Frank Turner To Step Away From Live Shows After Final Lost Evenings

Frank Turner has announced that he will step away from live performance following the final edition of his Lost Evenings festival in London next year.

In a statement shared on Instagram on Monday, Turner said that after 28 years on the road, 10 albums and more than 3,000 shows, it was time for a change. The four Lost Evenings X shows at OVO Arena Wembley in November 2027 will be his final live appearances “for the foreseeable future”.

Turner said the decision had come from a number of factors. After spending most of his life touring, he wants to recharge, spend more time with friends and family and explore other projects away from the road. He also pointed to the changing economics of touring and an increasingly social-media-driven music industry as reasons for wanting to step back.

He also acknowledged that, as he gets older, he wants to give more attention to his physical and mental health. Despite the decision to step away from the stage, Turner described himself as excited about the future and stressed that he wants to leave live performance on a high.

“I genuinely don’t know when I’ll play shows again in the future,” Turner wrote, adding that it would be “certainly not for a good while”.

That makes the announcement something other than a conventional retirement. Turner has not said that he is ending his career as a musician, but rather that he is taking an extended break from performing live.

The final Lost Evenings will therefore take on a particular significance. Lost Evenings X will return to London from 4–7 November 2027, bringing the festival back to the city where it began at the Roundhouse in 2017. The event has since travelled to Boston, Berlin, Anaheim, Toronto, Edinburgh and Dallas.

Turner will headline all four nights at Wembley, with the festival also featuring the Nick Alexander Stage, which gives emerging artists a platform alongside the main event. A wider programme of panels, workshops, open mics and other daytime events will also take place across the festival.

For Turner, the location also brings the story full circle. OVO Arena Wembley is where he played his first headline arena show in 2012, making the final Lost Evenings a return to a significant point in his career.

Turner has spent much of his career closely associated with the live side of independent music. Alongside his own extensive touring schedule, he has consistently supported grassroots venues and emerging artists, including through the Lost Evenings format itself. In 2024, he played 15 shows in 24 hours as part of an effort supporting independent venues and record shops.

He ended his statement by thanking The Sleeping Souls, his label Xtra Mile, his touring crew and the people who have followed his music throughout his career.

For an artist who has spent much of the past three decades on the road, the final four nights at Wembley will be less a conventional farewell than a pause with no fixed return date.

Lost Evenings X

4–7 November 2027

OVO Arena Wembley, London

Weekend tickets go on general sale at 10am on Wednesday 30 September.