FAREWELL TOUR - Australia & New Zealand - January 2023

[dougs]

Elton and the band take their FAREWELL YELLOW BRICK ROAD tour to Australia & New Zealand for 10 more concerts starting January 8, 2023:

This will be Elton's last concerts "down under."  This leg starts in Newcastle, Australia.  Afterwards, a break of a month and a bit will take place before EJ launches his final leg of the FAREWELL tour in Europe for some 50 concerts including an astounding 10 concerts at the O2 in London.

We'll see if Elton is in the mood for any set changes.  So far, the tour has had a few songs dropped with a couple ("Cold Heart" and "Have Mercy on the Criminal") added.

Apparently, Elton & family have been enjoying Christmas & winter in Australia leading up to these final concerts in the region.

Doug

[dougs]

FAREWELL YELLOW BRICK ROAD - Newcastle, Australia - January 8th:

It appears all went well in EJ's first show of his 10 remaining concerts in Australia & New Zealand.

No change to the set list.  Perfect weather for the big outdoor concert, and lots of famous faces at the venue to take in the show.

Doug

[dougs]

FAREWELL YELLOW BRICK ROAD Auckland, New Zealand - January, 2023:

Elton cancelled his concert scheduled for January 27th (first of two nights at the venue) due to a huge rainfall.  A state of emergency has been established in Auckland and area which received what is said to be 75% of their entire summer's rainfall in just 15 hours!  Sadly, there have been casualties.  The images of waist-deep flooding are shocking.  We wish everyone in the area safety and good health during this time.

Elton's last-ever show of the FAREWELL tour is scheduled tonight (January 28th) and may also be forced to be cancelled but I haven't heard anything yet.  The January 27th show was cancelled shortly before it was ready to roll - sending 40 000 fans home to safety.

The region has had some unseasonably very cold summer weather recently.  One of Elton's Sydney Australia shows was also played in a downpour - a much more manageable one.

Doug

[dougs]

FAREWELL YELLOW BRICK ROAD Tour - New Zealand:

It looks like EJ's concerts "down under" have come to an end with two cancellations due to horrendous damaging rains in Auckland and area.  According to guitarist Davey Johnstone's Instagram post, Elton and band were dressed and ready to go on stage but the storm became more intense and they were told that it was too dangerous to go onstage so they retreated to safety.

Davey posted an Instagram video of he and Ray Cooper in the car driving through waves of water in nearby streets trying to get back to their hotel.

With the concert cancellations, it looks like the next shows will be in Liverpool, England on March 23 when the final European leg of the FAREWELL YELLOW BRICK ROAD Tour takes place - scheduled to end in Stockholm, Sweden on July 8.

Doug

[rocketman]

Thanks for this update. Sad to see that there were lives lost to the flooding!