Sir Elton John’s own mother ditched his concert after he started playing songs that were less well known – and Ringo Starr was at her side as they abandoned the venue
Sir Elton John’s own mother walked out on one of his biggest concerts of all time – after failing to recognise any of his songs.
The iconic singer, 77, once wowed fans with a huge day-long show at Wembley called the MidSummer Music concert in June 1975 – coinciding with the summer solstice that year. He shared a stage with The Eagles, The Beach Boys, Joe Walsh, and Chaka Khan – who all performed before the Rocket Man began his set.
During his performance he played a string of hits – but also blasted out all ten songs from his then new album Captain Fantastic and Dirt Brown Cowboy, one track of which he has reportedly never played live again since. Sir Elton’s mum Sheila Farebrother – who died aged 92 in 2017 – was in the audience, but decided to walk out after he played some more obscure tracks.
And she left in good company – as The Beatles drummer Ringo Starr left with her. The Yellow Submarine performer has shared the historical anecdote in a new interview.
The Daily Star quotes the 84-year-old musician saying: “I was with his (Elton’s) mother (at the MidSummer gig). He came on and said ‘I’m only going to do the new album’ (for the second half of the gig). Me and his mother left after three tracks because we didn’t know them.”
Sir Elton was left in shock when his mother passed away in December 2017. Sharing his sad news with fans at the time, he wrote online: “So sad to say that my mother passed away this morning. I only saw her last Monday and I am in shock. Travel safe Mum. Thank you for everything. I will miss you so much. Love, Elton.”
He later told The Sun: “I saw her a week before she died and thought, ‘God, she’s pretty feisty, she’s going to last for a few months.’ A week later she was dead. It really shook me.”
The chart-topping legend and his mother had a difficult relationship which included a long period of time that they did not speak after falling out in 2008 – with Elton’s marriage to David Furnish seemingly a cause of friction between the two. In 2015, Shiela famously hired an Elton John impersonator to attend her 90th birthday as they had so bitterly fallen out.
Lashing out at her son-in-law in an interview with the Daily Mail, she said: “He had always been very kind to me until he got with David Furnish.” Blaming David for driving a wedge between her son and his longtime assistant Bob Halley, she continued: “It’s pretty obvious if anyone thinks about it.
“Elton didn’t even fall out with Bob [Halley] really. The relationship ended abruptly… Everybody was got rid of all of a sudden. That’s what happened, and everybody has gone—me included. . . .and we know who is behind that!” She went on to reveal she told her son: “You think more of that fucking thing you married, than your own mother” – a remark that later prompted Elton himself to reveal: “I don’t hate her, but I don’t want her in my life.”
However, the pair did eventually make up. Elton later told The Mirror: “I have always shied away from speaking publicly about our relationship. However, I can say that we are now back in touch and have been so since my mother’s 90th birthday.”
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