Vince Gill’s Final Bow: The 2026 “Still Here” World Tour, Where Every Note Is a Thank-You and Every Curtain Call Is Goodbye

On a crisp Nashville morning, beneath the same Ryman Auditorium rafters that once cradled his first standing ovation, Vince Gill stood alone with a Telecaster and a trembling voice. “I’ve sung for presidents, for funerals, for first dances,” he told a hushed press room. “But 2026 will be the last time I ask a stage to hold me.” The 2026 “Still Here” World Tour—80 cities, four continents, one lifetime—is not a victory lap. It is a love letter folded into a farewell, inked in the same Oklahoma drawl that turned heartbreak into harmony for forty-three years.

The Announcement That Stopped Country Music Cold
Flanked by wife Amy Grant and daughter Corrina, Gill read from a single sheet of yellow legal paper, the kind he’s scribbled setlists on since 1983. “I’m 69 come April,” he said, eyes crinkling with that familiar warmth. “My knees creak louder than my pedal steel, and my grandbabies need more bedtime stories than encores.” The tour’s title, Still Here, borrows from the posthumous duet with late daughter Jenny—released just last week—transforming grief into a guiding mantra. “Every night,” he promised, “we’ll sing like she’s in the front row.”

A Setlist That Spans a Life, Not Just a Catalog
No greatest-hits jukebox here. Each show is a living scrapbook:

• Act I: The Hunger Years – Pure Prairie League’s “Amie,” early Mountain Smoke cuts, the $50 bar gigs that taught him humility.
• Act II: The Golden Decade – Full-album renditions of When I Call Your Name (1990) and I Still Believe in You (1992), 21 Grammys distilled into 45 minutes of velvet thunder.
• Act III: The Healing Hymns – “Go Rest High on That Mountain” with a rotating choir of local veterans and pediatric patients; “Look at Us” as a duet with fans chosen from preshow meet-and-greets.
• Encore: The Unreleased – One never-heard song per city, pulled from Vince’s attic tapes, introduced with the story behind it: a cheating ballad for Tulsa, a lullaby for Sydney.
  A 30-piece string section joins for the final 20 minutes—arrangements by David Campbell, who orchestrated Vince’s 1994 Christmas record with Jenny’s childhood harmonies now woven in.

The Route: A Global Hug Before the Lights Dim
Kicking off March 1 at Nashville’s Bridgestone Arena—“so my mama can walk, not fly,” Vince joked—the itinerary is mercilessly sentimental:

• North America (March–June): 40 dates, including a three-night Ryman residency where fans can bring canned goods for Second Harvest in lieu of VIP upgrades.
• Europe (July–August): Return to London’s Royal Albert Hall (site of his 1995 BBC special), plus debut stops in Prague and Reykjavik—“places Jenny dreamed of filming.”
• Australia/New Zealand (September): First headlining tour Down Under in 22 years; Sydney Opera House forecourt with the Sydney Symphony.
• Finale (October 31, Oklahoma City): Paycom Center, renamed “Vince Gill Night” by city decree. Fireworks synced to “Oklahoma Borderline,” then a midnight jam with every living collaborator who can travel—Reba, Dolly, Eagles bandmates, even Pure Prairie League’s original lineup.

The Stage Design: A Front Porch at 10,000 Seats
No pyrotechnics. No LED walls. Tony-winning designer Christine Peters crafts a living-room set: rocking chairs, a quilt from Vince’s grandmother, Polaroids of fans pinned to a clothesline. Mid-show, Gill steps offstage to a B-stage in the pit—“so I can shake the hands that held me up.” A GoPro on his guitar headstock live-streams to children’s hospitals; every ticket plants a tree via the Vince Gill Foundation.

The Voices Joining the Chorus
Guest spots are sacred, not spectacle:

• Amy Grant: “House of Love” duet nightly, plus their unreleased 1997 gospel cut.
• Corrina Grant Gill: Lead vocals on her song “Dear Hate,” written post-Las Vegas shooting.
• Surprise Mentors: One per continent—Dolly in Nashville, Sting in London, Keith Urban in Melbourne—paying forward the kindness Vince showed them as rookies.
• Jenny’s Echo: A holographic silhouette during “You’re Still Here,” triggered only when the audience sings her harmony unprompted.

The Farewell That Refuses to Say Goodbye
Profits—after union scale and crew bonuses—fund the Jenny Gill Pediatric Heart Center at Vanderbilt and music scholarships in every tour stop’s public schools. “I don’t want statues,” Vince said. “I want kids who can’t afford a guitar to play mine.” A documentary crew, led by Till the Song Ends director Joe Berlinger, shadows the tour for a 2027 Netflix epilogue titled The Last Chord.

Early Fan Reactions: Grief, Gratitude, and Grace
Presale crashed Ticketmaster in 11 minutes. A Tulsa mother tattooed the tour dates on her forearm: “So my daughter knows where her college fund came from—Vince’s last high note.” On X, #StillHereTour trended with 1.2 million posts: veterans saluting, cancer survivors sharing “Go Rest High” stories, a Scottish bagpiper promising to play “I Still Believe in You” outside Glasgow’s venue at dawn.

The Man Who Never Wanted the Spotlight, Now Can’t Escape It
Backstage after the announcement, Vince hugged his tour manager and whispered, “Make sure the last bus leaves on time—I’ve got pancakes to flip for Everly.” Then he picked up his guitar, strummed the opening of “Whenever You Come Around,” and smiled at the empty room. “See y’all in March,” he said to no one and everyone. “Let’s make it count.”

The lights will dim in Oklahoma City on Halloween 2026. But somewhere, a kid will pick up a pawn-shop six-string, hear Vince’s voice crack on a crackling YouTube clip, and decide the song isn’t over. Because as long as one heart still hums “Look at Us,” Vince Gill is—gloriously, defiantly—Still Here.