Elton John to play final UK concert at Glastonbury
Sir Elton John has been confirmed as the first headliner of Glastonbury 2023, for what will be the last UK date of his farewell tour.
The legendary musician will top the bill on the Pyramid Stage on Sunday 25 June 2023, it was announced this morning (2 December).
“There is no more fitting way to say goodbye to my British fans,” says John in a statement announcing the show. “I can’t wait to embrace the spirit of the greatest festival in the world. It’s going to be incredibly emotional.”
Festival organiser Emily Eavis comments: “It gives me enormous pleasure to let you know that the one and only Elton John will be making his first-ever Glastonbury appearance, headlining the Pyramid Stage on the Sunday night next year.
“This will be the final UK show of Elton’s last-ever tour, so we will be closing the festival and marking this huge moment in both of our histories with the mother of all send-offs.”
The star teased the announcement yesterday (1 December), posting an Instagram photo captioned: “One final date to announce… the Rocket Man is incoming.”
“I can’t wait to embrace the spirit of the greatest festival in the world. It’s going to be incredibly emotional”
Around the same time, the BBC’s Glastonbury webcam featured an image of a rocket ship in the sky above the Pyramid stage.
Sir Elton’s Glastonbury performance will come at the end of the UK leg of his 350-date Farewell Yellow Brick Road tour, which kicks off in Liverpool next March.
After Glastonbury, the 75-year-old only has seven dates left to play in Europe before he retires from touring.
The star recently wrapped up the US leg of the tour with a three-night stand at LA’s Dodger Stadium – where, in 1975, he cemented his icon status with two historic gigs, bedecked in a sequinned Dodgers Baseball uniform. There, he was joined by Brandi Carlile, Kiki Dee and Dua Lipa.
The Farewell Yellow Brick Road tour had been due to run from September 2018 to 2021, encompassing five continents and over 350 dates but it was disrupted by the pandemic and John’s hip problems. The tour already topped Pollstar’s Top 100 Worldwide Tours chart for 2019 by the time the world paused and is poised to again be a contender in 2022.
While box office reports are still coming in, Pollstar reported in late November that more than 3.6 million tickets were sold for 164 of his shows, grossing more than $511 million.
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Roblox enlists Elton John for immersive experience
Elton John has become the latest artist to launch an immersive experience on online gaming platform Roblox.
‘Elton John Presents: Beyond the Yellow Brick Road’ allows users to follow a yellow brick road through an interactive world inspired by the singer-songwriter’s life and legacy.
The experience includes digital fashion designed by 20 Roblox community creators, photographs, interactive challenges set to his greatest hit songs, daily scavenger hunts and trivia quizzes.
In addition, there will be a series of ten-minute virtual performances made up of Elton’s best-loved songs, starting on 17 November, with additional performances re-airing hourly through 20 November.
The special performances will coincide with Elton’s run of Dodger Stadium shows (17–20 November), which will see him make history once again as he returns to the iconic LA venue for the first time since his legendary performance in 1975.
Virtual experience visitors are also able to earn and collect yellow bricks, as they explore interactive challenges, allowing them the chance to gain VIP access to hear a dedicated message from Elton and have their avatar appear on stage with him at his final show at Dodger Stadium on 20 November.
After the Dodger Stadium concerts, ‘Elton John: Beyond the Yellow Brick Road’ will live on – with new experiences, music, fashion and more – as an immersive capsule in the metaverse.
‘Elton John Presents: Beyond the Yellow Brick Road’ was created by Elton John and Rocket Entertainment with Roblox creators, with support from Universal Music Group.
“Beyond the Yellow Brick Road’ is the next step on [my] journey as I prepare to step away from live touring”
“I’m absolutely thrilled to be launching ‘Beyond the Yellow Brick Road’ on Roblox,” says Elton John. “I’ve seen the joy that Roblox has bought to my boys and the possibility it creates by the ability to interact with fans in such an exciting, and forward-looking way has been mind-blowing to me. I’ve always been myself and used my image, eyewear, and music to express myself, and Roblox really encourages that self-expression.
“Now my fans can do the same, and that’s really exciting. At every step of my career, I’ve always wanted to push forward and look to the future, and ‘Beyond the Yellow Brick Road’ is the next step on that journey as I prepare to step away from live touring after 50 years on the road. It’s genuinely thrilling, and I can’t wait to see the response from my fans and the Roblox community.”
David Furnish, CEO of Rocket Entertainment, adds: “Elton is a visionary creative with a life full of major music and fashion moments significant to the culture of then and now and lived his life like an avatar! ‘Beyond the Yellow Brick Road’ is an extraordinary collection of some of these moments that we have had a lot of fun recreating with the Roblox community since Rocket Entertainment began this project. As Elton says farewell to touring at Dodger Stadium, we’re excited for the opportunities that spaces like Roblox offer to ensure Elton’s music and legacy may continue to bring joy to the world.”
Sir Lucian Grainge, chairman & CEO of Universal Music Group, comments: “In the decades we’ve worked together, my commitment to Elton has been to build the largest global audience for his creative genius, spanning his recorded music, songwriting, fashion and performances. As Elton wraps up his monumental final tour, we are extremely excited to help bring ‘Beyond the Yellow Brick Road’ to life so that new generations of fans, now and for years to come, will continue to be entertained and inspired by his songs and music.”
Roblox has previously hosted immersive experiences and/or virtual concerts with the likes of The Chainsmokers, Charli XCX, Lizzo, Gayle, Lil Nas X, Twenty One Pilots, 24kGoldn, Royal Blood, David Guetta and Ava Max.
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Elton tour on target to be biggest Oz/NZ run ever
Elton John’s Farewell Yellow Brick Road run is shaping up to become the biggest tour in Australia and New Zealand history after promoters announced a fresh slate of shows.
Staged by Chugg Entertainment, Frontier Touring and AEG Presents, dates have been added at the 30,000-cap McDonald Jones Stadium in Newcastle (8 January), the 30,000-cap AAMI Park, Melbourne (14 January) and the 45,000-cap Allianz Stadium in Sydney (17 January).
The Australasia leg of the Farewell Yellow Brick Road tour was the biggest tour globally in the first half of 2020, according to Pollstar. Sir Elton grossed US$87.1m from 38 shows during the mid-year reporting period, with a total of 664,749 tickets sold, before touring ground to a pandemic-induced halt in March 2020.
The all-time list is currently headed by Ed Sheeran’s 2018 Divide tour, which racked up 950,000 ticket sales, and Dire Straits’ 1986 Brothers In Arms tour, which moved 900,000. However, Farewell Yellow Brick Road will go to the top of the list with 980,500 tickets sold if the remaining concerts sell out.
“If we sell every ticket, we will be just shy of a million”
“If we sell every ticket, we will be just shy of a million over all the Farewell YBR shows,” promoter Michael Chugg tells The Music Network.
Comprising well over 300 shows, the Farewell Yellow Brick Road tour kicked off in the US in September 2018 and it currently scheduled to wrap up in Europe in summer 2023.
Prior to the new shows being announced, the overall sales tally for Australia/New Zealand leg was set to settle on 875,000, putting it in third place in the region historically. Tickets for the latest set of dates went on sale on Monday (1 August).
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Elton John forced to postpone already-rescheduled tour
Elton John has been forced to postpone the 2021 UK and European legs of his Farewell Yellow Brick Road Tour.
The already-postponed farewell shows, scheduled by international agency Marshall Arts, had been set to take place from the end of this month through to December, with UK dates in London, Manchester and Birmingham.
John, 74, has now confirmed yesterday (16 September) that he has been forced to reschedule his remaining 2021 tour dates to start in April 2023, saying that it is a decision he took “with great sadness and a heavy heart”.
The postponements extend a tour that Elton has said is his final ever.
“At the end of my summer break I fell awkwardly on a hard surface and have been in considerable pain and discomfort in my hip ever since,” John explained in his statement.
“Despite intensive physio and specialist treatment, the pain has continued to get worse and is leading to increasing difficulties moving.
“At the end of my summer break I fell awkwardly on a hard surface and have been in considerable pain and discomfort in my hip”
“I have been advised to have an operation as soon as possible to get me back to full fitness and make sure there are no long-term complications. I will be undertaking a program of intensive physiotherapy that will ensure a full recovery and a return to full mobility without pain.”
John says he still intends to play his forthcoming charity gig for the Global Citizen event on 25 September “as I don’t want to let a charity down”.
“Being just five songs it’s a very different physical undertaking to the demands of playing for close to three hours every night on tour and travelling overnight between countries,” he said. “After this I will be having the operation to ensure the tour can get back on the road in January 2022 in New Orleans.
“I know how patient my incredible fans have been since Covid halted touring last year, and it breaks my heart to keep you waiting any longer. I completely feel your frustrations after the year we’ve had.
“I promise you this – the shows will return to the road next year and I will make sure they are more than worth the wait.”
The Australasia leg of the Farewell Yellow Brick Road tour was the biggest tour globally in the first half of 2020, according to Pollstar box-office numbers.
John will headline American Express presents BST Hyde Park on Friday 24 June 2022.
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$1bn artists line up global tours as confidence builds
Some of the world’s biggest artists, collectively worth more than US$1 billion in ticket revenue between 2018 and 2020, will hit the road again in 2021 and ’22, as confidence builds for a return to international touring over the next 12 months.
Sir Elton John, Celine Dion, Metallica, Michael Bublé, Guns N’ Roses, Bruce Springsteen and Eagles – all of whom ranked among the highest-grossing tours of 2018, 2019 and 2020, grossing more than $1bn between them – have in recent weeks revealed plans for new or rescheduled global tours, many of them starting as soon as this summer.
Sir Elton has extended his disrupted final tour, Farewell Yellow Brick Road, with a bumper 30-date, six-month stadium run across across mainland Europe, the UK and the United States.
Here they are – my final tour dates ever in North America and Europe! This has been an incredible tour so far and I'll be going out in the biggest possible way. I can't wait to see you all on the road one last time 🚀🚀🚀
🎫 → https://t.co/fEQsOiiRjO#EltonFarewellTour pic.twitter.com/rlXs6cHsA7
— Elton John (@eltonofficial) June 23, 2021
“Hello, all you wonderful fans out there. I’m coming to you today with an announcement I’ve been working towards for, well, all my life: the shows that I announce today will be my final tour dates ever in North America and Europe,” he says in a statement.
“I’m going to go out in the biggest possible way, performing at my very best, with the most spectacular production I’ve ever had, playing in places that have meant so much to me throughout my career.
“Whether it’s next summer in Frankfurt or at the legendary Dodger Stadium for the grand finale in the United States, I can’t wait to see you all on the road one last time. This has been an incredible tour so far, full of the most amazing highs, and I look forward to making more wonderful memories with you at these final shows.”
The Farewell Yellow Brick Road tour, Sir Elton’s farewell tour, was brought to a halt by the coronavirus pandemic last March, with the last show on 7 March 2020 at Bankwest Stadium in Parramatta, Australia. The tour resumes on 1 September at Mercedes-Benz Arena in Berlin and will conclude in Australasia in 2023.
The tour, produced and promoted by AEG Presents, grossed $212 million in 2019 and $71.2m in 2020.
“I’m going to go out in the biggest possible way, performing at my very best”
Springsteen, who grossed an incredible $88.3m from his Springsteen on Broadway shows, which had an average ticket price of $509, in 2018, also has live plans for 2022.
As well as reviving Springsteen on Broadway, Springsteen confirmed to E Street Radio on SiriusXM he is planning a full tour with his E Street Band in 2022. “I knew we were going to tour with the band next year,” he said, “[but] I had a friend who got so enthusiastic about it [Springsteen on Broadway] that he talked me into it sitting on my couch one night. The next day I said, ‘OK, we’ll do some shows.’ It really came around kind of casually.”
Eagles, meanwhile recently added another six dates to their long-delayed Hotel California tour, which kicks off at Madison Square Garden in New York in August.
While the band has only announced the rescheduled US dates so far (the first leg ends at Chase Center in San Francisco on 23 October 2021), pre-pandemic the Live Nation-promoted tour included included dates in London (Wembley Stadium) and Los Cabos, Mexico (Cabo en Vivo), so it is expected that additional European and Latin American shows are still to be announced.
Eagles grossed $166m from their 2018 North American tour.
Metal titans Metallica earlier this month announced six European festival shows for 2022, adding to the open-air shows pencilled in for the US in September, October and November 2021.
“We have waited far too long to say these words: we’re getting back out there”
Under the banner The Return of the European Summer Vacation, the band will play headline shows at Denmark’s Copenhell, the Netherlands’ Pinkpop, Italy’s Firenze Rocks, the Czech Republic’s Prague Rocks, Belgium’s Rock Werchter, Spain’s Mad Cool and Portugal’s NOS Alive. .
“We have waited far too long to say these words: we’re getting back out there and are finally announcing our return to Europe in 2022,” say Metallica in a statement. “Needless to say, we cannot wait to see all of you once again as our European ’tallica Family will finally have a chance to reunite in June and July of next year.”
The festivals next year will be Metallica’s first European shows since their Worldwired global tour, which grossed a total of $179m in 2019.
Elsewhere, Bublé (who grossed $115.8m in 2019 and $24.8m in 2020) is resuming his An Evening With Michael Bublé tour in North America in August, while Dion’s (2020 gross: $71.2m) postponed Courage world tour will finally kick off the same month in Winnipeg.
Also resuming a postponed tour this summer are Guns’ N Roses, whose world stadium tour – newly rechristened We’re F’n’ Back! – will begin at Hersheypark Stadium in Hershey, Pennsylvania, on 31 July 2021. The tour will include Australasian dates later this year and a string of European stadium shows next summer.
Opening the tour will be the late Eddie Van Halen’s bassist, son Wolfgang, with his band Mammoth WVH.
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Elton John records biggest tour in Covid-hit H1 2020
With gross earnings of nearly US$90 million, Elton John’s Farewell Yellow Brick Road was the biggest tour globally in the first half of 2020 according to the latest Pollstar box-office numbers.
The site’s mid-year Top 100 Worldwide Tours shows Sir Elton had grossed $87.1m from 38 shows, with a total of 664,749 tickets sold, when concert touring ground to a pandemic-induced halt in March. (The ‘mid-year’ reporting period runs from 21 November 2019 to 20 May 2020, though the final show of John’s only 2020 touring period, at Western Sydney Stadium in Australia, took place months before, on 7 March.)
Sir Elton’s AEG-promoted success down under outshone his nearest competition to the tune of $16m, Celine Dion placing second with Courage world tour, which played arenas in North America from September to March. Another AEG tour, Courage grossed $71.2m from 33 shows, with 408,407 tickets sold.
Third and fourth, and the only other artists grossing more than $50m, were Trans-Siberian Orchestra and U2, respectively, while fifth-placed Post Malone recorded $38.8m from 22 dates.
Live Nation, unsurprisingly, retains its crown as the number-one promoter; Madrid’s WizInk Center is a new entry for top arena, having sold 30,000 more tickets than second-placed Madison Square Garden.
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Peex comes to Europe on Elton John farewell tour
Peex, the tech start-up which allows concertgoers to create their own audio mix of live shows, has announced its launch in Europe on Elton John’s Farewell Yellow Brick Road tour.
Launched last May, the Peex Live platform enables fans to create their own five-channel mix of the live concert sound via a piece of wearable technology, the rX, and a companion app.
Introduced at a special price of €10 per show, the rX will be available to rent at select dates on Sir Elton’s European tour this summer, starting with a 1 May show in Vienna and continuing to Poland, the Czech Republic, Germany, the Netherlands, Denmark, Sweden, Belgium, Norway, Italy, France, the Republic of Ireland, Spain, Switzerland and the UK.
Pieter Hamelink, Peex CEO, comments: “We are thrilled to be able to showcase our technology to even more fans across Europe. Feedback from the US leg of Elton John’s Farewell Yellow Brick Road tour was overwhelmingly positive and we are now pleased to take the next step in offering PEEX to European fans.
“I’ve been working with the talented team at Peex, who have developed an incredible new technology”
“Our special introductory price is designed to attract attending fans to experience a much more immersive and enhanced show.”
“Throughout my 50-year career, playing live has always been so important to me. I am passionate about giving my fans my best possible performance and making sure they get the best possible experience,” adds Sir Elton John.
“Over the last four years I’ve been working with the talented team at Peex, who have developed an incredible new technology that will revolutionise the way fans listen to live music. Make sure you check it out.”
Peex’s official European launch follows years of development and testing at over 80 live shows and more than over 15 major venues in the US and Europe.
The company is also offering a 20% pre-order discount by using the discount code “ELTON” for fans booking online in advance on the Peex website.
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Elton gets a stadium upgrade for Montreux shows
The two Elton John shows at this summer’s Montreux Jazz Festival have been combined into a single open-air date, accommodating a further 7,000 fans alongside the massive production of the Farewell Yellow Brick Road tour.
Sir Elton, originally scheduled to play two shows at the 4,000-capacity Stravinski Auditorium on 29 and 30 June, will now play to 15,000 people at Montreux’s Saussaz Stadium on the 29th. All tickets for the Stravinski shows remain valid for the new date, although those wishing to receive a refund will be able to do so via email.
Another 7,000 tickets will also go on sale, at the same price of 185 SFr. (standing) or 450 SFr. (seated).
“Elton John will be doing a giant show which draws on a 50-year career,” Montreux festival director Mathieu Jaton tells Swiss daily le Temps, who explains that following the successful debut of the AEG-promoted Farewell Yellow Brick Road tour in the US, Sir Elton requested to bring the full stage production to Europe.
“Elton John will be doing a giant show which draws on a 50-year career”
“There were two or three places where we could not fit this gigantic production, including the Stravinsky Auditorium, so we looked for another solution.”
The Farewell Yellow Brick Road tour kicked off in North America in September, heading to Europe this summer for a string of arena, stadium and festival dates.
The 53rd Montreux Jazz Festival begins on 28 June and runs until 13 July 2019. The full 2019 line-up will be announced on 9 April.
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Elton John teams up with Twickets for farewell tour
Sir Elton John has today announced a partnership with fan-to-fan ticket reselling platform Twickets in the run up to his final world tour Farewell Yellow Brick Road.
The Twickets platform provides fans with a space to resell unwanted or spare tickets at no more than its original price. Described by the service as an “ethical” way to resell event tickets, it is hoped the partnership will help “combat the secondary ticketing market” looking to potentially exploit Elton John fans.
The tour, which kicks off on 8 September in Allentown, Philadelphia, will make 300 stops over the next three years, playing to an estimated 7 million fans before 2021. It has already started breaking records, selling 450,000 tickets on its first day of presale and selling out 76 shows instantly, becoming the fastest selling American Express presale ever.
“I plan to bring the passion and creativity that has entertained my fans for decades to my final tour.”
Speaking about the tour, which will mark the end of a 50-year-long career, Sir Elton John says: “Performing live fuels me and I’m ecstatic and humbled to continue to play to audiences across the globe.
“I plan to bring the passion and creativity that has entertained my fans for decades to my final tour. After the tour finishes, I’m very much looking forward to closing off that chapter of my life by saying farewell to life on the road. I need to dedicate more time to raising my children.”
The Farewell Yellow Brick Road Tour has already partnered with live music platform Peex on select dates. The company’s wearable concert technology aims to provide concertgoers with an improved, augmented reality version of the show, as well as provide exclusive access to concert-related content.
Tickets for Farewell Yellow Brick Road can be bought and resold using the dedicated Elton John Twickets website.
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Peex launches with Elton John partnership
The live music platform Peex has launched this week with an exclusive partnership with Sir Elton John, ahead of the start of his final worldwide tour Farewell Yellow Brick Road. Via Peex Live and Peex ReLive the company aims to “improve the connection between fans and artists,” by creating personalised concert experiences through their augmented audio reality technology.
From September 2018, concertgoers at select dates of the Farewell Yellow Brick Road Tour will be able to use Live to enhance their experience.
Live allows users to manipulate concert sound in real time, whilst still remaining completely immersed in the event. Using the wearable device – the Peex rX – and their app, concertgoers will have access to high quality audio and a five channel mix of the concert. The result is a completely personalised concert experience.
“PEEX [have] developed an incredible new technology that will revolutionise the way fans listen to live music”
Once the curtain goes down, users can purchase audio downloads of past shows via ReLive. Elton John concerts powered by the company will be available for download as well as future Live concerts. Additionally, to celebrate its launch and partnership with Elton John, ReLive will offer users the opportunity to purchase five never-before-seen recordings of past Elton John shows.
Peex’s launch in the UK, US and Europe follows years of testing and development at various shows and venues and with multiple artists. For three years, Sir Elton has worked with the company, saying: “I am passionate about giving my fans my best possible performance and making sure they get the best possible experience.
“…Peex [have] developed an incredible new technology that will revolutionise the way fans listen to live music.”
The app is currently available to download for free in the UK, US, Netherlands and Germany from both the App Store and the Google Play Store. Additional countries will be added throughout the summer of 2018.
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