Don McLean is set to bid farewell to audiences across the UK and Ireland with a final series of concerts scheduled for 2027.
The 80-year-old musician, best known for his classic hit “American Pie:, will perform eight dates on ‘The Farewell Tour’. The run opens at Glasgow’s Royal Concert Hall on May 11 and concludes at London’s Royal Albert Hall on May 22.
Stops along the route also include Belfast, Dublin, Birmingham, Bristol, Manchester and Gateshead.
Setlists will span the full breadth of McLean’s catalogue, featuring early favourites such as Castles In The Air and And I Love You So alongside material from his 22nd studio album, American Boys, released in May 2024.
The songwriter, from New Rochelle, New York, shares a distinct history with every city on the itinerary.
Launching the tour in Glasgow pays homage to his ancestral roots, with both his father and grandfather named Donald McLean. He first headlined in the city at The Apollo in 1973.
His connection to Belfast dates back to the Troubles, when he believed music could help bring a divided community together. Meanwhile, Dublin was the setting for the finest surviving film of his early career, captured by RTÉ at the National Stadium in December 1975.
In Birmingham, McLean recorded his first British television special at Pebble Mill alongside Elkie Brooks and The Jordanaires.
Bristol Beacon, formerly known as Colston Hall, was among the venues selected to record his 1973 live album Solo.
Manchester provided the backdrop for a 1991 gig at the Free Trade Hall—a show that was filmed, misplaced for two decades, and finally released as Live In Manchester.
His connection to Tyneside works both ways: he had incorporated Geordie’s Lost His Penker into his set by 1971, while his support act on his 1980 British tour was Prelude, the Gateshead trio responsible for After The Goldrush.
The final show at the Royal Albert Hall takes place exactly 55 years after he first performed on that stage in 1972.
McLean said: "I love these audiences. They have kept me going for 55 years and given me a career I could not have had anywhere else.
"A troubadour has to make his farewells somewhere, and I would rather choose the place myself.
"The Albert Hall was the first room that ever felt like it belonged to me, and it seems right that it should be the last."
Tickets for all dates outside London will go on sale at 10am on September 18, with tickets for the Royal Albert Hall concert becoming available at 10am on October 2.
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