Changes to the ‘Yellow Brick Road’ tour schedule show a perfectly-sized Glasto-shaped-gap
Elton John‘s name has been in and out of the Glasto Rumour Mill countless times before, but most predominantly over the past 4 years or so, after the announcement of his ‘Farewell Yellow Brick Road’ tour.
The tour – which kicked off in Allentown, Pennsylvania (U.S.) back in September 2018 – has endured several postponements due to the COVID-19 pandemic and, at times, John’s health.
The Elton John Glasto rumour has recently been ignited once again after the singer moved a previously scheduled date in Paris from Sunday, 25th June 2023 to Wednesday, 21st June 2023, and by doing so creating a perfectly-shaped-Glasto-gap in his schedule.
As of the time of writing, the Glasto-shaped hole in John’s touring dates spans from Thursday, 22nd June 2023 to Monday, 26th June 2023 and just happens to coincide with the Glastonbury 2023 dates, which will run from 21st June to 25th June of that year.
Below you can see screenshots taken from Elton John’s official website showing the new tour dates over what will be Glastonbury 2023 weekend, as well as the message from Accor Arena in Paris, France – addressing the postponement of the Farewell Tour.
Back in 2015, Elton John revealed that he has never been asked to play Glastonbury.
In an interview with BBC Radio 4’s Today programme, when posed the question of whether he would play at the Festival, John said: “I’ve never been asked… so I can’t answer that question until they ask me.”
After the September 2018 kickoff, the Farewell Yellow Brick Road tour, which is intended to be John’s final journey around the world, was temporarily postponed due to the worldwide pandemic following his show in Sydney, Australia on 7th March 2020.
The nearly two-year break in between shows was also due to the 75-year-old star having surgery on his injured hip following a fall.
The pain continued to worsen despite intensive physiotherapy and specialist treatment, making it harder for him to move around, and ultimately prompting him to make the decision of pushing the tour back to 2022.
The tour ultimately resumed with a show at the Smoothie King Center in New Orleans on 19th January and made its way around parts of the U.S. until 28th April in Miami.
Being one of the very few icons who have yet to make an appearance at Worthy Farm, it’s hard to ignore the fact that seeing out his half-a-century career at Glastonbury Festival would certainly be fitting.
In a message addressing his hip injury Elton said: “At the end of my summer vacation, I had an unfortunate fall and have since suffered from considerable pain and discomfort in my hip. Despite intensive rehabilitation and specialized treatment, the pain kept getting worse and I found it increasingly difficult to move around. I was advised to have surgery as soon as possible in order to get back to my best and to ensure that there would be no long-term complications. I will begin an intensive rehabilitation that will allow me to fully recover and regain full and painless mobility.
“I will be attending the Global Citizen event in Paris on September 25, 2021, as I don’t want to let a charity down. It’s only five songs, but it’s very different physical work from playing for almost three hours every night on tour and traveling overnight from country to country. After that, I will undergo the surgery that will allow me to resume touring in January 2022 in New Orleans.
“I know how patient my amazing fans have been since Covid caused the tour to stop last year, and it breaks my heart to keep you waiting any longer. I completely feel your frustration after the year we have been through. I promise you this: the shows will resume next year and I’ll make sure the wait is worth it. With all my love, ”
Staying on the topic of the rumours; both the Spice Girls and Arctic Monkeys have recently been talked about as potinial performers at Glastonbury 2023.
You can now view a constantly updated list of acts confirmed and rumoured for Glastonbury 2023, here.
Meanwhile, Glastonbury 2022 was brought to a close on Sunday (26 June) by headliner Kendrick Lamar who closed the Pyramid Stage that night.
Lamar’s performance came after the Festival made history with both the youngest-ever headliner in Gen-Z, icon Billie Eilish, and the oldest-ever headline in Sir Paul McCartney, both playing a pandemic-delayed 50th birthday bash for the greatest music festival in the world – three years after the last instalment took place in 2019.
During his historic headline performance, Macca wowed the crowds with a show-stopping setlist which included surprise guest appearances from both Foo Fighters frontman Dave Grohl as well as American-born star Bruce Springsteen.
Other highlights included Diana Ross commanding a mammoth crowd at her Sunday teatime Legends Slot.
The Motown soul singer treated the crowd to a selection of classics including ‘I’m Coming Out’, ‘Baby Love’, ‘You Can’t Hurry Love’, ‘Stop! In The Name Of Love’ and at the conclusion of ‘Chain Reaction’ pink confetti was launched from the Pyramid Stage.
Elsewhere, on the Saturday of the Festival, we found out Lily Allen was making her way to the Glastonbury site, thanks to an Instagram story she shared that afternoon, for what turned out to be a surprise secret guest appearance with Olivia Rodrigo on the Other Stage.
Other secret sets included performances from Jack White, who played The Park Stage on the Sunday, and George Ezra, who took to the John Peel Stage, earlier that day.
Fast forward to Monday (27 June) the rain started to descend – following defied ominous forecasts of thunderstorms and a yellow weather warning from the Met Office.
Campers started packing up their belongings and leaving the Festival site on a chilly morning. as the Glastonbury clean-up litter picking army was already deep-dug down into work on returning Worthy Farm to its natural clean and rubbish-free status in preparation for the next edition of the Festival.
The five-day event was watched by a record number of people on the BBC’s digital platforms – as streams on iPlayer more than doubled compared to 2019.
You can still catch over 90 sets and key tracks from the five filmed stages available to watch on BBC iPlayer – including Pyramid Stage performances in Ultra High Definition.
For a full (A-Z) list of sets, and individual track performances (as well as Glastonbury-related content prior to 2022), currently available on the iPlayer, click on the + buttons below.
Glastonbury 2023 will take place at its natural home in Worthy Farm, Pilton, Somerset, from Wednesday the 21st to Sunday the 25th of June.
The first wave of Glastonbury 2023 tickets traditionally goes on sale in October, which is then usually followed by a resale of any unpaid or cancelled tickets sometime in the Spring (March/April).
In addition to the ticket sales, some other opportunities for getting to Glastonbury include entering competitions, working at the Festival and volunteering – once those options make themselves available.
To learn more about registration, the sale process and how you can maximise your chances of getting Glastonbury 2023 tickets, click here.
