Cancer-stricken country star Toby Keith has returned to the stage to play two pop -up concerts.
Toby Keith played two shows in his home state over the Independence Day weekend
The 61-year-old singer went public with his health crisis last year revealing he was diagnosed with stomach cancer in autumn 2021 and planned to step away from music to focus on undergoing surgery as well as rounds of chemo and radiation therapy - but he's now made good on a promise to return to the stage by playing two shows in his home state of Oklahoma over the Independence Day weekend.
Toby performed a pair of two-and-a-half–hour gigs last Friday (30.06.23) and Saturday (01.07.23) at the Hollywood Corners music bar in the city of Norman.
Video taken at one of the concerts shows the singer belting out his hits and telling the crowd: "I’m gonna keep on doing all these number one hits I wrote."
His set list is said to have included 'Whiskey Girl', 'I Love This Bar', 'American Life' and a cover of Bill Withers’ classic 'Ain’t No Sunshine'.
Speaking after the show, one concert-goer named Joanna Hall told The Oklahoman: "He seemed a little taken aback that that many people were there. He was like, ‘This was supposed to be a secret. … This was a bigger secret than what I intended'."
Keith previously told the paper he was hoping to play a couple of shows to get ready for a potential return to the road as his health has bene improving in recent months.
He told The Oklahoman: "I'm feeling pretty good.'Basically, everything is in a real positive trend. You never know with cancer, so you have to prepare." Toby went on to say he's hoping to be "out on the road this fall", adding: "I've got more wind. And I'm thinking about bringing the band in and setting up, playing two or three days somewhere just to see if I can get through two hours ... "All I gotta do is see if I can get through two or three nights of work and get a little break in this chemo, and we'll go back to work ... I'm ready ... that's living."
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