Sir Elton John has been confirmed as the first headliner of Glastonbury 2023, for what will be the last UK date of his farewell tour.

The legendary musician will top the bill on the Pyramid Stage on Sunday 25 June 2023, it was announced this morning (2 December).

“There is no more fitting way to say goodbye to my British fans,” says John in a statement announcing the show. “I can’t wait to embrace the spirit of the greatest festival in the world. It’s going to be incredibly emotional.”

Festival organiser Emily Eavis comments: “It gives me enormous pleasure to let you know that the one and only Elton John will be making his first-ever Glastonbury appearance, headlining the Pyramid Stage on the Sunday night next year.

“This will be the final UK show of Elton’s last-ever tour, so we will be closing the festival and marking this huge moment in both of our histories with the mother of all send-offs.”

The star teased the announcement yesterday (1 December), posting an Instagram photo captioned: “One final date to announce… the Rocket Man is incoming.”

“I CAN’T WAIT TO EMBRACE THE SPIRIT OF THE GREATEST FESTIVAL IN THE WORLD. IT’S GOING TO BE INCREDIBLY EMOTIONAL”

Around the same time, the BBC’s Glastonbury webcam featured an image of a rocket ship in the sky above the Pyramid stage.

Sir Elton’s Glastonbury performance will come at the end of the UK leg of his 350-date Farewell Yellow Brick Road tour, which kicks off in Liverpool next March.

After Glastonbury, the 75-year-old only has seven dates left to play in Europe before he retires from touring.

The star recently wrapped up the US leg of the tour with a three-night stand at LA’s Dodger Stadium – where, in 1975, he cemented his icon status with two historic gigs, bedecked in a sequinned Dodgers Baseball uniform. There, he was joined by Brandi Carlile, Kiki Dee and Dua Lipa.

The Farewell Yellow Brick Road tour had been due to run from September 2018 to 2021, encompassing five continents and over 350 dates but it was disrupted by the pandemic and John’s hip problems. The tour already topped Pollstar’s Top 100 Worldwide Tours chart for 2019 by the time the world paused and is poised to again be a contender in 2022.

While box office reports are still coming in, Pollstar reported in late November that more than 3.6 million tickets were sold for 164 of his shows, grossing more than $511 million.

Get more stories like this in your inbox by signing up for IQ Index, IQ’s free email digest of essential live music industry news.

‍