Jorma Kaukonen & Jack Casady Announce Hot Tuna Electric Farewell Tour

After 65 years of performing together plugged in, Jorma Kaukonen and Jack Casady will trot out Electric Hot Tuna for a final run this fall after a festival appearance in July. Kaukonen, Casady and drummer Justin Guip will say farewell with the Going Fishing Tour 2023 spanning September 15 through October 7 and focusing on the East Coast.

Jorma Kaukonen and Jack Casady formed Hot Tuna in 1969 as a Jefferson Airplane side project. However, it soon became the pair’s main gig after they left the Airplane. Kaukonen and Casady made it clear they still plan to perform in their original duo format and that they are not retiring from touring. Yet this fall will mark their last time playing under the Electric Hot Tuna moniker.

Electric Hot Tuna will say farewell to Long Island with a show on July 20 at the Great South Bay Music Festival in Patchogue, New York on July 20. Then, the trio starts the last tour with shows in Rochester, New York on September 15 and Burlington, Vermont on September 16. A return to New York includes stops in Ithaca, Albany, Kingston and New York City. It’s then back to New England for concerts in Portsmouth, New Hampshire on September 25 and New Haven, Connecticut on September 27.

The Going Fishing 2023 Tour continues in Philadelphia on September 28 and in Washington D.C. on September 30. Kaukonen, Casady and Guip follow with shows in Blacksburg, Virginia on October 1; Clearwater, Florida on October 4 and Fort Lauderdale on October 5. The trek is currently slated to end with an appearance at the Suwannee Roots Revival festival in Live Oak, Florida on October 7.

Tickets go on sale this Friday, May 5 at 9 a.m. ET.

Read a statement regarding the run issued by Jorma Kaukonen:

“Around 1958 Jack and I played our first gig in Charlotte Harbour’s basement in Washington, DC. I was the singer and played rhythm guitar and Jack played lead. I was 17 and Jack was 14 … always ahead of his time. I cannot tell you exactly what songs we played, but for sure there were Buddy Holly songs, Conway Twitty songs, Jimmy Clanton songs; Just a dream, just a dream, All our plans and all our schemes. Who knew at that time what our musical dreams would become. Beyond our wildest dreams, I can tell you that. Sixty-five (count ‘em …65!) years of making music with my best friend.

“To say that everything has changed would be an understatement. Throwing your instrument in the back of your ride and piling in with your bandmates is legend for every traveling musician. Since then, collectively we’ve probably played around 15,000 gigs. We’re not done counting yet. That said, it’s time to stop thinking of living as it was… indeed, into the future we must cross.

“It has been said that the music Jack and I play was transformative and that we injected an energy into our sound full of constant improvisation taking the compass on a joyride. It is still our plan to continue in our original duo format. We are not retiring from touring, but the Electric lineup of this long-lived incarnation is going fishing for a while. The road may not go on forever, but the destination is still beyond the horizon. Friends, this is the year to catch us as ‘Electric Tuna.’ We will be inviting companions old and new to join us and we hope that you will too.

“Our big tour is set for September 2023 with a special show on July 20 at the Great South Bay Music Festival Patchogue, NY. Get your tickets for this historic run at selective venues in cities on the east coast. … Jorma”