Elton John's final tour date: Tele2 Arena, Stockholm, July 8, 2023

About the artist

Born in Pinner, Middlesex, in 1947, Elton John released his first album, Empty Sky, in 1969^[1]. His breakthrough came with "Your Song," from his album Elton John, released in the UK on April 10, 1970^[2][3]. The words were by his longtime lyricist, Bernie Taupin, who has recalled scribbling them on a notepad at the kitchen table of Elton's mother's flat one morning in 1969^[3]. That August 25, Elton made his American debut at the Troubadour in West Hollywood^[2]. Goodbye Yellow Brick Road, released on October 5, 1973, spent eight weeks at No. 1 on the Billboard 200^[2]. In October 1975 he played two nights at Dodger Stadium in Los Angeles, before 110,000 people in all, wearing a Dodgers outfit made for him by Bob Mackie^[4].

Why this was thought to be the end

On January 24, 2018, at a press conference in New York moderated by CNN's Anderson Cooper, Elton John announced that he would stop touring^[5][6]. "My priorities have changed. I have young children," he said; he wanted to be at home with his family^[5]. He was just as clear about what he was not giving up. "That doesn't mean I won't still be creative," he said, adding that he wanted to make more albums, which he could do at home^[5]. He was retiring from the road, not from music.

The Farewell Yellow Brick Road tour was planned as 300 dates over three years^[5]. It opened at the PPL Center in Allentown, Pennsylvania, on September 8, 2018^[7][8] (Universal Music's press release and Relix give September 10^[9][10]). Then the pandemic intervened, and the dates were rescheduled three times from 2020 on^[11]. In 2021 a fall left him with a hip injury that needed surgery, and the two Stockholm concerts, first booked for October 1 and 2 that year, moved to July 7 and 8, 2023^[12].

His last North American show, at Dodger Stadium in Los Angeles on November 20, 2022, was streamed live on Disney+^[13]. In June 2023 he played his last UK date, at the Glastonbury Festival^[14]. By then the finish line was fixed: Pollstar reported that the tour would close at Stockholm's Tele2 Arena on July 7 and 8^[11], and Elton himself called the July 8 concert his "final farewell show"^[14].

What is known about the day

July 8, 2023, was a Saturday, the second of the two nights at Tele2 Arena (renamed 3Arena in 2025^[15])^[16][17] and the 330th and last show of the tour^[9][18]. AFP put the crowd at 30,000^[19]. One fan, a 50-year-old who had traveled from Kentucky, told the agency that she wanted to be there for the end because she had been too young for the beginning^[19].

The set opened with "Bennie and the Jets" and ran to 23 songs: 20 in the main set and three in the encore^[9][10]. He dedicated "Border Song" to Aretha Franklin, and "I'm Still Standing" brought the arena to its feet^[19]. Over more than two hours he kept leaving the piano to thank the fans, his band and his crew, some of whom had been with him for more than 40 years^[19]. The band was Davey Johnstone (musical director, guitar), Nigel Olsson (drums), Ray Cooper and John Mahon (percussion), Kim Bullard (keyboards) and Matt Bissonette (bass)^[9]. Before the encore, the screens showed a video message from Chris Martin of Coldplay, who were playing Gothenburg that night^[19].

Just before the last song, Elton reminded the crowd that his first concert in Sweden had been on July 7, 1971, more or less 52 years earlier. He said he would "never be touring again" but might one day do "a one-off thing," though that was "miles away"^[18].

The last song was "Goodbye Yellow Brick Road"^[10][7]. When it ended, he stepped into an open elevator that lifted him toward the big screen behind the stage. As he disappeared, an on-screen Elton in the same outfit walked into the cover art of the 1973 album that gave the song and the tour their name^[18]. "Tonight has been magical," he said in a statement afterward. "I'm trying to process it, and I don't think it will sink in for a while yet that I'm finally finished touring"^[9].

What the show left behind

By IQ magazine's count, the tour played 330 shows to six million people and grossed $939.1 million, the most for any concert tour up to that time^[16]. The Dodger Stadium live stream won the Emmy for Outstanding Variety Special (Live) in January 2024^[20], making Elton an EGOT, a winner of the Emmy, Grammy, Oscar and Tony^[21]. Elton John: Never Too Late, a documentary that follows his preparations for those Los Angeles shows, came to Disney+ on December 13, 2024^[22]. We have not found an official video release of the Stockholm show itself.

He has kept making music and has gone back on stage now and then. When Taupin was inducted into the Rock & Roll Hall of Fame on November 3, 2023, Elton played him a solo "Tiny Dancer"^[23]. In June 2024 he closed the opening of the Stonewall National Monument Visitor Center in New York with a surprise set^[24][25]. In March 2025 he and Brandi Carlile played the London Palladium ahead of their joint album, Who Believes In Angels?, released on April 4^[26], and that October he played to his biggest crowd since he quit touring, at the Singapore Grand Prix^[25].

On September 7, 2026, he headlined Rock in Rio in Brazil^[27][28]. When the show was announced, he had said that the energy big one-off shows had given him since he stopped touring was "unbeatable"^[27]. On September 28 he opened Apple Music Hall in London with an hour-long set for 600 people^[28]. Then he booked two stadium nights in Mexico City for October 2 and 3, billed as "Farewell to Mexico"^[29][30]. Some outlets called them the final Farewell Yellow Brick Road shows^[31], but his official site says they are "not a continuation" of that tour^[29]. The first night ended with "Your Song"^[32][33]. Because he has kept performing under his own name, this archive files the Stockholm show under "Not the end after all": it was the last night of his touring career, not the last time he took the stage.

A life on the road that began in 1970 ended that night in Stockholm; his life on stage did not.