Elton John is rocking along the Yellow Brick Road on a 300-date world tour that signals the end of his live touring career.
And after wowing fans for more than five decades, the remarkable musician is well and truly Still Standing. But how on earth has he lasted so long and where does he find the stamina?
The answer comes from his band’s guitarist Davey Johnstone, who remembers when rock – and Sir Elton – was young.
Davey says cocaine and whiskey were dumped many years ago. In their place... plenty of probiotics and “disgusting” herbal tea.
“I take tons of vitamins,” he says over Zoom as the band prepares to take to the stage in Manchester.
Get all the latest news sent to your inbox. Sign up for the free Mirror newsletter
He adds: “Tons of vitamin C, turmeric, primrose, and lots of probiotics.
“I also take lots of my own tea on the road, I try to eat healthily.
“I drink healthy tea, it’s supposed to be amazing for your system. It tastes like s*** but it seems to work. Touring is a difficult business. Elton is 75 and I just turned 71, it gets difficult on your body.
“This time next year we will do our very last shows, smaller arena shows and, quite honestly, we are both ready. Elton is ready for the same reason.
“You can’t keep doing it for ever. It’s a job for guys in their 20s and 30s.”
Davey joined The Elton John Band in 1971 and they have performed 3,800 times down the years.
A host of cities in America and Europe beckon before they return to the UK this time next year – and sign off with a final gig in Sweden.
That’s a lot of tea to be drunk. And not much partying – because of Covid. If a key member of the tour is hit, a concert faces the axe.
Elton is in one Covid bubble with his security guard, driver and hairdresser. The next bubble is Davey and The Elton John Band. And the third group is the road crew.
Davey says: “We try not to interact with each other apart from when we are on stage, and it’s working for us.
“So far we have managed pretty well to stay safe, whereas a lot of bands haven’t. Mick [Jagger] got sick and the Rolling Stones had to cancel. Sting had to too and my buddy Ringo [Starr] has had to cancel because band members got Covid.
“We have to stay protected because if I get sick we really are in trouble. I’m his band leader and guitar player, it would be very difficult to do the show without me, so I have to stay as safe as I can.”
Despite the Covid protocols, Davey says Elton and the band “are rocking more than we ever did”.
He goes on: “Rock and roll is still very much alive but it has become a different animal because of Covid. We can’t have the parties or go to a restaurant and talk about the night, which makes it very weird. But we do go for the throat every night, it’s very rocky and very loud. The main thing is to take it to the people so they can have a great night.”
At the end of the tour Davey plans to party hard – before returning to work.
“Definitely,” he says. “I want to be with all my family and have a party in my back yard in LA.”
Talking of parties, Davey reflects on a wild night with Beatles legend John Lennon in 1974 after he and Elton performed at Madison Square Garden, New York.
He says: “Elton called and said he wanted to party with us. I said, ‘Tell him to p*** off ’. I was just joking and Elton was like, ‘Come on, come over.’
“Kiki Dee was there too. We were hanging out and it was pretty crazy.”
Another of Elton’s famous fancy dress gatherings had a sickly ending when singer Rick Astley, dressed as an astronaut, vomited into his helmet.
“He was s***-faced,” Davey says, laughing.
“It was a great night.”
Father-of-two Elton has been sober since 1990 after years of hellraising and a cocaine addiction – while Davey no longer touches the drink. But the pair get their kicks from a “wicked” sense of humour which Davey fears could one day get them “cancelled”.
He says: “There are conversations and things we have said where we have laughed so much.
“But we know this could never get out because it’s too weird. We know not to talk about what we’ve said.
“I would be banned if it came out.”
In lockdown, Davey wrote solo album Deeper Than My Roots.
One track – Black Scotland – references his meeting with rock and roll legend Little Richard.
He says: “I was playing some guitar for him and he turned round and went, ‘Where are you from?’
“I said I was from Scotland, and he said, ‘You must be from the black part of Scotland, honey.’ So I always thought I would use that title one day. It’s a pop record with some folk bits in there.
“There’s a lot of stuff that goes back to the 70s. I’m very happy with it.”
Even though Elton will stop touring, Davey says the rocker hasn’t changed.
He adds: “Elton is the same as he was when I first met him. If you met Elton over three days, every day would be different. The first time I met him he was really shy and I had to make the effort, and the next time he was like a jack-in-the-box.
"You know he’s never going to be the same, but that’s what makes him interesting. If he hadn’t been a musician he’d have been a brain surgeon because he is a special individual.”
And he says Elton’s competitive streak will never fade, adding: “He would always fight for what he wants and is hugely competitive. That’s what makes him special.”
But then that’s not too surprising. Didn’t Elton once say Saturday Night’s Alright (For Fighting)?
■Davey Johnstone’s album Deeper Than My Roots is out now
