After five years, 333 concerts and an eye-watering $900 million in ticket sales, Sir Elton John’s Farewell Yellow Brick Road tour comes to a close on Saturday night in Stockholm, Sweden.
The mammoth worldwide trip was announced by the legendary musician in January 2018 and, as the tour’s name suggests, Elton revealed it would be his last ever string of live performances.
“It’s time to come off the road so I can fully embrace the next important chapter of my life,” Elton, now 76, said at a press conference in New York at the time.
The Tiny Dancer star, who shares sons Zachary and Elijah with his husband David Furnish, added: “I need to dedicate more time to raising my children.”
But for anyone worried Elton will be completely disappearing from public life, we have good news: He’s not quitting showbiz altogether.
First of all, the Rocket Man singer does have previous when it comes to saying farewell to the live stage only to backtrack on his decision.
While he does sound much more certain this time around, this ‘goodbye’ tour is his third, and at Glastonbury, he dropped the biggest hint yet that he could return to the stage after all.
“I never thought I’d ever play at Glastonbury and here I am,” Elton said. “It’s a very special and emotional night for me because it may be my last show ever in England and Great Britain.”
Whether or not he changes his mind, a vacation is the first order of the day – and Elton being Elton, the destination is anything but ordinary.
David told the Mirror in April that sons Zachary and Elijah, aged 12 and 10 respectively, are the driving force behind their decisions.
“Our sons both want to go to the Antarctic and Elton wants to go to the Antarctic as well,” he said. “It has been identified as a goal by everybody.”
David, who married Elton in a lavish ceremony in 2005, also shared that he wants to take the family to India and added that they do have some plans closer to home too.
“Elton wants to take the boys to more Watford [football] games – as long as they win,” he said.
After the extended break, Elton will set to work on his 31st studio album.
David told Sky News: “He’s going to go back into the studio in October and start his next album. Which will be great. He’s not done a studio album in a long time.”
The absence of a gruelling tour schedule will also mean Elton has more time to devote to his AIDS Foundation, which has raised over $500 million to eradicate AIDS and offer HIV prevention services in 55 countries.
“We have to continue to break down barriers and break down rules,” David told Metro last week. “Once we get to people effectively, the news is really, really good and that’s why we believe we can end AIDS by 2030.
“I couldn’t have dreamed that we’d make the progress that we’ve made, but you can’t ever take it for granted and there are unfortunately extreme rightwing forces in our world who have a very, very toxic political agenda.
“There’s a lot of lobbying and a lot of funding. There’s a lot of misinformation coming across on social media. A lot of things that stoke fear. A lot of – particularly with the trans community – really hateful, horrible stigmatisation messaging. It’s being shared and it’s not true.”