Elton John delays European tour after hip injury

English singer Elton John on Thursday announced he will be pushing the European dates of his farewell tour due to a worsening hip injury.

The 74-year-old singer-songwriter said “with great sadness and a heavy heart” that the “Farewell Yellow Brick Road” tour would be rescheduled for 2023.

“At the end of my summer break I fell awkwardly on a hard surface and have been in considerable pain and discomfort in my hip ever since,” the ‘’I’m Still Standing” singer said in statement that left many fans on Twitter “absolutely gutted.”

“Despite intensive physio and specialist treatment, the pain has continued to get worse and is leading to increasing difficulties moving,” he added.

A delayed farewell

John’s final tour that began in 2018, will now extend to 2023 to complete all the planned shows. Many of the original 300 dates were already delayed due to the pandemic. 

Earlier this month, the artist announced that he had completed an album, “The Lockdown Sessions,” which features collaborations with artists such as Miley Cyrus and Gorillaz. The album will be released in October.

After a performance on September 25 as part of the mammoth series of Global Citizen gigs happening around the world, John will be undergoing surgery.

Return planned post-surgery 

John’s scheduled appearances for late 2021 have now been rescheduled for the following year. 

The artist said he “will be having the operation to ensure the tour can get back on the road in January of 2022 in New Orleans”.

He added that it “breaks my heart” to keep fans waiting and promised to return and make the shows “more than worth the wait.”

The artist’s last shows are currently scheduled for Auckland, New Zealand in early 2023.

• Happy Birthday, Sir Elton

  Eccentric with a big heart

  The man born 1947 as Reginald Kenneth Dwight dominated Britain’s pop scene in the 1970s. In the US, Elton John was one the first artists ever with four simultaneous top ten records. Queen Elizabeth II knighted him for his contributions to music and charity. At 70, Sir Elton looks back at a career that spans five decades of ups and downs.

• Happy Birthday, Sir Elton

  Big hits, big pianos

  Elton John at the piano – an iconic picture. Above, the living legend is seen playing “Your song” at the start of his 2000 British tour – his heartfelt breakthrough title in 1970, his first single in the charts, a song that hit the top ten in England and the US. After that, there was no stopping Elton John.

• Happy Birthday, Sir Elton

  Rocket Man

  He worked incessantly, releasing three studio albums in 1971 alone. His biggest hits were all produced in the 1970s, “Rocket Man,” “Crocodile Rock,” “Goodbye Yellow Brick Road” and “Candle in the Wind.” Duets with John Lennon (“Whatever gets you through the Night”) and Kiki Dee (“Don’t go breaking my heart”) elevate Elton John to a pop titan.

• Happy Birthday, Sir Elton

  Devotion to soccer

  By 1976, Elton John was flush enough to finance another passion: soccer. He supported the Watford Football Club, a move that catapulted the team from forth division to the Premier League, and invested in the Los Angeles Aztecs. Above, Irish soccer legend George Best watches the pop star in action.

• Happy Birthday, Sir Elton

  Swing the racket to fight Aids

  The advocate for gay and lesbian rights founded the Elton John Aids Foundation in the early 1990s. John helps organize regular charity events – and he participates, like in the above 2016 celebrities’ charity tennis tournament.

• Happy Birthday, Sir Elton

  Goodbye England’s Rose

  The Queens’s unhappy daughter-in-law, Lady Diana, was one of Elton John’s best friends. After her death in a car accident in August 1997, Elton John rewrote the lyrics to “Candle in the Wind,” a song he originally penned for Marilyn Monroe in 1974. Elton John peformed the song at Diana’s funeral. The recording sold millions of copies and raised millions of euros for charity.

• Happy Birthday, Sir Elton

  Married to Renate

  Elton John came out as bisexual in 1976. He married the German sound engineer Renate Blauel in 1984. The marriage lasted four years. Two years after the break-up, Elton John declared his homosexuality.

• Happy Birthday, Sir Elton

  Married to David

  In 2005, Elton John and David Furnish documented their civil partnership, which was formally converted into a marriage nine years later. “As a gay man I am perfectly happy with my sexuality and my life. I can honestly say that the deepest longings of my heart are satisfied,” John said in response to a Scottish cardinal’s remarks about homosexuality.

• Happy Birthday, Sir Elton

  Four guys, one family

  The couple adopted two boys, Zachary Jackson Levon and Elijah Joseph Daniel. Both children have the same surrogate mother – but whether John or Furnish is the biological dad remains a well-kept secret.

• Happy Birthday, Sir Elton

  Ahoy, mate

  John and Furnish adore dressing up in outlandish outfits. For John’s 50th birthday, they showed up as a baroque couple, ten years later saw the pair decked out as banana republic dictators. Above, their outfit at a friend’s birthday party. What will it be for John’s 70th birthday?

go/rt (AFP, Reuters, AP)

Article source: https://www.dw.com/en/elton-john-delays-european-tour-after-hip-injury/a-59204719?maca=en-rss-en-all-1573-rdf