In September 2018, Sir Elton began his “Farewell Yellow Brick Road” tour.
John played the tour’s semi-title track, “Goodbye Yellow Brick Road,” as his final song on Saturday night (July 8), capping off the performance and, by extension, the entire tour. Before starting the song, Sir Elton addressed the estimated 45,000 spectators and thanked them for their support during his entire career.
John added, “I’ve had the most amazing career—beyond belief” (via Rolling Stone). How fortunate am I to have enjoyed music for fifty years? Without you, I wouldn’t be sitting here. You purchased the singles, CDs, albums, cassettes, and, more significantly, you purchased the concert tickets. You are aware of how much I enjoy performing live. I’ve depended on playing for you folks my entire life. You have been truly outstanding.
The 1973 original of “Goodbye Yellow Brick Road” served as both the second single and the album’s lead single for John’s seventh studio album. In the United Kingdom, the United States, Australia, Canada, Ireland, New Zealand, Norway, and South Africa, the song peaked at number ten on the singles list.
John has performed the song live over 1475 times over the past 50 years, according to setlist.fm. The “Farewell Yellow Brick Road” tour, which started in September 2018 at the PPL Center in Allentown, Pennsylvania, has used it as the set conclusion for almost every performance. Up until March 2020, the tour made stops in North America, Europe, Australia, and New Zealand. However, due to the COVID-19 pandemic and a hip injury that necessitated surgery for John to recuperate from, the tour was postponed for nearly two years.
John would be back on the road regularly for the following 18 months when the tour began again in January 2022 at the Smoothie King Center in New Orleans. His final performance in the country was at Glastonbury as the festival’s headlining act, where he was joined by special guests Brandon Flowers and Rina Sawayama. The tour was recognised as the highest-grossing world tour of all time in May 2023.