Elton John Announces Retirement From Touring
January 25, 2018 by admin
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At an emotional New York press conference Wednesday, Elton John announced that he will retire from the road after a lengthy farewell tour.
“I’m not going to be touring anymore,” he told moderator Anderson Cooper at New York’s Gotham Hall. “I’m not going to be touring and traveling the world. My priorities have changed. I have young children.” Before he finishes, however, he will spend three years on the road saying goodbye to his fans with a 300-date tour he’s dubbed Farewell Yellow Brick Road. “That doesn’t mean I won’t still be creative,” he said. “But I won’t travel any more…I don’t want to go out with a whimper. I want to go out with a bang…It’ll be the most produced, fantastic show I’ve ever done.”
To start the event, organizers handed out virtual reality headsets, with the VR video taking attendees through a five-minute summary of John’s career. John appeared behind a piano to croon “Tiny Dancer” immediately following; the singer decked out in trademark glittered suit and sunglasses. From there, John performed a stripped-down version of his 1983 hit “I’m Still Standing.”
Many acts – including Cher, Kiss and Ozzy Osbourne – have launched farewell tours only to return to the road just a few years later. But Elton insisted this if for real. “I’m not Cher,” he said. He did say that after a long break following the conclusion of the tour in 2021 he will continue to write and record. “I’m 71. I can’t physically do the traveling anymore. I want to be at home. I really want to spend time with my children at home. I’ve had an incredible life, but life is all about change.”
He didn’t rule out the possibility of a future residency like Kate Bush’s 22-night stand at London’s Apollo Hammersmith in 2014. “I haven’t had much time off in my life,” he said. “I definitely want to make a couple more albums, but that will be easy since I can do that at home. I want to see friends. I want to spend time at my house and with my photography collection. I’m really looking forward to this tour and I’m really looking forward to the 300th date.”
The move comes nine months after he contracted a “rare and potentially deadly” bacterial infection in South America that forced him to cancel a series of shows. John spent two days in intensive care and nearly two weeks in the hospital. “I am so fortunate to have the most incredible and loyal fans and apologize for disappointing them,” he said afterwards in a statement. “I am extremely grateful to the medical team for their excellence in looking after me so well.”
The Hall of Fame musician resumed his tour in early June, with his husband/manager David Furnish indicating that John had no plans to stop. “Without question, Elton must never stop performing,” he said. “We all have things that kind of keep us alive in life. Some people relish the idea of a retirement where they do nothing [but] for Elton that would be purgatory. Playing to live audiences is going to be something he always needs to do.” At Wednesday’s event, however, John dismissed reports earlier in the day that he was retiring because of ill health.
This isn’t the first time that John announced he was stepping away from live performing. “I’ve made a decision tonight that this is going to be the last show,” he told a stunned crowd during a 1977 show in London. “There’s a lot more to me than playing on the road and this is the last one I’m going to do.” He was back performing two years later and continued to tour at a punishing rate. Over the past 20 years, he’s played upwards of 133 shows a year that he balances between his residency at Caesar’s Palace in Las Vegas and arenas and stadiums around the world.
Three years ago, John began discussing finally slowing down to spend more time with his young family. “I’ve had lots of time off with my children, and it’s all got to change now that [my son] Zachary is starting school,” he told Rolling Stone. “I’ve got to be off when half-term comes. And I am planning on cutting down my shows to be with my children, because that’s what I really love.”
Elton John Tour Dates
September 8 – Allentown, PA @ PPL Center
September 11 12 – Philadelphia, PA @ The Wells Fargo Center
September 15 – Buffalo, NY @ KeyBank Center
September 16 – University Park, PA @ Bryce Jordan Center
September 19 – Hartford, CT @ XL Center
September 21 22 – Washington DC @ Capital One Arena
September 25 26 – Toronto, ON @ Air Canada Centre
September 28 – Ottawa, ON @ Canadian Tire Centre
September 29 – Québec City, QC @ Videotron Centre
October 4 – Montreal, QC @ Bell Centre
October 6 – Boston, MA @ TD Garden
October 10 – Pittsburgh, PA @ PPG Paints Arena
October 12 – Detroit, MI @ Little Caesars Arena
October 15 – Grand Rapids, MI @ Van Andel Arena
October 18 19 – New York, NY @ Madison Square Garden
October 23 – Louisville, KY @ KFC Yum! Center
October 24 – Nashville, TN @ Bridgestone Arena
October 26 27 – Chicago, IL @ United Center
October 30 – St. Louis, MO @ Scottrade Center
November 2 – Columbus, OH @ Schottenstein Center
November 3 – Cleveland, OH @ Quicken Loans Arena
November 8 – New York, NY @ Madison Square Garden
November 23 – Sunrise, FL @ BBT Center
November 24 – Miami, FL @ AmericanAirlines Arena
November 27 – Orlando, FL @ Amway Center
November 28 – Tampa, FL @ Amalie Arena
November 30 December 1 – Atlanta, GA @ Philips Arena
December 4 – Birmingham, AL @ Legacy Arena at The BJCC
December 6 – New Orleans, LA @ Smoothie King Center
December 8 9 – Houston, TX @ Toyota Center
December 12 – San Antonio, TX @ ATT Center
December 14 15 – Dallas, TX @ American Airlines Center
January 11, 2019 – Boise, ID @ Taco Bell Arena
January 12, 2019 – Portland, OR @ Moda Center
January 15, 2019 – Fresno, CA @ Save Mart Center
January 16, 2019 – Sacramento, CA @ Golden1 Center
January 18, 2019 – Oakland, CA @ Oracle Arena
January 19, 2019 – San Jose, CA @ SAP Center at San Jose
January 22 23, 2019 – Los Angeles, CA @ STAPLES Center
January 26, 2019 – Glendale, AZ @ Gila River Arena
January 29, 2019 – San Diego, CA @ Valley View Casino Center
February 7, 2019 – Denver, CO @ Pepsi Center
February 9, 2019 – Tulsa, OK @ BOK Center
February 12, 2019 – Omaha, NE @ CenturyLink Center
February 13, 2019 – Kansas City, MO @ Sprint Center
February 19, 2019 – Milwaukee, WI @ Wisconsin Entertainment and Sports Center
February 21, 2019 – Minneapolis, MN @ Target Center
February 27, 2019 – Cincinnati, OH @ U.S. Bank Arena
March 1, 2019 – Albany, NY @ Times Union Center
March 8, 2019 – Brooklyn, NY @ Barclays Center
March 12, 2019 – Raleigh, NC @PNC Arena
March 13, 2019 – Columbia, SC @Colonial Life Arena
March 15, 2019 – Jacksonville, FL @ Jacksonville Veterans Memorial Arena
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‘High-level FBI officials’ allegedly involved in Strzok-Page ‘secret society’
January 25, 2018 by admin
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Texts indicate secret society to resist Trump
Some lawmakers are concluding that there most definitely was an institutional bias among some at the FBI against candidate and then President Trump.
The “secret society” referenced in a text message between Trump-bashing FBI lovers Peter Strzok and Lisa Page allegedly involved multiple “high-ranking FBI officials,” a top GOP lawmaker said Wednesday.
Senate Homeland Security Committee Chairman Ron Johnson, R-Wis., revealed this week that his committee met with a whistleblower informant who gave more details on that “society,” claiming the group was known to meet “off-site.” Johnson elaborated in an interview Wednesday on Fox News’ “America’s Newsroom,” indicating others were involved.
“I have heard from somebody who has talked to our committee that there is a group of individuals in the FBI who were holding secret, off-site meetings,” Johnson said Wednesday. “I think there are indications there were a number of high-level FBI officials that were holding secret meetings off-site.”
Johnson first revealed that the committee had an informant Tuesday on Fox News’ “Special Report.” He said Wednesday he is still “connecting the dots” between the source’s information and the text messages he and other lawmakers have reviewed.
MISSING TEXTS FROM FBI ‘LOVERS’ COVER ‘PRIME’ PERIOD, TRUMP SAYS
“Understand that Strzok and Page were very high-level in the FBI. Peter Strzok’s title was FBI deputy assistant director of the counterintelligence division—these aren’t low level underlings,” Johnson said Wednesday. “These are individuals that had access to the highest level—to the director of the FBI.”
The “secret society” reference was first revealed this week, after congressional committees received hundreds of pages of text message records between Strzok and Page from the Justice Department. Congress is scrutinizing their discussions, after a slew of anti-Trump texts surfaced last year from the two officials who once worked on Robert Mueller’s Russia probe — fueling allegations of bias at the bureau.
Chairman of the House Oversight Committee Rep. Trey Gowdy, R-S.C., and Rep. John Ratcliffe, R-Texas, said Monday that the texts revealed there may have been an internal group “working against” President Trump.
“There’s a text exchange between these two FBI agents, these two supposed to be objective fact-centric FBI agents, saying that perhaps this is the first meeting of the ‘secret society’,” Gowdy said Monday on “The Story with Martha MacCallum” Monday. The message apparently was sent the day after Trump won the November 2016 election.
‘You can see the impunity with which they’re acting because they are the FBI.’
Curiously, other texts released by Johnson show Strzok and Page appearing to wrestle with whether joining the Mueller probe would be worth it.
TRUMP, FBI BLAME SAMSUNG FOR LOSS OF STRZOK-PAGE TEXTS, AS ‘SECRET SOCIETY’ DETAILS EMERGE
In one text, Strzok wrote: “you and I both know the odds are nothing. If I thought it was likely, I’d be there no question. I hesitate in part because of my gut sense and concern there’s no big there there.”
The full context of those texts is not entirely clear.
Meanwhile, Republicans are pressing for answers on why five months of text messages — between December 2016 and May 2017 — are missing from the records.
The cover letter of the 384-pages of messages given to Congress notified investigators that the FBI’s technical system “failed to preserve text messages for Mr. Strzok and Ms. Page from December 14, 2016 through May 17, 2017.”
FBI’S STRZOK ALLEGEDLY DISMISSED MUELLER PROBE: ‘NO BIG THERE THERE’
The text messages have “cast a shadow” over the entire bureau this week, Chairman of the House Judiciary Committee Bob Goodlatte, R-Va., said.
House Judiciary Committee Chairman Bob Goodlatte, R-Va., said the FBI was cooperating with congressional committees to turn over documents.
(AP)
“The texts that have been produced are very concerning because they indicate a concerted effort – not just talk between two people,” Goodlatte said Wednesday on “America’s Newsroom.” “But a concerted effort in the department.”
Goodlatte noted that the FBI was cooperating with his and other congressional committees in turning over documents.
“Those texts are so important. This isn’t rehearsed testimony,” Johnson said. “They are just unvarnished statements made by two individuals, at the highest levels within the FBI. You can see the impunity with which they’re acting because they are the FBI.”
Johnson added: “Nobody’s ever going to investigate them. Well, sorry, we already started investigating them.”
Fox News’ Samuel Chamberlain contributed to this report.
Brooke Singman is a Politics Reporter for Fox News. Follow her on Twitter at @brookefoxnews.