Elton John is back on the road after nearly two years. Ultimate Classic Rock reported the “Rocket Man” — who had played his last full-scale concert back on March 7th, 2020 in Parramatta, Australia — relaunched his “Farewell Yellow Brick Road Tour” on Wednesday night (January 19th) at New Orleans' Smoothie King Center. In addition to the ongoing pandemic, Elton was forced to reschedule dates due to hip replacement surgery.
The classic-packed setlist also featured Elton performing “Cold Heart” — his recent Top 10 hit with Australian artist Pnau. Elton sat at the piano and sang along to the commercially available track, which mashed together such Elton favorites as 1972's “Rocket Man,” 1989's “Sacrifice,” 1983's “Kiss The Bride,” and 1976's “Where's The Shoorah?”
Elton John recently took part in Spotify's “The Best Advice I Ever Got” video series and recalled receiving important advice on how to tour in North America upon breaking on the scene in 1970. In the clip, Elton credited his longtime agent Howard Rose for hipping him how to build a foundation as a performer: “Don't put yourself in a position where you're playing somewhere big too soon. Playing somewhere like that and you're not ready is a disaster waiting to happen. You have to go out and play second on the bill to great artists, like Leon Russell and Derek & The Dominos, in areas where you're not so popular. And you have to get then experience of playing to another audience that isn't your audience. Also, when you're in places like New York and Los Angeles and you can sell out big venues — we're going to put you in smaller venues and create a ticket craziness, so you sell out straight away and no one can get a ticket. That means, 'next time you come 'round, you're gonna sell out a bigger venue.”
