Alan Jackson gives Xcel Energy Center crowd a night of nostalgia on his farewell tour

Country star Alan Jackson brought his farewell tour, dubbed Last Call: One More for the Road, to about 14,000 glowing fans at St. Paul’s Xcel Energy Center on Friday night.

But at 63, some might question why he’s hanging up his hat now when musical acts from all genres aren’t letting their advancing age stop them. Look at Pink Floyd’s Roger Waters, who plays Target Center on Saturday, or Diana Ross, who is set to headline the Grandstand on the second Saturday of the Minnesota State Fair. They’re both, wait for it, 78.

It turns out health issues have forced the Georgia native to say goodbye to the road. He has the rare degenerative nerve condition Charcot-Marie-Tooth disorder. It’s not deadly, but it can make getting around difficult. As Jackson told “Today” host Jenna Bush: “There’s no cure for it, but it’s been affecting me for years. And it’s getting more and more obvious. And I know I’m stumbling around onstage. And now I’m having a little trouble balancing, even in front of the microphone, and so I just feel very uncomfortable.”

As such, Friday’s concert — the third date of the 16-city tour — wasn’t overly flashy or fussy. But, then again, Jackson himself has never a grand showman. He’s always let his music do the talking.

The big question was just which songs he would choose to air. During his peak years from 1990 to 2012, nearly every one of his much-loved singles hit the Top 5, with 26 making it all the way to No. 1. Of course, his biggest three smashes showed up near the end of his main set, including 1991’s “Don’t Rock the Jukebox” and 1993’s “Chattahoochee,” both of which Billboard proclaimed the No. 1 song of its year. As did his longest-lasting chart-topper “It’s Five O’Clock Somewhere,” originally a duet with Jimmy Buffett.

From there, he wove some of his cover versions (“Summertime Blues,” “Who’s Cheating Who,” “It Must Be Love”) in with hits from throughout his career, from his 1989 breakthrough “Here in the Real World” to “The Older I Get,” the lead single from his most-recent album “Where Have You Gone.”

Scenes from his old music videos and other vintage footage flickered on the main screen behind him, while the two smaller ones focused on the evening’s main attraction. Jackson also took the opportunity to get nostalgic and shared several stories with the rapt audience. He talked about worrying he’d have to get a real job when his first single flopped. He said he was always amazed there were so many country fans “this far up north” and took a shine to the state’s many lakes. He joked about having a mullet back in the ’90s and then found a kid in the crowd with a magnificent one.

Throughout the 90-minute show, Jackson thanked the audience numerous times. And unlike some other acts on farewell tours, it sounded like he actually meant it.

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