Excitement and emotion abound at Elton John’s farewell party in Stockholm

Stockholm: In front of fans from around the world, Elton John performed his last concert in Stockholm on Saturday evening, ending a long career that spanned more than half a century of touring the world.

The 76-year-old singer told the delighted audience, “Performing for you has been the source of my existence and you have been absolutely amazing.”

The 70-year-old star, dressed in a Strass-studded coat and wearing red glasses, sat down at the piano just after 8:00 pm (18:00 GMT) and received applause from the audience. He opened with one of his most popular songs, “Penny and the Jets.”

He then performed a series of songs, including “Philadelphia Freedom” and “I Guess That’s Why I Call It the Blues,” in front of an enthusiastic audience wearing bright blue or red glasses.

For more than two hours, Elton John performed some of his most famous songs, with a few pauses in which the artist stood up from his piano to thank his fans, his musicians and his band members, some of whom have been performing for more than 40 years.

“I want to salute these composers. They are truly wonderful (…) they are the best,” he said.

After the performance of “Border Song” dedicated to Aretha Franklin, “I’m Still Standing” attracted almost 30,000 viewers at the Tele2 Arena.

Before closing, Elton John relayed a message from Coldplay, who had performed the same evening in the Scandinavian country, specifically in Gothenburg (Göteborg) in western Sweden, where the band’s singer Chris Martin thanked him for his career and his duties.

“The offer was amazing,” said Anton Bujonen, a 25-year-old Finnish banker.

“We almost cried for him,” said Koni Johansson, a Swedish teacher who bought tickets to the concert four years ago.

The audience was in for an emotional evening even before the curtain rose.

“It’s going to be very emotional,” said 25-year-old Polish student Kate Bogay, who delayed her master’s exams to attend the star’s concert and waited outside the arena for hours before the show began.

Jenny Kinzer, a woman in her fifties from Kentucky, wanted to attend Elton John’s farewell tour “because I was so young” when he performed his first concerts half a century ago.

For the occasion, he wore a red, yellow and brown T-shirt and a red, yellow and brown T-shirt, an almost exact copy of the outfit chosen by Elton John during his first concert in Stockholm in 1971.

The newspaper “Expression” confirmed that the last gig in Elton John’s career “closes an important chapter in the history of rock and roll”.

Saturday marked the second consecutive evening of concerts for the British star at the massive Swedish stadium. Both concerts were performed in front of audiences that filled the stands at the end of a farewell tour that began five years ago and was partially disrupted by the Covid pandemic and the star’s hip surgery in 2021.

At the end of the “Farewell Yellow Brick Road” tour, Elton John played 330 concerts, covering several cities in Europe, Australia, New Zealand, the United States and Canada before Stockholm, and attracted 6.25 million visitors.