Bands That Are 50-Plus Years Old and Still Touring
Oldies But Goodies
Since the advent of Napster, Spotify, and Apple Music, consumers have stopped buying records and singles like they used to. After all, why would anyone invest in a personal physical copy of a record they can hear to their heart’s content as part of a monthly subscription fee? This has created a rough situation for many old-school musicians who relied upon songwriting royalties to earn a living.
This situation has resulted in musicians going out on the road in their 70s and 80s simply because that’s where the revenue is now. Luckily, consumers still want to buy a concert ticket and hear their favorite songs played by their favorite musicians, some of whom have been at it since the early 1960s. Here’s our list of artists who have been at it for over 50 years, and you can still go out and see them perform live at this very moment.
The Rolling Stones
These rock legends have been touring since the 1960s and continue to sell out stadiums worldwide. According to those still lining up to see them, it’s always a great show, and these are consummate performers who still know a thing or two about how to rile up a crowd. As if to flaunt the fact that this band has been on the road in one form or another for 60 years, their current “Hackney Diamonds” tour is being sponsored by AARP.
The Beach Boys
The Beach Boys have been delighting live audiences since the 1960s with their signature harmonies and classic hits. Of course, closer inspection of the “Tour” page on their official website reveals that the artist you would see on the concert stage is “The Beach Boys/Mike Love,” and indeed, Mike Love is the only original member of the band that you’ll see on the concert stage this year. Oh well, get a seat all the way in the back and impair your judgment with beer so that by the time they start playing “California Girls,” you won’t care who’s onstage.
The Temptations
With their smooth harmonies and soulful tunes, the Temptations have been right there alongside the Stones and the Beach Boys when it comes to serenading live audiences since the 1960s. Currently, Otis Williams is the only remaining original band member, but if you want nothing more than to close your eyes and bliss out to their hits, they’re currently on tour through 2024 and into 2025.
The Zombies
The Zombies are a U.K. band that formed in 1961 and are best known for such exquisite psychedelic hits as "Time of the Season" and “This Will Be Our Year.” The Zombies have not stayed together consistently all these years and have become inactive on more than one occasion. Still, their current touring lineup contains two of the band’s founding members, Rod Argent and Colin Blunstone, so if you enjoy their music and are in the U.K. or Warsaw, this is the time to go see them. If that conflicts with your plans, they will be playing on the “Flower Power” cruise in March 2025.
The Yardbirds
This influential English rock band once had Eric Clapton, Jeff Beck, and Jimmy Page in its ranks, and they produced such hits as “For Your Love” and “Heart Full of Soul.” If you go see them live, be aware that drummer Jim McCarty is the sole remaining original member, so if you’re hoping to see Jimmy Page walk onstage, you will be disappointed. Sadly, the band just came off the road in March 2024, so you only missed it by this much. At the same time, there are currently several bands on tour right now with no original members, so even if McCarty quits the band to spend his days gardening, you may still get the chance to see some entity calling itself “The Yardbirds” doing something in front of a paying audience.
Chicago
The band Chicago was founded in 1967, and the number of members who have come and gone through their ranks is staggering. The only remaining original members are keyboard player Robert Lamm, trumpet player Lee Loughnane, and trombone player James Pankow. Still, constant turnover has never been a barrier to this band when it comes to performing live, and this year is no exception as it sees them on the road through September. Here’s hoping that if you go see them, they all spontaneously forget how to play their crappy 1980s power ballads and replace everything on the set list with their early material, like “25 or 6 to 4.”
The Eagles
Since Glenn Frey’s 2016 passing, the only original member of the Eagles in the current lineup is singer and drummer Don Henley. Still, he’s flanked by guitarist Joe Walsh and bassist Timothy B. Schmit, who have been familiar faces to Eagles fans since the 1970s. Founded in 1971, the band was ridiculously successful during their glory days in the Me Decade, and their music has stayed tenaciously and persistently popular even when the band was broken up for years at a time. Currently they’re on tour in the U.K. and the Netherlands.
Aerosmith
American hard rockers Aerosmith are currently selling tickets for their “Peace Out” farewell tour, so if you have never seen them since their formation in 1970, this is your last chance. Honestly, it’s kind of a miracle that singer Steven Tyler and guitarist Joe Perry are still alive, given the notorious appetite for illicit substances that got them branded “The Toxic Twins.” However, they’re still here, they still have their original lineup, and there won’t be another chance at this. So see them now. Either that or take a chance and hope they will return in two years for a reunion tour if Steven Tyler runs out of bandanna money.
ZZ Top
That li’l old band from Texas, ZZ Top, formed in 1969 and never had a single lineup change – it was always guitarist Billy Gibbons, bassist Dusty Hill, and drummer Frank Beard, who ironically was the only one without a beard. Known for hits like "La Grange" and "Tush" from the 1970s and 1980s hits like “Sharp Dressed Man,” the band was a consistent concert draw, but sadly, in 2021, Hill passed away while the band was on tour. Well, it was simply a matter of getting their guitar tech, Elwood Francis, to step up to the plate, and now he’s the bassist. Go see them on tour!
Neil Young
Neil Young started his recording career in earnest in the 1960s as a member of Buffalo Springfield, and he’s spent the decades since then playing with Crosby, Stills & Nash, performing solo, and using a few different backing bands, such as Promise of the Real and the International Harvesters. His most famous backing band is Crazy Horse, which specializes in nothing so much as hours of howling feedback and distortion that seem designed to scare off Young’s folkie fans who are just there to hear “Sugar Mountain.” His current tour with Crazy Horse is in progress and goes through September, and several dates on the tour are already sold out, so buy tickets to see them and wear plenty of hearing protection.
