Peter Maffay
For the sake of his family, he stops live tours
Stop big tours: Peter Maffay
© imago images/BOBO
Family comes first: Next year Peter Maffay will go on a big tour for the last time. He wants to devote more time to his family in the future.
It’s hard to imagine German stadiums without Peter Maffay concerts. But fans of the nation’s rocker have to be very strong now: The ten concerts that Peter Maffay (74) will give in Germany in 2024 will be the last of this size and frequency in his career and are with the title “Farewell Tour” overwritten. On Thursday Maffay announced in Cologne: “The time for a turning point has come.”
Family is priority
It only recently became known that Maffay secretly married his great love Hendrikje Balsmeyer (36). With her he has daughter Anouk, who was born in 2018 – and for whom he wants to have more time: “Anouk will be five years old in November. I’ve missed a lot in the past. My time management in the past few years has sometimes been very bad “The time for my family has suffered as a result. That’s exactly what I want to avoid in the future. My daughter’s graduation from school is still a bit far away, but I want to do it.” He also wants to have more time for his son Yaris (19) and of course for his new wife and is therefore cutting back on live performances.
Maffay and Anastacia open advance sales
Maffay’s “Farewell Tour” starts on June 21, 2024 in Rostock and ends on July 20 in Leipzig, a place steeped in history for Maffay. Here he played a legendary live concert in the then Central Stadium in the summer of 1990 in front of 60,000 enthusiastic fans. Other tour locations for 2024 are Hanover, Munich, Bremen, Berlin, Hamburg, Cologne, Stuttgart and Frankfurt. Maffay opened the advance booking for the farewell tour live with superstar Anastacia (55), who will accompany him on tour and with whom he recently sang his all-time hit “So bist du” in an English version.
Is it over forever?
Does the end of the tour mean that Maffay will never be seen live again? At the press conference, Maffay left a back door open for future live performances. His farewell to major live tours does not mean that he will avoid live stages completely in the future: “Individual performances or festivals are an option that I can imagine.” He’s now looking forward to having more time for his family, his Tabaluga Foundation and other hobbies – for example, farming: “I’m looking forward to doing a little digging.” Fans suspect it and hope: Peter Maffay will never completely retire.