Elton John says in a new interview with the BBC that “the piano won’t go away forever” when he completes his Farewell Yellow Brick Road tour in July, and that his final UK show at Glastonbury Festival will feature yet-to-be-revealed special guests.
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The superstar’s last London show is tonight (30) at The O2, and his UK tour includes his headline slot at Glastonbury Festival on June 25. That’s set to be his final show in his own country, although when asked by BBC Radio 2’s Scott Mills about his “ideal life when the tour is over,” he says he will go on holiday for a couple of months, and then: “Everything is up in the air…the piano won’t go away forever.
“It’ll be very sporadic, I really don’t want to tour again. Doing a theatre thing for a few weeks might be appealing, but honestly, that’s in the dim and distant future. I’m not going back to Vegas. If I do anything, it will be here [in the UK].”
Of the Glastonbury appearance, he says: “This is the first time I’ve been asked to play it…it’s come at the right time, I’m a great believer in serendipity and fate and this is the most wonderful way to sign off in England.” Promising a different setlist from his usual show, he says: “I’ve got guests and I can’t tell you who they are.”
He adds that the Farewell Yellow Brick Road tour has “been everything I’d hoped it would be and more. The audiences have been amazing, dressing up…some of them have been to 150 shows, 300 shows. They’re treating it as a party, and that lifts my spirit every night. I have to say it’s been better than I could ever have imagined it to be.”
He reflects: “I’m happy in my personal life and my professional life, everything in my life is so wonderful. So I think that’s the reason why the performances really satisfy me.” Asked if he will miss the touring life when he retires from it, he responds with an emphatic “No way. I do not want to fly anywhere [or] go anywhere, I just want to be still for a few months.”
Parton’s album Rockstar, to be released on November 17, will feature John on a new version of his 1970s hit “Don’t Let The Sun Go Down On Me.” Other stars on the covers-themed set include Sting, John Fogerty, Peter Frampton, Simon Le Bon, Michael McDonald, and Stevie Nicks.
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