Elton John has announced that he would have to postpone the UK and European legs of his Farewell Yellow Brick Road: The Final Tour due to needing surgery on his hip.
“At the end of my summer break I fell awkwardly on a hard surface and have been in considerable pain and discomfort in my hip ever since,” he explained in a post to Instagram. “Despite intensive physio and specialist treatment, the pain has continued to get worse and is leading to increasing difficulties moving.”
He continued, “I have been advised to have an operation as soon as possible to get me back to full fitness and make sure there are no long-term complications. I will be undertaking a program of intensive physiotherapy that will ensure a full recovery and a return to full mobility without pain.”
Still, John noted that he would be playing the Global Citizen Live charity concert in London on September 25, as the set would be “a very different physical undertaking to the demands of playing for close to three hours every night on tour and traveling overnight between countries.”
After the operation, the singer will hopefully return to touring in January 2022. In the interim, fans can look forward to John’s collaborative release, The Lockdown Sessions, which arrives on October 22 and features collabs with Gorillaz, Miley Cyrus, Stevie Wonder, Stevie Nicks, Nicki Minaj, and Young Thug.