Sir Elton John hails 'emotional night' as he performs final UK gig at Glastonbury

June 25, 2023

Sir Elton John hailed a "very special and emotional night" as he took to the stage at Glastonbury Festival to perform his last ever UK gig.

The 76-year-old singer opened his set with Pinball Wizard, adorned in a gold suit and his famous pink-hued glasses, accompanied by fireworks.

He then launched into The Bitch Is Back, before addressing the crowd, saying: "I never thought I would ever play Glastonbury and here I am.

"It's a very special and emotional night for me because it might be my last show ever in England, so I had better play well, and I had better entertain you, you've been standing there so long, and I really appreciate all the outfits and everything."

He followed up with Bennie And The Jets and Daniel, watched on by what appeared to be a capacity crowd on the festival's iconic Pyramid Stage.

Aerial shots of the Somerset farm venue showed the entire field full of festival-goers watching the singer.

Watching from the side of the stage were the likes of Paul McCartney and Sophie Ellis-Bextor, as well as Sir Elton's husband David Furnish.

Taron Egerton was also watching on, after playing Sir Elton in the biopic Rocketman.

The star's first musical guest was Jacob Lusk from group Gabriels, with the pair singing Are You Ready For Love? together with a gospel choir.

American singer-songwriter Stephen Sanchez was the second guest, who performed his own song Until I Found You while Sir Elton joined him on piano.

Also performing was Brandon Flowers, the singer from The Killers, who performed Tiny Dancer.

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Then, duetting with Sir Elton on Don't Go Breaking My Heart was Brit-nominated singer Rina Sawayama.

Rumours had grown all weekend about other artists that might join him, including serial-Glastonbury collaborator Dave Grohl, rapper Eminem, and pop princess Britney Spears - but they never materialised.

Later on, Sir Elton thrashed out renditions of Goodbye Yellow Brick Road, Your Song and Candle In The Wind to the Worthy Farm crowd.

He also dedicated his performance of Don't Let The Sun Go Down On Me to George Michael, on what would have been the late singer's 60th birthday.

Closing out his set, he belted out an extended version of Rocket Man while fireworks went off over the Pyramid Stage, ending this year's Glastonbury Festival.

Sir Elton has been winding up his final tour, dubbed the Farewell Yellow Brick Road tour, which will end next month with two nights in Stockholm, Sweden.

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