Sir Elton John delivered the most outstanding main act in Glastonbury’s timeline during the closing performance of his final UK tour on Sunday night.
The VIP guest list featured actors Taron Egerton and Andrew Garfield along with Paul McCartney, all of whom flocked to the Pyramid Stage’s backstage for the ultimate festival finale — where the preeminent British songwriter held his concluding concert.
Showcasing a medley of his popular hits, Elton demonstrated why he has been the top coveted headliner for Glastonbury as he confessed: “I never thought I’d actually do this.”
Although the wait was extensive, he was unquestionably worth it.
Adorned in a gold suit, the Rocket Man commenced his performance with Pinball Wizard, marking one of the most eagerly awaited events in the festival’s chronicles.
He proceeded with a powerful rock ‘n’ roll interpretation of The Bitch Is Back, followed by the crowd’s favourite Bennie and the Jets.
Notable spectators included his partner David Furnish, close friend David Walliams, and the Spice Girls, who watched the spectacle from the stage side, and were planned to accompany him for a grand party thereafter.
Crowd-pleasers such as Your Song, Tiny Dancer and Rocket Man stirred massive singalongs, with not a single tune left unplayed.
The stage was graced by numerous celebrity guests.
Jacob Lusk from US R&B group Gabriels and the London Community Gospel Choir joined him for a rendition of Are You Ready For Love.
Stephen Sanchez, a Nashville-based singer-songwriter, then paired with Elton for a duet of Sanchez’s original song, Until I Found You.
Brandon Flowers from The Killers delivered Tiny Dancer, and British-Japanese pop icon Rina Sawayama executed the Kiki Dee segment in the 1976 hit Don’t Go Breaking My Heart.
Elton performed Cold Heart, his collaboration with Dua Lipa, but asked the audience to fill in for her absent part, which they enthusiastically did.
Unfortunately, the speculation about the possible appearance of his friend Dolly Parton turned out to be unfounded.
The event organisers had a challenging time managing the swarm of over 100,000 fans who flocked to the Pyramid Stage — triggering health and safety alerts and security protocols to prevent the crowd from getting too compact.
As one of the festival coordinators declared: “This is bigger than anything we’ve seen in years. It’s mad out there.”
A source from the backstage noted: “We’ve done more than 300 shows on this tour, but there is only one Glastonbury.”
“He simply doesn’t wish to tour anymore — it’s draining — but he was determined to make his UK farewell a memorable one. It’s the perfect place to sign off.”
