After a hitmaking, critically celebrated career that’s spanned nearly 50 years, Elton John revealed he will officially retire from touring following an extensive three-year trip around the world, which kicks off Sept. 2018. And yes, this really is a farewell tour: “I’m not Cher, even though I like wearing her clothes — this is the end,” John stated.
He made the announcement after singing “Tiny Dancer” and “I’m Still Standing” for an intimate crowd at New York’s Gotham Hall on Wednesday (Jan. 24) afternoon; the performance demonstrated he’s still as comfortable behind the mic and the ivories as ever before, putting to rest any suspicion that ill health is behind the farewell tour. “My priorities in my life are now my children, my husband and my family,” John said. “I want to be home.”
Following a livestreamed Q&A with Anderson Cooper, John took media questions about everything from his home life to holograms (spoiler: he vastly prefers one to the other).
Here are five things we learned at his Farewell Yellow Brick Road media event.
He Prefers Sales to Awards
“I’m not a personal who cherishes Grammys and things like that. I’m a person who cherishes gold records and platinum records. It means people have taken their hard-earned money to buy something you’ve made. The other things are superfluous little trinkets.”
After Retiring From the Road, A Day In His Life Will Look Like…
“I don’t know,” John admitted to Billboard. “It’s never really happened. I definitely want to make a couple more albums, but that will be easy, I can do that at home. My sons are beginning to play soccer, and they’re quite serious about it, I want to take them to proper places so they can learn to play well.
“I want to see friends, I want to spent time at my house, spend time with my photography collection. When I got sober they said, ‘what are you going to do with your spare time when you’re sober?’ And I found I went to a lot of AA meetings and made friends and had a wonderful life. I’m not worried about stopping.”
The Rocket Man Isn’t Tech Savvy
Even though the event opened with a VR experience, John says he stays away from contemporary technology. “I’m a Luddite. I’ve never downloaded anything in my life – not even porn.”
There Will Never Be an Elton John Hologram
At least, he hopes not. “Zachary, my eldest son, I said, ‘when daddy dies, promise me there won’t be a hologram of me going around the world doing concerts.’ That’s the last thing I want. It’s like doing a duets album with someone who’s dead. It’s so spooky.” Still, he allows it’s out of his hands once he leaves this world. “Who knows? They may go broke and put me back on the fucking stage,” he said laughing. “But I think it’s a bit freaky.”
There’s Love for Neil Diamond
Diamond was a big supporter of Elton early in his career, and he made a point to pay homage to him while announcing his farewell tour. “[Neil Diamond] said he’s not touring anymore because he has Parkinson’s. I’m going to contact him personally but I want to say publicly I love him and I can’t thank him enough for what he did for me.”