9 Years In the past Right now: George Jones Performs His Closing Present [Watch]

George Jones performed his ultimate present on April 6, 2013, on the Knoxville Civic Coliseum in Knoxville, Tenn., closing together with his signature music, “He Stopped Loving Her Right now.” Whereas followers in attendance did not know they have been witnessing historical past, Jones did. The ultimate efficiency of Jones’ legendary profession is offered on YouTube.

The Tennessean shares how Jones informed his spouse, Nancy, “I simply did my final present. And I gave ’em hell,” after leaving the stage that night time. The subsequent morning he’d enter the hospital, and he by no means got here residence. Guests would come and go, however few other than Alan Jackson spent greater than a handful of minutes.

The 81-year-old Jones’ voice is raspy within the clip of his ultimate live performance efficiency, and his respiratory labored. At one level, he sits down and virtually misses his cue to return again in, however there wasn’t a single fan who cared. Hearken to the screams and hollers, in addition to how the coliseum stuffed with followers picked him up, main him to the end. As the ultimate drum crash and guitar chords light away, so, too, it appears, did the tip of an period.

Jones died on April 26, 2013, from hypoxic respiratory failure, a situation that happens when there’s too little oxygen current for the physique to hold out its primary capabilities. He was laid to relaxation in an elaborate ceremony that befell on the Grand Ole Opry Home in Nashville on Might 2 that was open to the general public.

See Inside George Jones’ Grand Southern Mansion: