Elton John to headline Glastonbury Festival for his farewell to the British

Tens of thousands of festival-goers flock to Glastonbury in south-west England from Wednesday for the legendary musical event which ends this year with Elton John's farewell to the British public. This is the first time that the exuberant 76-year-old English singer has taken part in the event, which takes place every year near this small medieval village. He will go up Sunday evening on the Pyramid Stage, the most important stage of the festival, to close the 51st edition of Glastonbury.

The appointment will also mark the last concert in the United Kingdom for the star with multiple hits, from Rocket Man to Tiny Dancer. After a stint in Paris, Elton John is due to end his long international farewell tour on July 8 with a concert in Stockholm, Sweden. "It's the first time I've been asked" to play at Glastonbury, he revealed at the end of May during an interview with the BBC. "It comes at the right time, I believe in fate and it's the most magnificent way to finish in England."

Other big names this year include Arctic Monkeys and Guns N' Roses, scheduled for Friday and Saturday respectively on the Pyramid Stage. The festival had drawn criticism from fans for not scheduling any female headliners on the main stage this year. Blondie, Lizzo and Lana Del Ray are on the program, but in the first part of the evening or on less important stages. Arctic Monkeys, who played three concerts at the Emirates Stadium in London this weekend, are due to play on Friday but had to cancel their concert scheduled for Wednesday in Dublin, Ireland, the band's star singer Alex Turner suffering from laryngitis.

Glastonbury, a legendary meeting place since 1970, which has seen the biggest stars in the world parade, closed its 2022 edition with Paul McCartney, who at the age of 80 had set the festival on fire by performing Beatles classics. Soul legend Diana Ross was also in attendance. At the beginning of November, more than 100,000 tickets were sold in just over an hour for the five days of the 2023 edition, despite tickets approaching 400 euros. More than 200,000 people are expected. The festival promised "unforgettable farewells" with "Sir Elton" - he was knighted by Queen Elizabeth II in 1998 - who announced a "brand new" show for the occasion.

"I'm starting with a song that I haven't played in about ten years, so we'll see how it goes," he told the BBC, adding that he had some surprise guests planned. Half a century after his debut, the English star born in the north-west suburbs of London has sold more than 300 million records worldwide and still tops the charts from time to time by joining forces with the stars of these last years.

In 2021, his title Cold Heart, a duet with singer Dua Lipa, had ranked number one in the UK singles, as well as Merry Christmas, a collaboration with Ed Sheeran. And last August, he dusted off his classic Tiny Dancer to release a new track, Hold Me Closer, as a duet with Britney Spears. The singer's farewell tour, dubbed Farewell Yellow Brick Road and originally scheduled to last three years, kicked off in 2018 with more than 300 dates planned. But she has been disrupted due to the coronavirus pandemic, hip surgery in 2021 and testing positive for Covid last year.