I’M BARELY STANDING
Sobbing Elton cuts show short after he’s taken ill
SIR Elton John broke down in tears on stage yesterday as he was forced to cut a concert short after losing his voice.
The 72-year-old said he had been diagnosed with ‘walking pneumonia’ that day.
Sir Elton was performing at Auckland’s Mount Smart Stadium in New Zealand when his voice gave out in the middle of his 1973 hit Daniel. He told the crowd: ‘I can’t sing. I’ve got to go. I’m sorry.’
A visibly emotional Sir Elton then leaned on his piano and appeared to weep before he was helped off stage by assistants.
The concert was the first New Zealand show of the singer’s Farewell Yellow Brick Road world tour, which began in 2018 and will conclude next year after 300 shows. He
‘I’m disappointed, deeply upset and sorry’
has said the tour will be his last. Following checks by a medic during the performance, he managed to perform classics such as Candle In The Wind before conceding he could no longer continue – with nine songs remaining of an expected 25-song set.
In a statement posted to his 2.6million Instagram followers, he said: ‘I want to thank everyone who attended tonight’s gig in Auckland. I was diagnosed with walking pneumonia earlier today, but I was determined to give you the best show humanly possible.
‘I played and sang my heart out, until my voice could sing no more. I’m disappointed, deeply upset and sorry. I gave it all I had. Thank you so much for your extraordinary support and all the love you showed me during tonight’s performance. I am eternally grateful.’
It is unclear how Sir Elton’s diagnosis will affect the rest of the tour, with two further shows scheduled in Auckland tomorrow and Thursday. Many in the crowd applauded the singer’s efforts, with some in tears themselves as he left the stage.
In October last year he was forced to postpone a tour date in Indianapolis, US, when he became ‘extremely unwell’. That followed the cancellation of a show in Verona, Italy, in May last year owing to flu.