Elton John has announced that his final UK show will take place at next year’s Glastonbury festival.
The first act of the event to be revealed will see John perform on the Pyramid Stage on Sunday 25 June, closing out the main stage in only his second UK festival appearance.
The announcement comes shortly after John played his final US show at Dodger Stadium in Los Angeles last month, an affair that featured appearances from Dua Lipa, Kiki Dee and Brandi Carlile and was streamed live on Disney+.
“I couldn’t be more excited to headline the Pyramid stage. As my Farewell Yellow Brick Road tour comes to an end, there’s no more fitting way to say goodbye to my UK fans,” John said in a statement. “They’ve been beyond brilliant and supportive in all the ups and downs of my career… I can’t wait to embrace the spirit of the biggest festival in the world.”
Glastonbury co-organiser Emily Eavis added: “We’ll be closing the festival and marking this great moment in both our stories with the mother of all send-offs. We’re delighted to finally be bringing the Rocket Man to Worthy Farm.”
While Glastonbury will reportedly mark John’s final UK show, it won’t be his last show overall – the singer-songwriter’s Farewell Yellow Brick Road tour, which kicked off in 2018, will continue across Europe until July 2023 .A pre-booked show for Accor de Paris. The June 25th Arena will now take place on June 21st.
John’s booking on Sunday night conclusively debunks rumors that Taylor Swift, who is set to return to the stage with her Eras tour in 2023, will reschedule her planned 2020 headline slot to next year. As it stands, Swift’s tour dates don’t allow her to play Glastonbury on any night other than June 25.
Glastonbury 2023 will take place from Wednesday 21 June to Sunday 25 June. Tickets for the event, which sold out within an hour when they went on sale in early November, were priced at £335 plus booking fee; Anyone who joined the deposit scheme for the canceled 2020 festival ended up paying £280 plus booking fee to attend this year.
Addressing festival-goers on Twitter, Eavis said “huge increases in the running costs of this vast show” were responsible for the price hike, as well as “the huge financial impact of two years without a festival on because of Covid”.
This story was updated on 2 December 2022 to more accurately reflect the price of Glastonbury 2022 tickets.
The Guardian is the media partner of Glastonbury Festival