84-Year-Old Nancy Sinatra Comes Out of Retirement to Perform Live at L.A. Fire Benefit

Lauren Novak March 18, 12:40 pm

Nancy Sinatra attends the press night of — Tabatha Fireman/Getty Images

Let’s Get L.Aid, a Los Angeles concert benefiting victims of the city’s recent wildfires, boasted many celebrity guests, including headliner “Weird Al” Yankovic — but the evening’s biggest moment arrived courtesy of a surprise appearance from Nancy Sinatra, 84, who came out of retirement to perform her 1966 hit “These Boots Are Made for Walkin’.”

Sinatra shared a video of herself at the event, which occurred on Sunday night at L.A.’s United Theater, on Instagram and wrote, “Hello everyone! Wow, what an incredible evening! I just wanted to say a huge thank you for all the kind words about the @laidbenefit performance last night.

“It has been a long time since I was last onstage and the welcome I received was heartwarming. The audience was absolutely fantastic and contributed to several charities.”

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She continued, “I had a blast with Paul Shaffer (@thepaulshaffer), my ever-reliable friend Don Randi (@donrandijazz), Erik Paparozzi (@erikpaparazzi), and “Weird Al” Yankovic (@alfredyankovic)!! The bass player known as JayJo (@jjoberle) was amazing, and the drummer, Vince (@nickvincent9) held it all together. One of the biggest thrills of the evening was sharing the stage with my incredibly talented 13-year-old granddaughter for the very first time. I couldn’t be prouder of her! And I have to admit that one of the highlights was getting to hug one of my heroes, the always brilliant Paula Poundstone (@paulapoundstone). What a night to remember!”

Nancy Sinatra attends the Broadway opening of "Come Fly Away" at the Marriott Marquis on March 25, 2010 in New York City

Mike Coppola/Getty Images

Sinatra has not performed live in a number of years; in a 2023 interview with Billboard, Sinatra said that she missed recording and performing “every day of my life,” but felt she was too old to tour: “No, I’m too old now. I wouldn’t be able to tour. I suppose men can do it but I don’t know about women my age who tour. Do you?”

The show also featured performances from Rufus Wainwright, the Beach Boys‘ Al Jardine, Peter Asher, Margaret Cho, Maria Bamford, Neil Hamburger, Reggie Watts and Monty Python‘s Eric Idle. Idle appeared at the end of the night, backed up by all of the show’s guests, to sing “Always Look on the Bright Side of Life,” from the 1979 film Monty Python’s Life of Brian.

Another notable moment: Yankovic brought out Puddles Pity Party, the clown who serves as an opening act on Yankovic’s tour, along with comedian Tim Heidecker to sing Tom Petty‘s “Free Fallin.'” Yankovic also performed Randy Newman‘s “I Love L.A.,” showing love for the city that has been through so much.