Elton John

Some concerts feel like gifts. On June 11 and 12, 2022, Elton John brought his Farewell Yellow Brick Road Tour to Plenitude Arena for two extraordinary evenings — the most anticipated farewell tour in the history of pop music. His 60th concert in Paris. And for 32,000 people on each night, the proof of something simple: some legends don’t age, they deepen.

Two nights. 32,000 spectators each evening. Fifty years of music in two and a half hours.

The curtain rose at 7:01 PM. In a glittering suit, red-lensed glasses ringed with diamonds, Elton John sat at the piano and opened with Bennie and the Jets. In one chord, the room was on its feet — and barely sat back down for the next two and a half hours.

© Pierre Hennequin

The setlist was staggering.

Twenty-odd anthems drawn from the golden age of a career without equal — from the early 1970s to the mid-1980s — delivered in versions that had lost none of their original force. Rocket Man arrived thirty minutes in, beneath a galaxy of stars across three giant screens, stretched into an enormous boogie at the piano. Tiny Dancer, beloved anew by younger generations through Almost Famous, was one of the evening’s peaks. Border Song, performed in solo piano-voice, dedicated to Aretha Franklin who had covered it. Someone Saved My Life Tonight with its celestial vocal harmonies. Funeral for a Friend, an instrumental tour de force and the cue for a first costume change — pink glitter frames, new jacket, same flamboyance.

The staging was cinematic.

Three giant screens shifted atmosphere with precision. Photographs by British legend Martin Parr, drawn from Elton John’s own personal collection, accompanied I Guess That’s Why They Call It the Blues. An animated film of an escaping convict — whose gunshots made the entire room flinch — illustrated Have Mercy on the Criminal. For I’m Still Standing, a compilation of fifty years of landmark moments rolled across the screens for a crowd that had lived through them — or dreamed of doing so.

© Apolline Cornuet

A legend’s farewell.

The musicians deserved their own standing ovation

Mid-show, his six Blues Brothers-suited musicians held the stage while Elton returned transformed, in a red-and-black Harlequin jacket. For the final encore, he chose the kitsch dressing gown — committing fully to an art of never taking himself too seriously while being completely serious about everything he does.

Nigel Olsson on drums has played with Elton John since 1969. Guitarist Davey Johnstone joined in 1972. Percussionist Ray Cooper has been at his side since 1973. On stage, fifty years of shared history is visible, audible, felt all the way to the back rows. Elton John spotlighted each of them with the kind of pride and warmth that owes nothing to protocol.

The declaration of love for Paris was genuine

“I have a very fond memory of a series of concerts at the Théâtre des Champs-Élysées in 1979,” he said. “You know, I have a house in Nice.” And at the end, simply: “J’aime la France.” The crowd responded. On their feet, arms raised, through Goodbye Yellow Brick Road — exactly the kind of song that confirms the greatness of an artist and an era.

At 75, following a hip operation and a pandemic that pushed his farewell tour back by years, Elton John took the stage at Plenitude Arena and proved across two and a half hours that he was playing and singing at his absolute best. No exception. No weakness. Just an immense artist who knows exactly what he does — and does it with rare generosity.

Two unforgettable nights. And the certainty that when a legend says goodbye, they do it in style.