Elton John’s farewell tour is experiencing yet another bump in the yellow brick road. The iconic “Rocketman” singer’s Dallas, Texas, concerts are off — for now — after he was diagnosed with COVID-19, meaning the Dallas dates on the “Farewell Yellow Brick Road” tour will not happen as scheduled. Both the Tuesday and Wednesday shows at American Airlines Center will reportedly be rescheduled.
“It is with great regret that the ‘Farewell Yellow Brick Road’ tour dates in Dallas set for Tuesday, January 25 and Wednesday, January 26 must be postponed due to Elton recently testing positive for COVID-19,” read a statement from the venue, according to a report by Entertainment Tonight. “Fortunately, Elton is fully vaccinated and boosted, and is experiencing only mild symptoms. Fans should hold on to their tickets as they will be honoured at the rescheduled dates to be announced soon. Elton and the ‘Farewell Yellow Brick Road’ tour look forward to returning to the stage shortly.”
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This tour is one of the longest goodbyes in live music history. It began way back in 2018, when John announced that he was ready to retire from performing and spend more time with his husband and his two young sons. The coronavirus pandemic was one of the reasons why the tour has been on hold.
“I want to be with my family,” John told CBS Mornings. I’ve been touring since I was 17, in the back of a van. I’ve had the most incredible life. I’ve been so lucky and I’ve loved every single minute of it but I’ve had enough of applause… I’ll be 76 years of age when I stop touring in 2023.”
The farewell tour was originally planned to span the entire globe and include over 300 concerts in total. It will end in New Zealand in January of 2023 – assuming there are no more scheduling snags by then. John has been given lifetime achievement awards along his tour route in anticipation that he will not pass through again.
John has already had to reschedule dates due to illness earlier in the tour as well. In February of 2020 he was diagnosed with walking pneumonia, forcing him to cut one show short and postpone others. He returned to the stage briefly before the whole tour was postponed due to the pandemic in mid-March. He filled his days by creating The Lockdown Sessions throughout the pandemic.
There’s no word yet on when John’s latest round of shows will be rescheduled, nor how long his illness will keep him off stage. The scheduling issues could even impact fans overseas if John’s illness disrupts his traveling plans.
