Elton John bids Toronto fans goodbye in stunning fashion

Goodbye Elton John, from the not-so-young fan in the ninth row.

The Rocket Man, now

71, played the first of two consecutive shows at Scotiabank Arena on Tuesday night as part the Farewell Yellow Brick Road tour and I was fortunate enough to be sitting very close to him on the floor. (Full disclosure: My very first concert was John’s Goodbye Yellow Brick Road tour back when “I was just a kid” in Vancouver in support of his biggest selling 1973 double album of the same name which sold 30 million copies.)

And John — who told Tuesday night’s crowd he first started touring back in 1969 or a halfcentury ago — is returning to this neck of the woods again having just announced Wednesday morning two more Toronto dates at the same venue on Oct. 22-23, 2019, as part of the three-year road trip that will hit most Canadian cities.

Otherwise, it was one classy, fun, incredibly moving night of music and even downright spiritual at times as John took us to church on such gospel-infused numbers as Border

Song (with a montage of all those who have inspired him), Take Me

to the Pilot, and Levon

(the latter a stand out of the entire night followed by the equally crowd-pleasing Funeral For A Friend (Love Lies Bleeding).

It was a homecoming, of sorts, for the British singer-song-writer-pianist, who is married to Torontonian David Furnish with whom he has two young boys. “My children are Canadian!” he said to huge cheers.

In fact, the couple’s children are the reason John is hanging up his sequined outfits and outrageous eyeglasses after 300 million in album sales, making him one of the best selling artists in the world. “I love my children more than I love playing live,” admitted John, who was decked out in two eye-catching and sequined Gucci suits over the course of the twohour-and-35 minute performance.

Sitting behind a piano on a stage dominated by a picture frame holding a large LED video screen, he was joined by longtime musicians Davey Johnstone on guitar, Nigel Olsson on the drums, and Ray Cooper on percussion. There were also newer recruits John Mahon on percussion, Kim Bullard on keyboards and Matt Bissonette on the bass.

“This is the best band I’ve ever assembled,” said John.

Once finished, the singer got on a chair that brought him up to the top of the stage like the deluxe version of something you’d see a senior do on a stairclimber infomercial before he climbed out and appeared to walk off into the sunset.

Going out on his own terms is so very Elton at his best.