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She may be gone but John Oates isn’t.
At 77-years-young, the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame vocalist is as active as ever having released two albums — 2024’s stripped-down, acoustic “Reunion” and 2025’s groovy “Oates” — in the past three years while regularly performing at venues all over North America.
Starting in early March, he’ll revv up the tour buses once again for a brief seven-concert run that includes stops at Atlantic City’s Borgata Casino Music Box on Friday, March 13 and Uncasville, CT’s Mohegan Sun Cabaret on Sunday, March 15.
“My Good Road Band is amazing and we play real music,” Oates told The Post in an exclusive interview. “I’ve put together a full rhythm section. Two guitars, bass, drums and keyboards, made up of new Nashville friends and some guys who I’ve been playing with for a long time. There’s no samples, there’s no Auto-Tune, there’s no ProTools. It’s just guys playing and singing. We’re waving the flag for the old school.”
As an added bonus, Oates recently added a section to the show he calls “the songs that made me.”
“We do everything from the earliest days of rock to the folk era to early sixties R&B. What it does is it gives people an idea of who I am and why I am who I am.”
And, yes, in case you were wondering, he still busts out fan favorite Hall and Oates hits like “Out of Touch,” “Maneater” and, of course, “She’s Gone.”
“I don’t think I’ve ever played a show whether with Daryl or solo where I haven’t played ‘She’s Gone,'” he noted. “I feel like I have to play that song but I love having to have to play that song if you know what I mean.”
Better yet, “She’s Gone” comes complete with an origin story that starts on a freezing cold night at a Bleecker Street diner. Around 3 am, Oates spotted a woman “wearing a tutu and cowboy boots” that he “started dating immediately.”
To hear the story in full, well, we can’t go for that. You’ll have to see Oates live to find out how the timeless tune came to be.
For more, keep scrolling, Maneaters and Rich Girls.
We’re about to make all of your dream come true by sharing John Oates’ 2026 tour dates, his set list, the stories behind his new albums and a complete interview that includes stories about living across the street from Hunter S. Thompson, getting held up after a concert in Australia and the first time he heard “You Make My Dreams Come True” while watching “500 Days Of Summer” in the theater.
This interview has been lightly edited and condensed for clarity.
John Oates tickets
Inventory to see John Oates live is available on all verified ticketing sites.
We recommend checking out StubHub, Ticketmaster and Vivid Seats to find the seats that makes the most sense for you.
John Oates tour schedule 2026
A complete calendar including all North American tour dates, venues and links to buy tickets can be found below.
John Oates set list
At Oates’ most recent gig at West Hollywood’s Troubadour, he took 18 songs to the stage. Based on our findings at Set List FM, here’s what they were:
01.) “Out of Touch” (Hall and Oates song)
02.) “Pushin’ a Rock”
03.) “Enough is Enough”
04.) “Real Thing Going On”
05.) “Mending”
06.) “Reunion”
07.) “She Keeps Me Movin'” (TajMo: The Taj Mahal & Keb’ Mo’ Band cover)
08.) “A Ways Away”
09.) “Please Send Me Someone to Love” (Curtis Mayfield cover)
10.) “Why Can’t We Live Together” (Timmy Thomas cover)
11.) “Gypsy Woman” (The Impressions cover)
12.) “Soul Slide”
13.) “Go Deep”
14.) “She’s Gone” (Hall and Oates song)
15.) “Maneater” (Hall and Oates song)
16.) “You Got Me Hummin'” (Sam & Dave cover)
17.) “Electric Blue” (Icehouse cover)
Encore
18.) “Let It Rock” (Chuck Berry cover)
John Oates interview
Prior to this outing, Oates took the time to chat with us about his life, career and everything in between. Here’s what the open book Philly native had to say.
Your last tour was more storytelling-based. What’s one of the stories that audiences won’t get treated to this time around that you told on your last tour?
I still tell some stories in this show but one that didn’t make this new show is about a song called “Lost in Louisiana.”
It was one of my first experiences with writing with a top notch, number-one gold standard Nashville country songwriter. He was a guy I have a lot of respect for but I suck at writing country songs, which I’ve discovered in my 15 years here in Nashville.
So, I went into a writing session with this guy I’d never met. This was at a time when I was drinking a little bit and I’ll admit I was hung over.
It was awkward because this guy was a heavyweight and there I am, brain dead. Finally, he said “dude, what’s wrong with you?” I said “I’m sorry, man. I got nothing.” He ping-ponged back “that’s a great idea. Let’s write that.”
He took that little kernel of not having anything and said “let’s write about being that hung over in New Orleans that you can’t find your hotel and you met a girl, but you can’t find her and now you don’t know what to do.
You’re part of this rare breed of rock stars that don’t age. There’s you, Mick, Ringo. How do you keep your voice in tip top shape?
I’ve had a very good career because Daryl Hall sang all the songs so I saved my voice for 50 years.
I’m saying that partly in jest, but not 100%. I never had to sing that hard because in all seriousness Daryl’s voice was the sound of Hall and Oates and I was more involved in the band and production.
When I committed to being a solo artist, I had to find my voice even though I could always sing. Once I started to carry the load as a lead singer, the more I realized what my strong points were and I developed my own sound.
“You Make My Dreams Come True” is one of the most iconic songs of all time. What is the origin?
That was a groove Daryl put together on the keyboard. He and I wrote the lyrics together. That song wasn’t a big hit when it was released.
It never got released in Europe. It was under the radar and wasn’t until “500 Days of Summer” that the song hit.
I’ll tell you a funny story about that. I’d gotten word through management that the song is going to be in this movie.
So, one day, my family and I were walking around at the Grove Shopping Center in L.A. and I see the movie’s title on the marquee and we go see a matinee on a whim. The theater is completely empty except for four teenage girls.
All of a sudden, the scene happens where he’s in the park and the song sounded so fricking good. It captured that euphoria. It was perfect. Then, the girls start clapping and cheering. I looked over and they were the only people in the theater besides me, my wife and son.
And I’m like “okay, something’s happening here. I don’t know what this is, but they nailed it.” I think it’s one of the best marriages of music and film. That’s saying a lot but it’s a big one.
Truth be told, we sign a license and approvals for that song sometimes once or twice a week. It’s crazy. All over the world.
What’s the craziest thing that’s ever happened at a show of yours?
We got robbed in Melbourne, Australia by a masked gunman after our first show there in ’79 or ’80. We were in a restaurant they held open for us after the concert.
The door flies open and this guy with a ski mask and shotgun comes in and starts screaming “put your money on the table.”
We thought it was a joke. We thought maybe the record company planned this. Then, the guy came over to our table and I remember our bass player’s girlfriend kept trying to hide her string of pearls she had just bought in Japan.
Our road manager put a credit card on the table and the guy yelled “I don’t want f—ing plastic” and knocked it out of the way. He ran over to the other table and grabbed someone’s wife’s pocketbook. When he did that, the guy punched him and knocked him down.
After that, everybody rushed him and pushed the guy through the door. Just as we did that, the police came up the steps because the kitchen staff had called the cops. The next day, we were in the papers. We were like these big heroes.
You’re a Philly guy. What do you like about performing in AC?
I have a lot of fond memories because my mom and dad used to love to go to AC when they were still alive. My mom liked to gamble. Playing the slots was her thing. To her, it was the peak of my career to be able to play a casino in Atlantic City so they could go. They would have a casino host who would style them and take care of them so we always did that.
I’ll tell you a funny story about that, too. When our son was really young, he used to travel with us on the road because we homeschooled him. The nice thing was this gave my mom a chance to be a grandma and hang out with him.
She would always come to our room and go “let me take him and you guys can have some free time.” One day they went off and my wife and I were like, “let’s go down to the casino and get a bite to eat.”
As we got downstairs, I noticed our son standing on the rug at the edge of the casino.
Then, I saw my mom’s arm. She’s playing the slots and holding him with the other hand. I never forgot that.
Where is the craziest place you’ve heard your music?
Kazakhstan. They played “Private Eyes” all the time.
Do you have any great Hunter S. Thompson stories?
I lived across the street from him for 30 years. He liked being Hunter Thompson. He liked that persona he had developed. The cigarette holder, the hat, the booze, the motorcycle but he wasn’t always that.
He’s from Kentucky and when I got to know him a little bit better, he was a Southern gentleman if he liked you. If he didn’t like you, he had no time for you. It was one or the other.
Another thing about Hunter is that he used to bet on sports and loved all kinds of sports. It didn’t matter what sport it was. He’d always had people over to his house, and he had a big screen TV in his kitchen, and he would sit behind a little counter with his booze and hold court.
I actually wrote a story about his Landshark car that was in our cabin when we bought our property.
The thing was I had to move the car out when we started building our house. I kept knocking on his door. He would never answer because we had never met. Anyway, the keys were in the car so I started it and drove up to his lawn and left it there. He never said a word to me about this.
He was always nice to me. He liked birds and we had peacocks and guinea fowl but he also hated dogs and we had a bunch. One day, he told me “if your dogs ever come on my property, I’m gonna shoot them.” He put the line in the sand. Luckily that didn’t happen.
John Oates new music
You released back to back albums in 2024 and ’25 after a six-year hiatus. Where did the burst of creativity come from?
I don’t know how I did that.
I co-wrote the acoustic song “Reunion” with AJ Croce, who is an awesome human and artist. That song was the catalyst and became the title track of the album.
But I had a lot of acoustic songs in the vault that I never had a place for. Then, I added some new stuff and it just seemed to work.
After that, I thought “I have to do something completely different.” That led me toward the electric groove-oriented stuff. And then I just started writing like a crazy person.
The new album, “Oates,” is much more of a return to my R&B, soul, groove roots as opposed to the acoustic stuff. It was a 180 but it’s all part of my musical DNA. It’s fun to rock out a little bit more, have some energy and a bit more firepower on stage.
John Oates Good Road Band members
Oates told us about who you’ll see with him onstage should you catch him live in ’26.
“John Michelle is a really talented New Yorker drummer but I met him in Colorado 30 years ago,” the singer-songwriter said. “He and I have been playing together ever since.”
“Then, I have an old friend of mine from Nashville named Kevin McKendry, whose an amazing keyboard player,” he added.
“There’s also two new guys who played with Mickey Guyton,” Oates shared. First is Seth Cook on lead guitar, and Marc Rogers, who’s my musical director and bass player. It’s an amalgamation of old and new.”
Classic rockers on tour in 2026
Many of the biggest acts from the halcyon days of the ’70s and ’80s are taking their hits out for another spin this year.
Here are just five of our favorites you won’t want to miss live when they head to your neck of the woods.
• Ringo Starr and his All Starr Band
• Sting
Who else is revving up the tour buses? Take a look at our list of all the biggest classic rockers on tour in 2026 to find the show that will “Make Your Dreams Come True.”
Why you should trust ‘Post Wanted’ by the New York Post
This article was written by Matt Levy, New York Post live events reporter. Levy stays up-to-date on all the latest tour announcements from your favorite musical artists and comedians, as well as Broadway openings, sporting events and more live shows – and finds great ticket prices online. Since he started his tenure at the Post in 2022, Levy has reviewed a Bruce Springsteen concert and interviewed Melissa Villaseñor of SNL fame, to name a few. Please note that deals can expire, and all prices are subject to change.
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