James Taylor announces 2026 tour, including San Diego concert in April

by George Varga

After touring extensively last spring and summer, James Taylor is wasting no time getting back on the road this year with his aptly named All-Star Band.

The legendary singer-songwriter and 2000 Rock & Roll Hall of Fame inductee will embark on a 2026 U.S. concert tour that opens with two shows in Southern California. The first is April 26 at the Yaamava’ Theater in Highland. The second is April 28 at the Rady Shell at Jacobs Park in San Diego, the same venue where Taylor and his 11-piece band performed two sold-out concerts last May.

James Taylor’s San Diego concert a triumph of skill, tenacity, charm and wit

Taylor’s 29-date tour includes only one other California stop, a May 6 show at the Santa Barbara Bowl. It concludes with three concerts in Florida between Sept. 22 and Sept. 26. He has seven previously announced concerts scheduled in Europe in July.

The fabled troubadour, who will turn 77 on March 12, is now at work on a new album and Broadway-bound stage musical, “Fire and Rain.” It is not, as he noted in a San Diego Union-Tribune interview last year, a traditional jukebox musical.

James Taylor on his new musical, songwriting, Ukraine and more: ‘It helps to have a deadline’

“This particular one we’re working on is not connected to my life at all,” he explained. “I mean, except that, of course, it’s using very autobiographical, personal songs that I’ve written. But there’s a story that the music supports, and is woven into the music and into the story. It’s a fascinating process, but it doesn’t occupy me so constantly that I don’t have time to write new songs. I am due for another album. And I want very much to put together another batch of songs.”

Tickets for all of the U.S. concerts on Taylor’s 2026 tour go on sale to the general public Friday, Jan. 16., at 10 a.m. local time. A pre-sale will begin Thursday at 10 a.m. local time at ticketmaster.com. The password is: GV2026. Tickets for the San Diego concert are priced from $79.50 to $189.50 each.