Elton John is retiring from the stage after a 300-date farewell tour
January 25, 2018Hot on the heels of music legend Neil Diamond announcing his retirement from live performing, the equally iconic Elton John has also let it be known that his road days will soon be behind him – but it’s thankfully not because of health reasons. My heart couldn’t take another blow right now.
During a live press conference in New York on Wednesday afternoon, which was streamed on Elton’s VEVO channel on YouTube, he performed his hits “I’m Still Standing” and “Tiny Dancer” before telling moderator Anderson Cooper that he was taking his final bow after a massive global farewell tour. The 70-year-old singer told Cooper, “I’m not going to be touring and traveling the world. My priorities have changed. I have young children.” He added that his adopted sons with husband David Furnish, Elijah, four, and Zachary, six, are getting older and are at “an important time in their lives I love them so much and I don’t want to miss them and I don’t want them too miss me.”
In order to properly say goodbye to his fans from around the world, Elton is embarking on a three-year, 300-date global tour, dubbed the Farewell Yellow Brick Road Tour, kicking off in Allentown, Pennsylvania on September 8th. Tickets go on sale on Friday, February 2nd. Of the tour, Elton told Cooper, “It’s a way of going out with a bang. I don’t want to go out with a whimper.” He then joked, “I’m not a whimper-y guy.” Elton promises that the show will “be the most produced, fantastic show I’ve ever done.” The guy owns Vegas, so I would expect nothing less. His costumes will be designed by Gucci, because, as he put it, the fashion house “gets the spirit of Elton John” so expect some fabulousness.
Don’t worry fans, this tour doesn’t mean that Elton is hanging up his bedazzled glasses anytime soon. He assured the assembled crowd that a farewell tour “doesn’t mean I won’t still be creative,” asserting “I’ll be creative until the day I die.”
Elton has amassed 300 million album sales, with 38 gold and 31 platinum albums, with his last effort, 2016’s Wonderful Crazy Night ranked as one of the year’s 50 best albums by Rolling Stone. In addition to counting to make music, he’s also working on his memoir, set to be published in 2019. In a statement announcing the project back in October, Elton said, “My life has been one helluva rollercoaster ride and it’s still lumbering on. I hope readers will enjoy the ride too.”
He’s still standing, that’s for sure, but don’t think Elton is going the way of acts like KISS and Cher, staging multiple farewell tours. As Elton quipped, “I’m not Cher…even though I like wearing her clothes.” When asked if there’s anything left for him to do in his professional career, Elton responded, “There’s always something left, Anderson. If you look and you’re willing to accept new things, life unfolds for you.” You can see Elton performing on Sunday night’s GRAMMY Awards.
Love him or hate him (I am firmly in the former here), Elton is a legend, and I’m sad to see him go. I have been fortunate enough to see him live a few times, the most memorable being at a private event back in my CNN days. He may be a diva (oh, who are we kidding? See the documentary Tantrums and Tiaras if you don’t believe me), but his philanthropic work through his AIDS Foundation has helped so many people. I will definitely be in the audience to say my farewell.
Photos: Getty Images, WENN.com