George Jones played the final live show of his long career just days before his death in 2013, and his setlist included the most classic hits from across his decades-long career, ending appropriately with “He Stopped Loving Her Today.”
The 81-year-old country icon performed his final concert on April 6, 2013, at the Knoxville Civic Coliseum in Knoxville, Tenn., and while the fans in attendance did not know they were witnessing history, Jones himself did.
Nashville’s Tennessean newspaper reported that Jones went backstage and told his wife, Nancy, “I just did my last show. And I gave ’em hell.”
Video from that night shows Jones clearly struggling to breathe and deliver the songs, and he pauses and lets the audience carry him in singing along multiple times. He even performs seated, but it doesn’t appear to matter to the fans, who cheer him on at every moment:
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Jones entered the hospital the following morning, and he never returned home. The country legend died on April 26, 2013, from hypoxic respiratory failure, and he was laid to rest in a public ceremony that took place at the Grand Ole Opry House in Nashville on May 2.
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Read on to see the setlist for George Jones’ final concert, according to Setlist.fm.
George Jones’ Final Concert Setlist:
“Why Baby Why”
“White Lightning”
“The Window Up Above”
“She Thinks I Still Care”
“The Grand Tour”
“Take Me”
“Me and Jesus” (Tom T. Hall Cover)
“The Window Up Above”
“Choices”
“Who’s Gonna Fill Their Shoes”
“He Stopped Loving Her Today”
