Elton John’s farewell tour ends in 2021 and his show is low-key well-rehearsed and full of humour
- Elton John played two dozen of his hits and was surprisingly restrained
- The three-year world tour will include Hong Kong and other Asian cities
You have to love Elton John’s idea of a sizzle reel. As shown on an enormous screen last week in Los Angeles, where the veteran pop star was appearing as part of the world tour he says will be his last, the carefully edited video package synchronised John’s performance of his song I’m Still Standing to highlights from his half-century career.
We saw him accepting an Academy Award. We saw him onstage in his famously bedazzled Dodgers uniform. And we saw that time a few years ago when he tried to sit down at a tennis match – then immediately tumbled out of his chair.
“Looking like a true survivor,” he sang, before adding, “Feeling like a little kid.”
John’s inclusion of the embarrassing moment was in keeping with the sense of humour that’s always distinguished his work.
It was especially welcome, though, at the LA Staples Centre show, which might have been a far more pompous affair. John’s tour – called the Farewell Yellow Brick Road after the smash 1973 album with which it almost shares a title – launched last year and is scheduled to end in 2021, including dates in Hong Kong and other cities in Asia.
The marketing material for the “Farewell Yellow Brick Road” tour refers to John’s having “redefined the cultural landscape” and his readiness to “fully embrace the next important chapter of [his] life”. But if you walked in fearing a self-congratulating slog, that’s not what John had in mind.