The 74-year-old singer has been in 'considerable pain' since falling down earlier this year.
Elton John won't be completing his farewell tour anytime soon. The 74-year-old singer took to Instagram on Thursday to announce "with great sadness and a heavy heart" that he's postponing the European and United Kingdom dates of his Farewell Yellow Brick Road until 2023, due to an injury he sustained over the summer.
"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 wrote, adding that, "despite intensive physio and specialist treatment, the pain has continued to get worse and is leading to increasing difficulties moving."
"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," John continued. "I will be undertaking a program of intensive physiotherapy that will ensure a fully recovery and a return to full mobility without pain."
The music icon noted that he will undergo the surgery after Global Citizen Live, a charity event that's taking place later this month.
"I don't want to let a charity down," he wrote. "Being just five songs it's a very different physical undertaking to the demands of playing for close to three hours every night on tour and travelling overnight between countries."
Following that event, John "will be having the operation to ensure the tour can get back on the road in January of 2022 in New Orleans."
John ended his message by addressing his fans directly, writing, "I know how patient my incredible fans have been since COVID halted my touring last year, and it breaks my heart to keep you waiting any longer."
"I completely feel your frustrations after the year we've had," he concluded. "I promise you this -- the shows will return to the road next year and I will make sure they are more than worth the wait."
Though fans won't see John on tour this year, he is still set to release The Lockdown Sessions, his upcoming album of collaborations that were recorded remotely amid the COVID-19 pandemic.
The 16-track album, which is due out Oct. 22, will feature collaborations with Charlie Puth, Dua Lipa, Eddie Vedder, Lil Nas X, Miley Cyrus, Nicki Minaj, Stevie Nicks, Stevie Wonder, Young Thug and more.
"The last thing I expected to do during lockdown was make an album," John previously said of the new music. "But, as the pandemic went on, one‐off projects kept cropping up. Some of the recording sessions had to be done remotely, via Zoom, which I’d obviously never done before. Some of the sessions were recorded under very stringent safety regulations: working with another artist, but separated by glass screens."
"But all the tracks I worked on were really interesting and diverse, stuff that was completely different to anything I’m known for, stuff that took me out of my comfort zone into completely new territory," he continued. "And I realized there was something weirdly familiar about working like this."
John concluded, "At the start of my career, in the late 60s, I worked as a session musician. Working with different artists during lockdown reminded me of that. I’d come full circle: I was a session musician again. And it was still a blast."
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