SAN DIEGO — If you thought Elton John’s January 2019 “Farewell Yellow Brick Road” concert at Pechanga Arena was really his final San Diego performance, guess again.
The English music legend, who turned 75 on Friday, has announced he is adding 11 more North American stadium concerts to his tour, including a Nov. 9 show at San Diego’s Petco Park.
The new dates include five other West Coast concerts. One of them is a Nov. 17 show in Los Angeles at Dodger Stadium, where John is scheduled to conclude the U.S. leg of his world farewell tour on Nov. 20.
In a statement released Tuesday morning, John said: “It’s hard to believe that after tomorrow in St. Louis, I’ll have just a handful of shows left before I wrap up my final arena performances in the United States. This year will see my grand finale in North America, playing stadiums all around the country, with the most spectacular production I’ve ever had.
“Thank you for sharing this journey with me. I cherish these memories we’re making together. It has been nothing short of incredible and I look forward to seeing you very soon one last time, on my ‘Farewell Yellow Brick Road Tour’.”
The Nov. 9 Petco Park performance will be John’s first stadium concert in San Diego since March 22, 1995, when he and Billy Joel co-headlined a marathon show at the now-defunct Jack Murphy Stadium in Mission Valley. John’s first stadium concert in San Diego was Sept. 1, 1973, when he headlined a triple-bill at Balboa Stadium that included The Sutherland Brothers and a then-rising young band named Steely Dan.
John’s 11 newly announced shows are late additions to the 2022 North American stadium concert leg he announced last June. That leg of his farewell tour will kick off July 15 in Philadelphia and conclude Nov. 20 in Los Angeles. His tour is now scheduled to conclude in Stockholm, Sweden, on July 8, 2023.
Announced in early 2018, his “Farewell Yellow Brick Road” tour was originally scheduled to include 300 concerts between 2019 and 2021. But the COVID-19 pandemic led to an indoor leg of his tour being pushed back from March 2020 to the fall of 2021.
John’s 2020 hip surgery led to more postponements. So did his contracting a breakthrough infection of COVID-19 in January, although he resumed his tour a week later.
Tickets for John’s 11 new concerts will go on sale to the general public April 6 at 10 a.m. through ticketmaster.com.
There will be a pre-sale for American Express card members, which begins 10 a.m. Wednesday and runs through 10 p.m. April 5.
Here are all the newly announced 2022 stadium concerts on John’s farewell tour:
Sunday, July 24: East Rutherford, New Jersey, MetLife Stadium
Wednesday, July 27: Boston, Gillette Stadium
Thursday, Sept. 8: Toronto, Rogers Centre
Tuesday, Sept. 13: Charleston, South Carolina, Credit One Stadium
Saturday, Oct. 8: Santa Clara, California, Levi’s Stadium
Sunday, Oct. 16 and 17: Tacoma, Washington, Tacoma Dome
Saturday, Oct. 22: Vancouver, BC Place
Wednesday, Nov. 9: San Diego, Petco Park
Friday, Nov. 11: Phoenix, Chase Field
Thursday, Nov. 17: Los Angeles, Dodger Stadium
