"Thank you for the love, I won't ever forget you," Sir Elton John told a packed O2 arena as he entered the final stretch of a farewell tour that seemed like it would never actually say farewell, always hanging on for one last lingering hug, another round on the house, and while I'm here how about a song? Oh, go on then, Reg, you know you want to.
He has been such a fixture of pop culture for so long now, many were sceptical when Elton announced his impending retirement. He has certainly been wringing the most out of it.
His Farewell Yellow Brick Road tour has been the longest of long goodbyes. He was 71 when he set off in 2018, but following the interruptions of a global pandemic and a hip replacement operation, he was still rocking when he turned 76 in March.
By the time he bids a final adieu to the UK at the Glastonbury Festival on June 25th, and performs his last ever (ever ever?) show in Stockholm (of all places) on July 8th, the tour will officially have become the highest grossing in pop history, swelling his retirement coffers by £650 million.