Farewell Tour (album)

Farewell Tour
Live album by
ReleasedJune 1983
VenueIrvine Meadows Amphitheatre, Laguna Hills, Calif., September 3, 1982; Universal Amphitheatre, Universal City, Calif., September 4, 1982; Hearst Greek Theatre, UC Berkeley, September 10–11, 1982
GenreRock
Length67:06
LabelWarner Bros.
ProducerTed Templeman
The Doobie Brothers chronology
Best of The Doobies Volume II
(1981)
Farewell Tour
(1983)
Cycles
(1989)
Singles from Farewell Tour
Professional ratings
Review scores
SourceRating
AllMusic[1]
The Encyclopedia of Popular Music[2]
The Great Rock Discography4/10[3]
The Rolling Stone Album Guide[4]

Farewell Tour is the first live album by American rock band The Doobie Brothers, released in 1983. It documents the group's 1982 Farewell Tour and is a double album set.

By the early 1980s, the Doobie Brothers had evolved from the guitar-boogie sound under original band frontman Tom Johnston to a soulful keyboard-driven AOR sound under Michael McDonald. Despite the many personnel changes in the group, Patrick Simmons remained from the original incarnation of the group.

In 1982, Simmons decided to retire from the group after years of constant touring and recording. When the band decided to break up in light of his impending departure, Simmons encouraged the group to make one last tour during the summer of 1982 as a way of thanking the group's loyal fanbase. This tour became known as the "Farewell Tour."

The front cover shows drummer Keith Knudsen cutting the strings on John McFee's guitar as a symbolic gesture.[5] The last two songs on the album were recorded at the final concert of the tour in Berkeley, California, on September 11, 1982, with vocals by original lead vocalist and guitarist Tom Johnston. For a long time the album was available on CD only in Japan, but ultimately it was re-released on CD by Rhino/WEA on August 26, 2008. The reissue deleted approximately 112 minutes of onstage talk from Patrick Simmons between 'Jesus' and 'Minute by Minute', including mentioning that the band were going to "light up a 'doobie'" during intermission, suggesting the audience do the same.

  1. ^ Hal Horowitz. "Farewell Tour - The Doobie Brothers". AllMusic. Retrieved 2019-11-28.
  2. ^ Larkin, Colin (2007). The Encyclopedia of Popular Music (5th ed.). Omnibus Press. ISBN 978-0857125958.
  3. ^ Strong, Martin Charles (2002). "The Doobie Brothers". The Great Rock Discography. The National Academies. ISBN 1-84195-312-1.
  4. ^ Brackett, Nathan; Hoard, Christian, eds. (2004). The New Rolling Stone Album Guide (4th ed.). Simon & Schuster. pp. 253. ISBN 0-7432-0169-8.
  5. ^ According to a post at the forum (now retired) at the Doobie Brothers Official Website, by the Webmaster/Forum Administrator, who is John McFee's son.

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