It is the tip of an period for Elton John superfans. The 76-year-old is giving his last UK efficiency when he headlines the Glastonbury Competition at present.
AYESHA RASCOE, HOST:
Right now is one for the historical past books – Sir Elton John is giving his last U.Ok. efficiency when he headlines the Glastonbury Competition in Somerset, England, this night. The 76-year-old is about to surrender touring for good subsequent month, a lot to the chagrin of his British tremendous followers. In one other period, you may need referred to as them groupies. Reporter Rebecca Rosman has this tribute from London.
REBECCA ROSMAN, BYLINE: Paul Smith remembers that first second prefer it was yesterday.
PAUL SMITH: I used to be 8 years outdated. This was November 1972. And Elton John occurred to be on that Royal Selection present that night. And I used to be simply completely taken by every part.
(SOUNDBITE OF TV SHOW, “ROYAL VARIETY PERFORMANCE”)
UNIDENTIFIED PERSON: Good night to you from the Palladium Theatre in London. We welcome now a younger English singer who has traveled all the best way from the West Coast of America to be right here tonight.
SMITH: He was carrying a really shiny type of inexperienced swimsuit.
(SOUNDBITE OF MUSIC)
SMITH: No, sorry, it wasn’t a inexperienced swimsuit. It was a stripey type of silver, pink and blue swimsuit with a prime hat on.
(SOUNDBITE OF TV SHOW, “ROYAL VARIETY PERFORMANCE”)
ELTON JOHN: (Singing) I bear in mind when rock was younger. Me and Suzie had a lot enjoyable.
SMITH: And he had all these type of like – he had this faucet dancer man come on. And it was simply unimaginable, the entire type of factor.
ROSMAN: Perhaps it was the stripy, glittery swimsuit paired with platform boots. Perhaps it was the falsetto hook within the la-la-las (ph) singalong little bit of the “Crocodile Rock” or the upbeat piano chords. No matter it was, Paul wasn’t simply hooked. The path of his life modified.
(SOUNDBITE OF TV SHOW, “ROYAL VARIETY PERFORMANCE”)
JOHN: (Singing) I by no means knew me a greater time, and I assume I by no means will.
ROSMAN: He began gathering information, hundreds of items of memorabilia. He even opened his personal document store in Salisbury, England, that he nonetheless runs at present. Then there have been the dwell exhibits – oh, so many dwell exhibits – which have taken him all around the world.
SMITH: I have been to 78 exhibits, after which once I go to Stockholm in July to see the ultimate present of the farewell tour, it will likely be my 79th present.
ROSMAN: Subsequent month’s Stockholm gig often is the final act of Elton John’s epic five-year farewell tour. However for British followers like Smith, the ultimate leg of U.Ok. performances over this previous month have carried a particular weight, even when the U.S. is the place the “Rocket Man” received his first massive break.
ADRIAN EVANS: This was the place it began on the very starting.
ROSMAN: This being London’s Soho district. I am at a park with 34-year-old Adrian Evans. He is solely been to a handful of dwell exhibits, however he’s an excellent fan nonetheless, with an encyclopedic information of Elton John historical past. He tells me Soho is the place John began working as a tea boy at a neighborhood document firm, then met his writing associate Bernie Taupin, finally recording their first massive hit at a studio not too distant from the place we’re sitting.
(SOUNDBITE OF ELTON JOHN SONG, “YOUR SONG”)
ROSMAN: Evans says it was his mother who launched him to Elton John and his music when he was only a child. And that discovery, he says, has helped him get by means of a lot in his life.
EVANS: I bear in mind rising up at college being a clumsy autistic teenager who may – at 14 or 15, may title just about each Elton John music, each Elton John B-side, and nobody else knew them.
ROSMAN: That’s, till he found Elton John chat boards on the web within the early 2000s.
EVANS: And I bear in mind pondering, wow, I am not the one one who is aware of that music.
JANE BEHRMAN: It simply escalated as soon as social, you realize, media began – social media. I’ve met very shut pals that I’ve identified for 20 years, 30 years.
ROSMAN: That is tremendous fan Jane Behrman, who has been to dwell exhibits in every single place from Tokyo to New York. Her final Elton John live performance was in Birmingham earlier this month.
(SOUNDBITE OF ARCHIVED RECORDING)
JOHN: (Singing) And I believe it should be an extended, very long time until landing brings me round once more to search out I am not the person they suppose I’m at dwelling.
BEHRMAN: I seemed on the band, and I felt a bit unhappy. I checked out all of them and thought, God, I am by no means going to see you all collectively once more. , it is laborious.
ROSMAN: Plus, the dwell exhibits have not been simply in regards to the music itself, Behrman says. It is in regards to the neighborhood of pals she’s made over time and journeys all around the world. Tremendous fan Paul Smith agrees.
SMITH: However having mentioned that, we have all of the movies, we have all of the again catalogue of his music, and I do not suppose it will likely be the tip.
ROSMAN: Perhaps there would be the occasional dwell gig right here and there, but it surely’s undeniably the tip of this period for these Elton John tremendous followers.
(SOUNDBITE OF SONG, “GOODBYE YELLOW BRICK ROAD”)
JOHN: (Singing) So goodbye yellow brick highway the place the canines of society howl…
ROSMAN: For NPR Information, I am Rebecca Rosman in London.
(SOUNDBITE OF SONG, “GOODBYE YELLOW BRICK ROAD”)
JOHN: (Singing) …Penthouse. I am going again to my plough. Again to the howling outdated owl within the woods…
Copyright © 2023 NPR. All rights reserved. Go to our web site phrases of use and permissions pages at www.npr.org for additional info.
NPR transcripts are created on a rush deadline by an NPR contractor. This textual content is probably not in its last kind and could also be up to date or revised sooner or later. Accuracy and availability could differ. The authoritative document of NPR’s programming is the audio document.
