Sir Elton John has officially retired from touring, after wrapping up his series of farewell concerts in Europe – but there is already speculation about what’s next for the veteran pop star.

The 76-year-old singer has been at it for decades, and has now performed the final show of his Farewell Yellow Brick Road tour in Sweden.

Sir Elton has been on this tour since 2018 and has travelled around the world and played for nearly six million people.

The tour was put on hold due to the COVID-19 pandemic, but eventually, Sir Elton would go on to perform in 330 shows.

After 52 years, Sir Elton is ready to retire from touring, telling the Stockholm crowd he won’t be doing that again. However, there’s still a small chance fans will be able to see him live in the future.

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Future plans

While he won’t be heading abroad on tour, Sir Elton has said it is likely he will do a “one off” performance in the future.

“I want to appreciate my family, my sons, my husband, everything. I’ve earned it,” he told the Stockholm crowd.

Sir Elton’s husband and manager, David Furnish, believes he will return to the stage some time, saying performing was “in his blood”.

Speaking to Billboard last year, when Sir Elton wrapped up his US tour dates, Furnish said his husband wouldn’t be touring in “any capacity”.

“What you’re going to see is the possibility of a special one-off or a small residency in one venue for a limited period of time,” he said, adding it probably wouldn’t be Las Vegas, where Sir Elton has had a few successful residencies. 

“When you’re an artist and something’s in your blood, you don’t want to shut the door completely. Having said that, I know Elton, and it wouldn’t surprise me if he didn’t do any more live shows, either,” Furnish said.

“He’s really looking forward to spending time with his family. That’s the No.1 priority in his life. Any type of return to any type of touring is going to be a very well-considered situation, and definitely not a given, at all.”

Epic tour finale

Speaking to the crowd on Saturday night, Sir Elton acknowledged his love for his fans, who have supported him throughout decades.

“I’ve had the most wonderful career, beyond belief. Fifty-two years of pure joy playing music. How lucky am I to play music?” he said, according to The Guardian.

“But I wouldn’t be sitting here if it wasn’t for you. You bought the singles, albums and CDs and, more importantly, you bought the tickets to the shows and you know how I love to play live.

“It’s been my lifeblood to play for you guys and you’ve been absolutely magnificent – thank you.”

He also paid tribute to the band, while elsewhere Coldplay paid tribute to Sir Elton.

Coldplay happened to be playing in Sweden at the same time as the Elton John concert and there was a live broadcast between both events. Lead singer Chris Martin sang Sir Elton’s Rocketman for his crowd, before he spoke with the icon.

“Elton, can you hear us, from Gothenburg?” Martin asked, to which Sir Elton said he could as his face appeared on the big screen in Gothenburg.

Sir Elton appeared quite emotional during the broadcast, in awe of the screaming crowd many kilometres away.

“Elton, we want to say from all of us here, from all the fans and all the artists that you’ve loved and inspired and helped, we just love you so much,” Martin said, according to NME.

“We are so grateful for everything you’ve done for us, everything you’ve done for the AIDS Foundation. Every time you’ve been kind to anybody.”