watch-george-strait-talks-final-show-cowboy-rides-away-tour-throwback-video

WATCH: George Strait Talks Final Show of ‘Cowboy Rides Away’ Tour in Throwback Video

Country star George Strait embarked on his supposed retirement tour in January of 2013. He had it all planned right down to the final concert, which took place in Arlington, Texas, near Dallas, in June of 2014.

Now Strait is posting a throwback video of himself reminiscing about that final show.

George Strait Explains Final ‘Cowboy Rides Away’ Show

“So we finally started talking about Dallas, you know, when I finally made the decision that I wasn’t gonna tour [anymore],” Strait explained in the video. “Well, we gotta end it in the biggest place we can. And it’s gotta be in Texas.”

“The only place like that is Cowboy Stadium,” he concluded.

“Man, when I got that call, how many tickets we had sold the first day, I went like, ‘Wow,’” Strait added. “You know, ‘This is so cool. What great fans I have.’”

A Record-Breaking Final Show

“The closer it got, the more nervous I got about it,” Strait said. “And I said it on stage, you know. I’ve been thinking about this show ever since we announced the ‘Cowboy Rides Away’ tour. And I really had. For two years, it was just, it was always on my mind. It was gonna end right there.”

The final show drew 104,793 attendees. It broke the record at the time for the largest indoor concert in North America, People reported.

It also brought many big names in country onstage with Straight, from Kenny Chesney and Eric Church to Sheryl Crow and Faith Hill.

“George Strait has been a big influence on me and everybody else in Nashville, and every country artist that has ever sung into a microphone,” Jason Aldean said then.

The concert concluded with none other than “The Cowboy Rides Away.” But Strait promised the crowd he’d be back.

After he finished that tour, Strait thought he had played his last concert. But he came back out of retirement to perform a few dates each year, according to Wide Open Country. He had a Las Vegas residency, “Strait to Vegas,” in 2016. And he had planned to perform two stadium shows this year, which had to be postponed to 2021 due to the pandemic.