(Stockholm) Coming to share with their idol the final concert of his final tour, fans from all over the world gathered in Stockholm on Saturday for the last official show of Elton John, after more than half a century on the roads.
Under a sparkling sun, some admirers were already in the afternoon near the Tele2 Arena, where the show is due to start at 8 p.m. (2 p.m. Eastern).
“It’s going to be very emotional tonight,” said Kate Bugaj, a 25-year-old student from Poland who delayed her master’s exams to follow her idol’s tour.
“I’ve been a super fan for 20 years. It started when I saw The Lion King for the first time,” she smiles.
Jeanie Kincer, 50, came from Kentucky in the United States.
“I wanted to be there for the end because I was too young to be there at the beginning,” she explained.
For the occasion, she wears red shorts with suspenders and a red, yellow and brown T-shirt, an almost perfect copy of the clothes that Elton John had chosen during his first concert in Stockholm in 1971.
“Elton has been a part of my life since I was five or six years old. Don’t shoot me I’m only the piano player is the first album I ever received and from there I fell in love with the music,” added the jovial college student.
For the daily Expressen, with this last lap, “an important chapter in the history of rock’n’roll is coming to an end”.
“I’m curious to see if he will have any special guests since this is his last show,” asks Hans Christian, a Danish fan dressed all in green.
Saturday is the second consecutive evening that the stadium has sold out the British star for the last leg of this final tour which began five years ago and which was disrupted by the coronavirus COVID-19 and a hip operation in 2021.
With Farewell Yellow Brick Road, Elton John will have given 330 concerts before Stockholm, crisscrossing Europe, Australia, New Zealand, United States, Canada and United Kingdom.
“For the most lucrative tour in the history of the world, Farewell Yellow Brick Road is strangely sober”, was surprised the daily Dagens Nyheter, which nevertheless welcomed the contagious enthusiasm of the artist at 300 million records sold .
“Objections are easy to forget when Elton John, dressed in a harlequin sequined blazer and grinning from ear to ear, claps his grand piano like it all depends on it.”
In total, the 76-year-old artist will have played in front of 6.25 million fans during this tour.
“I’m sad that he’s retiring but it’s good that he can enjoy his last years,” said his American fan.
Before reassuring himself. “I know he’s still going to play from time to time, he’s going to make new music so there’s still things to look forward to,” she said.
