Elton John bids farewell to America with 'emotional' Los Angeles concert
CLAD in a sequinned bathrobe, Elton John signed off the final US concert of his farewell tour on Sunday (No 20) with a typically flamboyant show in Los Angeles, the city that helped launch him to global fame half a century ago.
He took to the stage of the Dodger Stadium – the baseball arena that played host to two of his most celebrated, career-defining shows in 1975 – for what he said was a “very special, very emotional” concert live-streamed on Disney+.
“As you know I am stopping touring, and this will be my last concert in America and Canada,” he announced before bringing on stage his husband David Furnish and their two sons, with whom he plans to spend more time.
The 75-year-old British musician has had a long, deeply reciprocated love affair with Los Angeles.
As portrayed in the hit 2019 biopic film Rocketman, John’s nascent career was given a stratospheric boost by his debut US show at the Troubadour nightclub in West Hollywood in 1970.
“You know what? I became successful first in America,” he said on Sunday.
“You bought the singles and the albums and the eight-tracks, the cassettes, the CDs. And more importantly, you bought the tickets to the shows.”
Over the first half of the 70s, he released countless hit songs, dominating the pop charts with tracks such as Your Song and Tiny Dancer, and honed his extravagant on-stage persona.
That era culminated in two fabled nights in 1975 at Dodger Stadium, where he performed to a packed audience in a bespoke, sequinned version of the baseball team’s uniform.
In a nod to the past, John re-emerged on stage Sunday for the concert’s encore dressed in a Dodgers-themed bathrobe and pearl-lined baseball cap.
“Be kind to each other, OK? And farewell!” he concluded, before launching into his anthemic Goodbye, Yellow Brick Road.
The career-spanning set, featuring hits from Crocodile Rock to Candle In The Wind, drew raucous cheers and sing-alongs from about 55,000 fans, many dressed in feather boas, sunglasses and – of course – sequins inspired by the singer.
Some held signs letting the singer know they had attended dozens or even hundreds of his concerts.
“It makes me so happy to see you when you wear the most fantastic costumes and you’ve been to so many shows,” said John. AFP
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