Singer Elton John has said he does not want to perform at one venue in the US for a period of time, but is not averse to the idea of a residency elsewhere.
The 76-year-old singer won’t give up performing completely when his three-year aFarewell Yellow Brick Road’ tour comes to an end this summer because he’s interested in being based at one venue, but has stated that when the time comes, he won’t be in the US.
Female First UK quoted him as telling Radio Times magazine: “I said when I announced the farewell tour that maybe I would do a residency like Kate Bush did at Hammersmith (in 2014). But not in America. I will not do it in America.”
He continued: “But that’s in the long term. I don’t want to think about the stage – I’ve been on it since I was 17.”
John was also concerned about the political climate in the US. He said: “It’s all going pear-shaped in America. There’s violence, (discriminatory) laws enacted in Florida, which are disgraceful. There’s a law now that, if you visit a doctor in Florida, they can refuse to treat you if you’re gay, which I find just unbelievable. We seem to be going backwards. And that spreads. It’s like a virus that the LGBTQIA+ movement is suffering.”
Elton’s husband, David Furnish – who is also his manager – previously ruled out the possibility of the ‘Candle in the wind’ hitmaker taking on another Las Vegas residency, but didn’t mention anywhere in the US would be unlikely.
A residency is a series of concerts, similar to a concert tour, but performed at one location.
In the 1970s, the singer-songwriter, born Reginald Dwight, was responsible for an astonishing two per cent of all record sales around the world.
In 2021 he scored his eighth UK No 1 album, with ‘The Lockdown Sessions’.
He is set to perform his farewell UK concert at Glastonbury this weekend.
He came out as gay in 1992, and established the Elton John Aids Foundation, raising over $525 million to support HIV-related programmes in 90 countries.
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