Sir Elton John - Farewell Yellow Brick Road tour, final tour before he retires from touring *

Why? I am guessing that you are not one of those people who had hoped to see him on the final tour but missed out because of COVID-19, and who are hoping to eventually see him next year. before the chance is completely gone.

Elton is no saint, but one thing I have noticed over the years is that he seems to have a lot of respect for his fans. He never forgets that it's because of them that he has fame and creature comforts that he has now. He does a lot of concerts in smaller regional locations like Launceston, Toowomba and Geelong, places that normally never see any performers of his stature. The fact that he can easily afford to do that, and carry any losses, is beside the point. Most musicians simply wouldn't bother.

 

I was fortunate enough to see one of the Boston shows on the initial leg, and the staging is such that it doesn’t lend itself to much in the way of set list adjustments except for the occasional one off. If you’re a fan it’s worth seeing but I don’t plan on attending another show on a return visit.

 

If the cities are played as expected, he double and even triple dipped quite a few markets on this Farewell Tour. Despite the tour being announced somewhat piecemeal, return visit shows were only added after he first visits passed. This is Live Nation/Elton seeing how far he can soak his fans and possibly chasing the U2/Sheeran biggest world tour record.

Philly/Dublin/Toronto/Montreal/Boston(x3)/St. Louis/Houston/Dallas/New Orleans/Chicago-Rosemont(x3)/Miami/Detroit/Kansas City/Orlando/Jacksonville/Uniondale/Paris/Antwerp

I also thought firing band members of 50 years during a pandemic was quite tacky of him.

 

Yeah, but he already played most of the U.S. He hit the NY area twice already, including all the arenas. Philly, too. He's triple dipping in some cases. It's just a way to stuff the coffers.

 

If that's the case, then I can see your point. Playing one farewell show in a particular place is essential. Playing several more later on is not.

 

This tour needs reporting under the trades description act.
I never believed for a minute this was a farewell tour so he could spend more time with his kids.

And whats the story of him firing his band?

 

He just doesn't want to give the money back..
I read about it.. Can he make it for another 2 yrs and will the audience be there?
to fulfill.? I think he should call it a day.
I don't think he has energy or good health to do this.

 

I just realized some Elton shows with on sales in 2018 may not be played until 2022 at the earliest.

 

Lotsa dates dropping tomorrow, including the carrier dome in Syracuse

 

Apparently it’s because of the fact that they took a huge financial hit due to the postponement of this tour: Elton John lays off staff and bandmates after taking a £60m hit | Daily Mail Online. It also says they were hoping this tour would have made enough for him to retire, a plan that (according to this article) backfired when it was put on ice last year. That said, it also says they were laid off “until it’s known if the four could take place,” so it’s possible that they could be hired back now since they have scheduled dates coming. Since I live in the US, though, I don’t know how reliable the Daily Mail is when it comes to news like this.

Also, the fact that this tour has been postponed for a year and a half should hopefully have given him enough rest to play for another year or so.

 

The farewell band should all be back and can get the tour up and running in a couple weeks rehearsal wise. From the outset Elton said 330 dates to stop touring and didn't rule out residencies in the future. I still think he's chasing the U2/Sheeran tour records and Billboard will allow him to ignore the 18 month break. I think a couple dates might get near 4 years between onsale and actually being played.

I watch tantrums and tiaras the other days and his lifestyle must be eye wateringly expensive.

I think he still has some publishing he can sell if that makes his lifestyle easier.

 

I just got notified that the Cologne show, which I have tickets for and which was originally scheduled für September 2020, then postponed to September 2021, is now supposed to take place on 16th May 2023

Elton will be 76 by then...if the show is really happening it will be three and a half years between ticket purchase and the actual concert

 

That's exactly whaqt happened to me with Steve Hackett.

It's your decision of course, but if it were me I'd be inclined to get a refund If that show does eventually happen some time mid-century, there'll be opportunities to get tickets.
It's not as if Elton needs the money. It might be different if he were a struggling artist who had genuinely fallen on hard times due to the pandemic.

 

Not possible over here. Per German law promoters are not obliged to give you a refund when a concert is postponed or even when it's cancelled. They will give you a voucher. This law was created in 2020 to protect promoters from going broke due to people claiming refunds after a concert they purchased tickets for is postponed or canceled. We still have our vouchers from a cancelled Aerosmith gig.

Capitalism at its best, right? Protect the promoter, screw the customer.

 

It’s the kind of tour that’s great to see but not anything one needs to see multiple shows on

 

Wasn't this tour originally supposed to end after 3 years - which would've been basically now?

Obviously I understand that COVID impacted the schedule, but IIRC, one of Elton's reasons for retiring from the road was to spend more time raising his kids, and that explanation makes less sense with every rescheduled date.

The kids are gonna be eligible for AARP by the time the tour actually ends!

 

Like most everyone else on the planet, Elton just got a whole lot of family time over the last 16m and is probably dying to get out of the house

 

I Suppose the European 21 leg soon will be officially postponed then.
Was expecting it…
And he has since booked a lot of shows around the world, so it seems an indoor European run can’t happen before spring 23..

 

I never had a chance to see Elton.
I got tickets for this tour, to see him in July 2020..... it cost a fortune.... it was rescheduled.....
At this stage, supposedly in Jan 2022 this concert will happen...

 

Ha ha - that's a good point!

As I probably said earlier in this thread, the whole "I'm retiring from the road to spend time with my kids" thing never made real sense anyway since it was planned as a three-year tour.

If you want to spend time with your kids, you retire immediately - or do a much shorter tour if you feel some responsibility to give fans one last chance to see you.

Now the 3-year tour is (at least) a 5-year tour.

It was never about anything other than $$$, IMO, and the extensions make that more obvious...

 

If there’s no shows to do, seems reasonable they won’t get paid till the shows go ahead, no?

 

Now Elton fell and has to have surgery. All European and UK dates rescheduled to 2023.

Tour is supposed to continue in January 2022 in New Orleans. Seems very optimistic. He's 74 years old and has to have hip surgery

https://www.eltonjohn.com/stories/f...k-road-european-and-uk-tour-dates-rescheduled

 

Poor Elton, wish him all the best. Obviously a life of sitting down at the piano and relentless touring has taken its toll.

On a curious note, I bought tickets to seem him in the beginning of 2018 for a show that is now supposed to be held in April 2023. That's more than 5 years between buying a ticket and seeing the show. I don't think I'll ever beat that record.

 

IF the show in Cologne which we have tickets for actually happens in May 2023 it will be 'only' three and a half years since purchase...but that's okay, we saw another show of this tour in 2019. So that would be four years between shows and it would still be the same tour

 

Gutted. Luckily I have seen him in concert four times already, but the people I were attending the upcoming Copenhagen show with are absolutely broken with this news. Let's see how it all will work out in two years time! All the best to Elton though. Hope he will recover and kick ass yet again.