Elton John has announced his farewell tour, and the Jacksonville Veterans Memorial Arena has made the list.
John was also the very first performer at the Arena when it opened back in 2003 as one of the crown jewels of The Better Jacksonville Plan, which was a taxpayer financed $2.2 billion building spree that also included the Duval County Courthouse, Main Library and the Baseball Grounds of Jacksonville.
SMG, the company that manages the Arena, confirmed to WJCT News in an email that John's Jacksonville performance will be on March 15, 2019.
An American Express pre-sale for John's final Jacksonville be available Thursday, February 8 at 10 a.m. to Monday, February 12 at 10 p.m. Ticketmaster verified fan pre-sale will be Tuesday, February 13 at 10 a.m. to Wednesday, February 14 at 10 p.m.
Tickets will go on sale for the general public at 10 a.m. on Friday, February 16.
The Elton John: Farewell Yellow Brick Road tour will run through 2021, according to SMG, which manages the Arena.
An earlier Rolling Stone magazine story had Jacksonville listed at the bottom of John's available tour dates, but the tour will last well beyond the Jacksonville stop. Wednesday afternoon Elton John's team launched an updated website with additional tour information.
SMG said John will start his farewell tour in the U.S. on September 8, 2018. Other stops will include Europe, Asia, Australasia and South America.
“Performing live fuels me and I’m ecstatic and humbled to continue to play to audiences across the globe,” said John in a news release. “I plan to bring the passion and creativity that has entertained my fans for decades to my final tour. After the tour finishes, I’m very much looking forward to closing off that chapter of my life by saying farewell to life on the road. I need to dedicate more time to raising my children.”
Bill Bortzfield can be reached at bbortzfield@wjct.org, 904-358-6349 or on Twitter at @BortzInJax.
