What keeps all these musical legends performing into old age?
The touring octogenarian is no rarity these days, musical icons from the 1960s (and earlier) are still going remarkably strong, writes David Lister
Bob Dylan comes to the UK in October, the first time in five years, and the first time as an octogenarian. The 81-year-old is playing a series of nine gigs in Britain, starting at the London Palladium and finishing in Glasgow. The never-ending tour – as his globe-trotting is famously called – really does seem to be never-ending. Only death or seriously ill health look like stopping it.
And he’s not alone. Fellow octogenarian Sir Paul McCartney headlined Glastonbury in June and his set of nearly three hours was the longest of the Festival. It wasn’t much commented on that at the very same time that McCartney was delivering “Hey Jude” and “Can’t Buy Me Love” at Glastonbury, The Rolling Stones were playing to a similarly massive crowd in London’s Hyde Park, where they first played 53 years ago. The 1960s were back with a vengeance that night.
When I last encountered Paul McCartney (80) I put it to him that he must be rubbing his eyes that he and the others are still going strong on stage. “I do rub my eyes,” he answered. “We all do. I didn’t foresee it. In The Beatles we always said 10 years. But it kept on and kept on and it kept being good and we seemed to be the people who could do it. Now there is a great young generation of people who can also do it, but it tends to be that the people packing them in are the people who have the material, have hits and – I think that’s important – songs that people know. I think they have stagecraft, they have an ability with an audience.”
Not to be outdone, fellow Beatle, the even older Ringo Starr (82) is going back on the road with a series of gigs in Canada, the US and Mexico.
I asked Mick Jagger (79) too how long he thought he and the band would keep playing live. “You never know what will happen health-wise,” he said, “but there are no plans to stop.” That conversation took place before the death of drummer Charlie Watts, a salient reminder of the unpredictability of health crises. But the Stones continue to play, and to play the most energetic sets of any of their erstwhile rivals. Jagger continues to move like Jagger, and the five-star reviews keep coming.
Let’s stick with the 1960s rock gods. The Who (yes, they of the celebrated lyric “Hope I die before I get old”) still regularly play live, some years after they announced a farewell tour. And, astonishingly, Joni Mitchell (78) whose health problems have been so severe that one never expected to see her on a stage again, stunned her fans and the music industry at large by performing a few of her classic songs such as “Both Sides Now” and “Big Yellow Taxi”, accompanied by other musicians at last month’s Newport Folk Festival, which she last played in the late-1960s. She was seated, but I think we can allow her that as she had suffered a brain aneurysm, which meant, among other things, that she had to learn the guitar again from scratch.
Talking of the goddesses of music, Diana Ross, once of The Supremes, is very much alive and kicking, appearing at both Glastonbury and the Queen’s platinum jubilee concert. Ross, 78, won rave reviews at Glastonbury, the headline in one paper being: “Disco diva detonates explosion of joy.” After one on-stage shimmy, she said: “If I can move my body like this when I’m 48 years old… well, I feel 48 years old!”
And we should not overlook the preeminent British star of a slightly earlier vintage than The Beatles and the Stones – Sir Cliff Richard (81). Sir Cliff did not hide his age in his tour, last autumn, postponed from the Covid pandemic, but proclaimed it, naming the series of gigs The Great 80 Tour.
Ironically, while Dylan, McCartney, Jagger, Ross, and Richard continue unscathed, and notably play much longer sets than artists a third of their age, health problems can affect a slightly younger generation. Squeeze, a top British band who were at their peak in the late 1970s and early 1980s, are continuing their tour but for the moment without one of their singer/songwriters Chris Difford. The 67-year-old shared this message a few days ago on Twitter: “I have been struggling with ongoing health issues which have become increasingly problematic over the last year and reached a climatic trip to casualty over a fortnight ago. This week I will be undergoing very necessary and long-overdue surgery to rectify this, which I’m afraid leaves me unable to do the Dublin and Blackpool shows with the rest of Squeeze, which I am extremely sad about.”
Health does take its toll. Joni Mitchell, despite her valiant appearance at Newport, is unlikely ever to give a full concert again. Neil Diamond, suffering from Parkinson’s Disease, has quietly retired. And it’s not just health. Decades of touring can lead a star to re-evaluate their life. Paul Simon, while actually perfectly healthy and, as those of us who witnessed his farewell performances know, in fine voice, decided to call it a day, because at the age of 80, he wants “to try something new.” Others have simply thought it either too tiring or too inappropriate to be up on stage as 80 beckons. Joan Baez (81) has announced her retirement, and some simply think enough is enough. David Crosby (80), once of The Byrds and Crosby, Stills and Nash, replied to a fan’s question on Twitter about future concert plans: “I think I’m too old to tour again… sadly.”
Those who do keep going have to find ways to preserve energy. The late Leonard Cohen, once into his 80s, continued to play live, to great effect but told concert promoters he would no longer be doing the traditional meet and greet with visiting dignitaries.
Jagger works out every day. And quite a regime it is. He does six weeks of fitness training even before rehearsals for a tour begin. This involves dancing and gym every day. He has said in the past that he runs eight miles a day with his personal trainer. He also travels with a cardiologist ever since undergoing heart valve replacement surgery in 2019.
He recently told The Sunday Times: “Rock ’n’ roll, or any kind of pop music honestly, isn’t supposed to be done when you’re in your 70s. It wasn’t designed for that. Doing anything high-energy at this age is really pushing it. But that makes it even more challenging. So it’s, like, ‘OK, we’ve got to fucking do this right,’ but it’s got to be as full-on as possible. Of course, you could do another type of music. We’ve got lots of ballads. I could sit on a chair.”
That feels unlikely. Bandmate Ronnie Wood (75), who had a brush with cancer in the recent past, limits his exercise regime to “stretches and stuff” to keep his joints warm. And Keith Richards (78)? Unsurprisingly, there is no gym, no running and no dancing in his regime. Before a show, he says, “I may or may not have a stiff drink. But usually I don’t.”
Which is fitness training of a sort.
Sir Paul McCartney seems to have the most unusual exercise routine of all his cohort. His daughter Mary, who has clearly witnessed it, told The Times last year that her dad goes through the same routine every day, within five minutes of waking up. She said: “He has an exercise routine every morning, and finishes it off with a faultless, unsupported, five-minute headstand.”
Before that memorable climax, McCartney warms up with some stretches and exercises using the foam roller and then, according to the man himself, “probably do a bit of the cross-trainer, a bit of running, a bit of cardio.”
Fellow ex-Beatle Ringo Starr puts his continuing good health down to eating broccoli and blueberries every day.
Sir Cliff Richard plays tennis twice a week, walks and cycles regularly, and has a gym in each of his homes. And as always with Sir Cliff, he is not shy about advertising his fitness. He has released his own “Keep fit with Cliff Richard” video.
Diana Ross has also released fitness and yoga videos but has said the key to her own stamina is down to fasting and early bedtimes, plus some jogging, dancing… and roller skating.
Like much about him, Bob Dylan’s touring fitness regime is a closely guarded secret, if it indeed exists. But on one of his UK tours he was spotted each morning at the Holiday Inn in London’s Swiss Cottage determinedly doing length after length of the pool.
His greatest exercising passion, though, appears to be boxing, owning a members-only boxing gym in Santa Monica, Los Angeles, and training there himself. Indeed, film director Quentin Tarantino has said that the elderly Dylan even managed to hit him full and hard in the face at a “sparring party.”
While on tour, which is always, Dylan is certainly not afraid of a rigorous work ethic. He is one of the few artists touring, old or young, who is known for rehearsing his band each day, and constantly changing the repertoire. Spending a fair amount of time on stage at the piano, and not moving all that much when standing and playing guitar, he does not need Mick Jagger’s levels of fitness.
But Dylan, even at 81, cannot claim to be the oldest of the 60s legends still performing a gruelling schedule. Some of those flocking to the excellent West End musical about the American group The Four Seasons may think they are watching a show purely about ancient pop history. They might be surprised to learn that the group’s vocalist, Frankie Valli, whose own career actually began in the early 1950s, has just completed a massive tour around the United States, and last month played two nights at London’s Royal Albert Hall.
Valli’s fitness regime is more geared to his voice than his body. It’s a routine that includes, he says, a mindful diet, no drinking, drug or smoking habits and going to bed early when he’s tired. No late nights if there’s no reason for it, he said in an interview. “And I sing a little bit every day. I love singing in the shower. I think it’s one of the best places. You can accomplish two things: cleaning your body and opening your vocal capacity and exercising your voice.”
The lead singer was renowned for his soaring falsettos, which became the signature sound of The Four Seasons in the early Sixties and beyond. Audiences were intrigued at the Royal Albert Hall to see if he could reach all of those notes now. By all accounts, he could. One critic said: “The unique falsetto was bouncing off the ornate plasterwork.” But audiences were right to be intrigued. Frankie Valli is 88.
Dylan and the rest have a way to go to break any records.
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