Bob Dylan is 85 and just announced more tour dates. The Beach Boys are out with Mike Love at 85. Paul Simon is 84, Randy Bachman is 82, Rod Stewart and Eric Clapton are both 80. They are all on the road this summer, and concert ticket prices for all of them keep climbing.

Music journalist Eric Alper says the cynical read is that they need the money. The more interesting answer is psychological. For artists who have spent fifty or sixty years performing, stopping is not a logistical decision. It is an identity crisis. There is also a concept called terror management: the idea that humans build systems to buffer the anxiety of mortality, and for these artists, the stage is that buffer.

Then there is the question of what comes next. Eric Alper just saw the ABBA Voyage hologram show in the UK and thinks the concert as we know it may be unrecognizable in five to ten years. Universal announced a deal last week allowing fans to remix and duet with official releases using AI. This may be the last generation that listens to something created entirely by human beings.

Topics: classic rock tours 2026, aging musicians, terror management psychology, ABBA Voyage AI, Universal Music AI deal

GUEST: Eric Alper | thatericalper.com

Originally aired on2026-06-04