Rascal Flatts Prepare to Play Final Show: ‘It’s Going to Be a Really Sad Thing’

Rascal Flatts will embark on their farewell Life is a Highway Tour later this year, capping off 20 years of making music together with one final run, which will wrap up at Nashville’s Bridgestone Arena. While Gary LeVox, Jay DeMarcus and Joe Don Rooney each believe that it is time for Rascal Flatts to come to an end, that doesn’t mean they are looking forward to playing their last concert.

“It’s going to be really, really sad and it’s going to be emotional,” DeMarcus said while at CRS 2020. “And this time next year when there’s no tour planned and I can’t look over to my right and see my cousin and Joe Don standing next to me, it’s going to be … this is the biggest thing has been the part of my life for most of my adult life. So it’s going to be a really sad thing. That’s all I can say.

“It’ll be so bittersweet to play that last note on the guitar and hear that last note down low on bass, hear Gary hit the stratosphere,” added Rooney. “Bridgestone Arena is liable to just explode because of Gary’s voice. But it’s so much beautifulness, there’s so much love and so much appreciation for everything we’ve gotten to do.

“It’s going to be an exciting year. It’s going to be a heavy year,” he maintained. “It’s going to be I think an amazing journey this year of all the years we’ve been together. And I don’t know how I’m gonna feel, but [I have] a lot to be thankful for.”

DeMarcus previously opened up about their decision to say goodbye, and how difficult the decision was for all three Rascal Flatts members to choose to walk away.

“It is bittersweet for sure,” DeMarcus told PopCulture.com. “And I would be lying if I said it wasn’t a decision that we reached without some considerable conversation and some sadness and some anxiety about it. But after 20 years, we figured it was a great time to celebrate everything we’ve been able to do and build together and to love back on our fans a little bit and tell them how much we love and appreciate them, and spend a year celebrating all that is and has been Rascal Flatts and the wonderful things we’ve been able to do, and take some time to enjoy the fruits of our labor.

“We all three have families and things that we want to do outside of the scope that Rascal Flatts is, and it just felt like the timing was right,” he added. “We haven’t signed any contract that says we’ll never make any more music together, so everybody still loves each other.”

Photo Credit: Getty / Rick Diamond