Elton John returns to Giant Center in Hershey on April 20 on Farewell Yellow Brick Road Tour
From a press release:
Diamond-selling, Grammy Award-winning legend Elton John, the No. 1 top-performing solo male artist, announced 24 new concert dates today on his sold-out Farewell Yellow Brick Road Tour. These new dates complete the second year of the North American leg of his three-year worldwide tour, counting 43 dates in 2020.
The extended Farewell Yellow Brick Road Tour will stop at the Giant Center in Hershey on Monday, April 20 at 8 p.m.
Tickets, which start at $66.65, go on sale next Friday, Nov. 22 at 10 a.m. and will only be available online at ticketmaster.com for the first day. After that, tickets can also be purchased at the Giant Center box office (550 Hersheypark Dr., Hershey).
Elton John has performed at the Giant Center before, most recently in 2016 on a limited run that also came to Wilkes-Barre.
John wraps up 2019 with one of his most successful years to date. In addition to the incredible success of the tour, the biographical musical film “Rocketman” has drawn commercial success and rave reviews, as has his memoir, “Me,” which hit No. 1 on the New York Times Best Sellers list.
The Farewell Yellow Brick Road Tour marks the superstar’s last-ever tour, the end of half a century on the road for one of pop culture’s most enduring performers. Kicking off with a sold-out crowd in Allentown on Sept. 8, 2018, the tour has since then received rave reviews in every market. Taking the audience on a magical journey through his career, the show features some of John’s most beloved songs from his legendary catalog, including “Bennie and the Jets,” “Rocket Man,” “Tiny Dancer,” and “Philadelphia Freedom.” His music has taken him to many places, opened many doors, and inspired many passions in his life. The audience will experience a rare glimpse into John’s life and the deeply personal meaning behind some of his greatest hits, with mesmerizing, never before-seen photos and videos shown throughout the show from his incredible 50-year career.
Rolling Stone raved, “The Farewell Yellow Brick Road tour is the most bombastic, elaborate, high-tech arena show he’s ever attempted.”
Sir Elton Hercules John, CBE, is one of the most highly acclaimed and successful solo artists of all time.
He has achieved 26 gold, 38 platinum or multi-platinum and 1 diamond, 40 platinum or multi-platinum, and 23 gold albums, over 50 Top 40 hits, and he has sold more than 300 million records worldwide. He holds the record for the biggest-selling single of all time, “Candle in the Wind (1997),” which sold over 33 million copies. Since launching his first tour in 1970, he has over 4,000 performances in more than 80 countries to his credit.
John is the most successful solo male in the history of the American charts and the third most successful artist overall, behind only Madonna and The Beatles. He has logged 67 Hot 100 entries between 1970 and 2000, including nine No. 1s and 27 Top 10s. He achieved seven No. 1 albums in the three-and-a-half-year period from 1972 to 1975 – a period of concentrated success surpassed only by The Beatles.
John was born on March 25, 1947 in Pinner, Middlesex, England and given the name Reginald Kenneth Dwight. At the age of 3, he astonished his family by sitting at the piano and playing “The Skater’s Waltz” by ear. At the age of 11, he was awarded a scholarship as a Junior Exhibitor at the Royal Academy of Music, and he attended the academy on Saturday mornings for the next four years.
Besides his knighthood, John’s landmark awards include Best British Male Artist BRIT Award, 1991; Songwriters Hall of Fame (with Bernie Taupin), 1992; Officer of Arts & Letters (France) 1993; induction into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame, 1994; Polar Music Prize, 1995; MusiCares Person of the Year, 2000; Kennedy Center Honor, 2004; Billboard Magazine Legend of Live Award, 2006; Songwriters Hall of Fame Johnny Mercer Award (with Bernie Taupin), 2013; BRITs Icon Award, 2013; Rockefeller Foundation Lifetime Achievement Award, 2013; and the Harvard School of Public Health AIDS Initiative Leadership Award, 2013. In 2002, he was awarded an honorary doctorate from the Royal Academy of Music and, in 2004, he became a Fellow of the British Academy of Songwriters and Composers.
John has won 13 Ivor Novello Awards between 1973 and 2001, been nominated for a Grammy Award 11 times (winning in 1986, 1991, 1994, 1997, and 2000), and received the Grammy Legend Award in 2001. Three of his albums have been inducted into the Grammy Hall of Fame, including his 1970 eponymous album. He has three Oscar Award nominations (winning in 1995) and a Tony Award (with four nominations) for Best Original Score for Elton John and Tim Rice’s “Aida” in 2000.
When he is not recording or touring, he devotes his efforts to a variety of charities, including his own Elton John AIDS Foundation, which has raised over $450 million and funded programs across four continents in the 24 years it has existed. He has also been a regular performer at fundraisers for the Breast Cancer Research Foundation, the Rainforest Foundation, and the Robin Hood Foundation. He is patron or ambassador to 23 charities and is a member of the executive advisory board to four charities and endows scholarship funds at the Royal Academy of Music and the Julliard School of Music.
A multiple Grammy-winning legend and flamboyant superstar, Elton John remains the most enduringly successful singer/songwriter of his generation.
Read NEPA Scene’s review and see photos of John’s 2016 concert at the Mohegan Sun Arena at Casey Plaza in Wilkes-Barre here.
Photo by Jason Riedmiller Photography/NEPA Scene
