Elton John returns to Ashton Gate in Bristol on Sunday night for the second of two gigs at the city's biggest venue.
More than 20,000 people watched the Rocket Man singer take to the stage for a mammoth almost-three-hour gig on Wednesday and now, after a swift sojourn to Hyde Park on Friday, he's back in BS3 for the second time.
The gig is part of the Farewell Yellow Brick Road tour, and one of the last in the UK - although the tour continues around the world and returns next summer for the very final dates.
Elton John review: Bristol's Ashton Gate on its feet for Farewell Yellow Brick Road tour
Sunday's gig may well be your first time visiting Ashton Gate, or your first time at a gig of this size in Bristol for many years, so we’ve put together a handy guide which hopefully will have everything you need to know about attending the concert. And we’ll also have information for local residents in BS3 who could be impacted by the concerts. If it's your first time at Ashton Gate in many years - it's changed quite a bit since the last time you might have come.
The stadium has been almost entirely redeveloped, so much so that it played a pivotal role in the fight against Covid in 2021 - it was where Prime Minister Boris Johnson launched the mass vaccination programme back in the first week of 2021 - and the concourses you will queue for food and drink inside the stadium once saw hundreds of thousands of covid jabs given out by NHS and military medics for the first eight months of last year. Since then, in the past ten months, things have got back to relative normality - crowds have come back to watch Bristol City struggle in the Championship, and Bristol Bears enjoy another rollercoaster season of rugby. Now that's all over for another summer, the music has commenced!
What are the timings for the concerts?
Sir Elton John will first be performing at Ashton Gate on Sunday June 26. The area around the outside stadium itself has become a ‘fan village’ - and that will open at 4pm, with the stadium itself opening at 4.30pm.
Have you seen Elton live? Tell us your experience in the Comments Section.
Unlike The Killers, where the American band were ably supported by Welsh rockers Manic Street Preachers, Elton John has no support act - in fact things are starting early, so the Rocket Man can put on something of a marathon show. The show starts promptly at 7pm, with people advised to be in their seats 20 minutes before that. The concert itself is expected to finish around 9.45pm, and if there’s any fireworks for the end of the concert, local residents might be interested to know, they’ll be around then.
When and where are the road closures?
Roads around the stadium will be closed at certain times as crowds gather. Ashton Road - the section in front of the stadium alongside Greville Smyth Park - will be closed from mid-afternoon on Sunday. Winterstoke Road, the main road to the south of the stadium, will also be closed during the concert, to enable the arrival and distribution of shuttle buses.
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Are there still tickets available?
With days to go before the event, there’s precious few tickets left for Elton John - but there are still some - both on the pitch and in the stands.
Ashton Gate put on four gigs back in 2019, before the pandemic, and already The Killers have performed there this year, but these Elton John shows are a first for the stadium - because the fans on the pitch will be seated.
Thousands of seats have been set up on the pitch in blocks, and there are a handful of tickets available in most of the blocks in the Dolman and Lansdown stands, and on the pitch.
What are the age limits?
There is no minimum age limit for tickets, although Ashton Gate are warning against very young children. The only rule is that anyone under the age of 16 has to be accompanied by someone over 18.
Who is the support act?
This is Elton's Farewell Tour - the 75-year-old has no support act. He's coming on stage at 7pm, and will entertain the crowds for almost three hours.
What should you wear?
If you’ve got a pitch seat ticket, or a seat in the first few rows of the stands, it will mean you’re going to be on or very near the pitch and therefore open to the elements. It’s advisable to take some kind of rainproof coat. The forecast is a bit uncertain for Sunday with rain in the offing, so you never know.
Ashton Gate Stadium was pretty much entirely rebuilt in the mid 2010s - and now all but the first few rows of seats are undercover in all three of the stands which are open for the concerts, so if you’ve got a seat ticket, you’ll stay dry.
In 2019, the first Ashton Gate Concerts series saw lovely warm and dry weather for Rod Stewart, Muse and Take That, but it absolutely chucked it down all day and into the evening for the final gig, The Spice Girls.
An umbrella is among the list of items you can’t take into the stadium - the rest of that list is here - so don’t get caught out.
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Food and drink
As a nearly new stadium, there’ll be loads of bars and food outlets inside the stadium itself, as well as more variety outside in the Fan Village - which is basically an area around the outside of the South Stand and Lansdown Stand that is created to be inside the outer ticket cordon. The usual turnstiles to get into the stadium will be open and people can go freely from inside to outside the stadium.
Particular hits in 2019 were special wine stands they set up, and the range of hot takeaway food on offer is pretty good - as we explored back in 2019.
One of the things you can’t take into the fan village and stadium - controversially for some - is your own food and drink, unless it’s for ‘medicinal purposes’. You can bring in one single 500ml bottle of water, unopened, though.
Security
Like all big events and venues, there will be pretty strict security. Ashton Gate Stadium are advising people not to bring bags with them, unless they have to. And the smaller the bag, the better. Bags and people will be searched and, as people who went to Wembley recently, found out - these sorts of things take time.
Anyone with a bag that’s bigger than an A4 sheet of paper won’t be allowed to take it in.
What about the loos?
One of the things stadium boss Mark Kelly made sure of when they were designing the new stadium at Ashton Gate almost ten years ago now was that there would be almost as many female toilets than men’s - something that’s pretty unusual at sporting venues.
That was put to the test with the 2019 concert series, particularly at The Spice Girls, when the gender split of concert-goers was about 70-30 female to male. Some of the men’s toilets were converted to female for the occasion, and a long line of upmarket portable toilets will line Marina Dolman Way, outside the Lansdown Stand and inside the Fan Village too.
How much cash will I need?
Interestingly, just before the pandemic hit, Ashton Gate converted to a card-only system with its food and drink outlets, so you may well not need any cash for the evening - there aren’t any cash machines near the stadium anyway.
Around Ashton Gate
If you want to make a day or an evening of it, Ashton Gate is at the end of one of Bristol’s most famous streets - North Street - full of independents bars and restaurants that will be well worth visiting. For instance, it’s home to the original and first-ever Lounge bar, as well as loads of other pubs and eateries. It’s also home to perhaps the world’s most famous street art festivals, Upfest - which is currently in the process of transforming the walls of the area once again with some amazing street art.
In practical terms, there’s a big public park, Greville Smyth Park, right opposite one side of the stadium. On the other side, there’s a retail park with a KFC, and Iceland and a B&M bargains right next door, and just down the road is a big Sainsbury’s.
Getting to Ashton Gate
Unless you live within walking distance of Ashton Gate, this is going to be something you will have to think about - it’s going to be difficult for you to just get in the car, drive to Ashton Gate and then start looking for somewhere to park.
There are designated buses running from park and ride sites around Bristol, there’s also coaches running to the gig from quite a large number of towns and cities around Bristol, and there’s regular train and bus services that are being increased to carry people to the concert and back again.
Roads around the stadium are going to be closed and there’s also a Residents’ Parking Zone that is being introduced for the concerts and will be rigorously enforced with tow trucks and operators just itching to lift cars onto the flatbeds.
For the full details of all your options - we’ve put together a special information article for both concert-goers and local residents, here.
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