He’s the undisputed prince of the piano – a man with more iconic tunes and a greater global touring record than you can shake a fluffy feather boa at. Yet 2018 is a seminal year for Elton John, as he sets off on a mammoth farewell tour.
Yet although in many ways this global party will mark his retirement from live music, it’s a move ultimately in tune with opening up new possibilities in life.
Elton John has never done things by halves and he’s not about to start now. The music, the clothes, the shows… even the wigs have been notable. Yet bidding farewell to the rigours of touring – he is 71, after all – is about to open up a whole new chapter. “It will, and it has to,” he begins.
“Of course I would still love to continue to tour because I enjoy it so much, but I’ve been doing it since I was 16. This is now a different, new chapter in my life and it’s difficult for the two to marry”… and by ‘the two’, he refers to his career and his family, notably husband David Furnish and boys Zachary, seven, and Elijah, five.
“It’s not about me, I can’t be self-focused,” he says. “I have a family who need me and responsibilities, and that means I have to pull back. They come first before anything and anyone else.
“So that’s it – I’m happy to put that last chapter to bed and focus on what’s to come with these vibrant, wonderful little people – I just want to be with them.”
And let’s be frank, 50 years is a long time in any career – let alone one spent topping the charts. Sir Elton John, for whom timeless classics seem to trip from ring-bedecked fingers with almost infinitesimal effort, has spent the last half century penning some of pop’s most recognisable hits. But time waits for no man, not even someone whose songs echo throughout musical history.
Yet in true Elton style, he isn’t saying goodbye without an exuberant quantity of feathers and fanfare. For starters, the farewell tour is 300 dates long, stretching well into 2021. He’s also inviting his family to join in at various parts of the journey. “I will love having them there because touring can be painful and very lonely, but I’ll love more being at home with them.
“I think as you get older you really embrace the next generation,” says Sir Elton, who has achieved 38 gold and 31 platinum or multi-platinum records, selling 300 million units worldwide. “I may have achieved a lot but there are still things I haven’t done… still aspirations I fear I might not live out. But that seems to matter less when you know can invest in them in other people – that’s very comforting.
“I am amazed by my boys’ energy, creativity and enthusiasm, and to slow down in later life means I get the opportunity to soak all that up and appreciate every moment of it, and isn’t that what it should be about?”
While retirement, of sorts, is on the cards, Sir Elton professes he could never turn away from music altogether. “Music is what has kept me alive until now so I’m certainly not going to turn my back on making music, that’s different,” he says. “I think the mind is like a sponge… you don’t have to be working to keep it moist and active, but you do need to be undertaking something that’s real and rewarding.”
Add Comment