Elton John has postponed the UK and European leg of his Farewell Yellow Brick Road tour, meaning some fans will have had to wait five years to see the icon since they bought tickets.
In a statement, Sir Elton said: “It is with great sadness and a heavy heart that I am forced to reschedule the 2021 dates of my Farewell Yellow Brick Road tour in Europe and the UK to 2023.”
Originally 16 concerts were set to take place across the UK and Ireland in the winter of 2020 but the ongoing COVID-19 pandemic saw this leg of the tour postponed to 2021. Shows from the North American leg were also postponed until 2022 for the same reason.
Sir Elton has already performed in America and Canada throughout 2018 and 2019 with multiple dates in Europe as part of the Farewell Yellow Brick Road tour.
The 74-year-old singer said he had fallen “awkwardly” and had been in “considerable pain and discomfort” from a hip injury that will now need surgery, before getting back to touring in America in New Orleans in 2022.
He added: “I know how patient my incredible fans have been since COVID halted touring last year, and it breaks my heart to keep you waiting any longer. I completely feel your frustrations after the year we’ve had. I promise you this – the shows will return to the road next year and I will make sure they are more than worth the wait.”
Sir Elton will still perform a five-song set at the Global Citizen event September 25 as he did not “want to let a charity down.”
He said that this was a “different physical undertaking to the demands of playing a close to three hours every night on tour and travelling overnight between countries”.
Fair Ticketing Alliance tweeted its displeasure and said that “tickets were bought in 2019 by most customers. Doesn’t seem right this… it isn’t cheap either”.
Some fans responded to say that customers had even bought tickets as far back as 2018, leaving them with a five year wait to watch Sir Elton in the UK and Europe.
Twitter users also called for the tour to be cancelled altogether and for ticket holders to be refunded.
The Farewell Yellow Brick Road tour consists of over 300 shows across the globe.
Image: Ernst Vikne/(CC BY-SA 2.0)/Edited for size
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