Legendary singer/songwriter/costume-enthusiast, Sir Elton John has announced that he will retire from touring after one more trip around the world.
The Farewell Yellow Brick Road Tour will be mark they 70-year-old John’s final live appearances. It will take place over the course of the next three years and will include 300 international performances.
John announced the tour during a press conference that was simulcast via live stream to both New York and London. During the stream, John Crocodile Rocked the house with a slew of his biggest hits that culminated in the announcement of this final concert series.
The stream could be viewed in both standard 2D format and in VR through the use of a Google Cardboard headset. Cardboard users could immerse themselves more completely in the festivities as part of Google’s new VR180 format.
Typical VR videos are displayed in full 360 degrees, but rendering all of that footage can be overly taxing on the hardware creating the experience (especially for smartphones). By creating the new 180° format, Google is hoping to incentivize crisper, more focused immersive filmmaking.
The VR180 initiative includes Google created VR cameras, apps and contests to keep the creativity going.
But Sir Elton John is always ready to go the extra mile in the name of spectacle. Soon after the live stream he and his team released a full 360° video to promote his farewell tour as well. If you thought John’s onstage antics were crazy here in reality, just look what he can do when pesky things like “physics” are taken out of the equation.
The nearly six minute video was created by Spinifex Group – a digital production house from Sydney.
In an interview with CNN’s Anderson Cooper, John explained that just because his tours are ending doesn’t mean he will stop creating music:
I’ve had an amazing life, amazing career,” said John. “My priorities now are my children, my husband and my family and I’ve been touring since I was 17 with various bands, then as Elton John in 1969 and I thought the time was right to say thank you to all my friends around the world globally and then to say goodbye and just to have a breather.
…That doesn’t mean I’m still not going to be creative, but I’m not going to travel anymore.
It’s the end of an era people. Find a tiny dancer and hold them close.
Image credit: Rocket Entertainment
