closes down the celebrated Manhattan music club CBGB, playing the last show at the venue. The club closes after an extended dispute between club owner Hilly Kristal and the Bowery Residents Committee. Rock fans try to preserve the building as a historical landmark, but those efforts fail and a men's clothing store moves in.

June 29, 2004 Rick James performs "Fire And Desire" with Teena Marie at the BET Awards. It's his last performance, as James dies five weeks later at 56.

March 13, 2004 Luciano Pavarotti makes his 379th and last performance at the Metropolitan Opera in New York City, playing the painter Mario Cavaradossi in Giacomo Puccini's Tosca. He receives a 12-minute standing ovation.

September 27, 1997 At the Star Lake Amphitheater in Burgettstown, Pennsylvania, INXS play their last show with Michael Hutchence, who is found dead in his hotel room two months later. The last song is "Suicide Blonde."

July 3, 1996 At the Kemper Arena in Kansas City, Alice in Chains play their last show with lead singer Layne Staley, who dies in 2002.