TED NUGENT: 'I'll Still Make Music' And 'I'll Do Specific Gigs' After Last-Ever Tour

During a new appearance on the "Drew And Mike Show", legendary rocker Ted Nugent spoke about his decision to embark on what is being billed as his last-ever tour, dubbed "Adios Mofo '23". Asked if this is indeed his final time on the road, Ted said in part (as transcribed by BLABBERMOUTH.NET): "I'll still make music, I'll do specific gigs, but I'll never… I've made it perfectly clear, I'm not going on tour ever again. I hate the travel. I mean, I won't stay at a hotel. It's like a jail sentence — cruel and unusual punishment."

He continued: "I've got 12 grandkids. I gotta teach 'em how to aim small, miss small, and turn critters into family-sized portions. I've got dogs that absolutely love me. [My wife] Shemane — can you imagine saying goodbye to Shemane for more than 24 hours? It ain't gonna happen."

Ted previously discussed his unwillingness to tour last month during an appearance on "THAT Rocks!", the weekly YouTube series hosted by Eddie Trunk, Jim Florentine and Don Jamieson. Ted said: "Hotels are jail. I hate jail… I will always play music. The music still has fire. I still crave it. I've got new songs. I'm gonna go in the studio with these killer musicians that are always at my side. But traveling, I tell you… A hotel room is jail… The travel and the hotels… And I don't even have to go to TSA [Transportation Security Administration]; I mean, I gave the finger to them in 2009. If somebody doesn't send a jet, I don't go anywhere. My friends are better than your friends, 'cause my friends have jets. So, I'm not TSA and I'm not gonna let somebody fondle my Glock [gun] and ask me questions about gun laws. And hotels are so painful for me… So this tour, like the last 10, I will hub out of our Texas home to play gigs around there. I'll first start in Florida. So I'll hub out of our condo —Shemane's got a condo down there, so I can go to all those Florida dates. And then I come back to Michigan and go to Ohio and Indiana and Wisconsin and Illinois and Pennsylvania and Kentucky. And I'm able to hub, so I's still able to spend a lot of time with my kids and my grandkids and my dogs."

Ted went on to clarify that he is not retiring from playing live. "The fire, the music, it will always go on," he said. "I play my guitar every day… And I get to collaborate with the best musicians in the world. So it's always a challenge, it's always intriguing, it's always stimulating. I'm an old man — I'm 75 this year — but the stimuli factor… I hope that somebody else in this world is as stimulated by the music as I am, because it's still very much alive and well."

Asked if he will miss the audience and the live interaction on stage, Ted said: "Yes. Of course I will. But again, I won't miss it because I'll still do it… I'm not going out for months or even weeks. I'll do the occasional special events. I do a lot of corporate stuff… Yeah, I'm an energized son of a bitch, but I am 75, and I'm not swinging from ropes and I'm not wearing a loincloth and I'm not jumping off the amplifiers with my new knees. So I will miss it, but, again, I've got 12 grandkids and I don't wanna go away someday and not make an imprint on them, teach them about the important things in life. In a world that's really gone really stupid, I think my grandparenting responsibilities are more important now than ever."

Ted's concert in Birmingham, Alabama was recently canceled due to a backlash surrounding his controversial political views. The legendary rocker's July 18 performance at Avondale Brewing Co. was scrapped one day before tickets were to go on sale via Ticketmaster. The decision to call off the gig was apparently made in response to about 1,000 comments which were posted on Avondale Brewing's Facebook page after the show was announced, as well as more than 150 comments on the venue's Instagram page.

Nugent's self-titled debut album in 1975 was certified double platinum in the United States, while "Free-for-All", "Cat Scratch Fever", "Weekend Warriors" and "State Of Shock" all reached the Top 30 on the Billboard 200 chart.

Nugent has reportedly sold over 40 million albums and was named Detroit's greatest guitar player of all time by readers of MLive.

The conservative rocker, who been eligible for the Rock And Roll Hall Of Fame as a solo artist since 2000, has enjoyed a remarkably successful and eventful musical career over the past five decades, but his music is increasingly overshadowed by his political outbursts.

Nugent's latest album, "Detroit Muscle", was released in April 2022 via Pavement Music. The follow-up to 2018's "The Music Made Me Do It" was recorded with Ted's most recent band, which included bassist Greg Smith and drummer Jason Hartless.

This past May, Smith, who had played bass for Ted for 16 years, announced his departure from the legendary rocker's touring band. He has since been replaced by Johnny Schoen.