Elton John retire? 3 Twin Cities piano players dish on his farewell tour and influence

So long, Rocket Man. Adios, Elton. Goodbye, Yellow Brick Road. Again.

Yes, Sir Elton John's Farewell Yellow Brick Road Tour is making its second — and presumably last — visit to the Twin Cities Tuesday and Wednesday at Xcel Energy Center.

Launched in 2018 and interrupted by the pandemic (Elton himself had COVID in January), the tour may break the record set by Cher — or was it Kiss? — for the longest farewell trek by an overdressed rock star. The road is scheduled to end in July 2023 in Stockholm after more than 300 concerts.

The world may remember Elton for his outrageous outfits, opulent eyeglasses and parade of piano hits, from the innocent ballad "Your Song" to the propulsive "Saturday Night's Alright for Fighting" to the Disney anthem "Can You Feel the Love Tonight." Two dozen of those favorites were heard at Target Center in the 2019 leg of his farewell foray.

Never the retiring type, Elton even scored a big hit last year with pop star Dua Lipa, "Cold Heart."

Set to turn 75 on March 25, Sir Elton remains the king of rock 'n' roll piano. He's sold 300 million albums (twice as many as rock's other big piano man, Billy Joel) and landed 28 tunes in the Top 10 (to Joel's 10).

We asked three Elton-loving Twin Cities keyboardists to dish about rock's greatest piano man.

De Prez holds down the piano bar at Nye's three nights a week, playing a dozen Elton tunes in any given 6 ½-hour shift.

Elton songs she knows by heart: Probably 15.

Most requested: "Tiny Dancer" or "Bennie and the Jets." It's a toss-up. They have signature intros and people know the songs immediately.

Elton's contribution to rock 'n' roll piano: He made it cool. He made rock 'n' roll piano a show. He was courageous. He did things that no one else had done before with a piano. He made me brave.

Favorite song to play: "Your Song." When I sing that line — "My gift is my song and I sing it for you" — I absolutely mean it every time.

Favorite to listen to: "Funeral for a Friend" that goes into "Love Lies Bleeding."

Favorite album: "Goodbye Yellow Brick Road."

His style: "Madman Across the Water" was real introspective. "Goodbye Yellow Brick Road" was in your face. Then he did pop with Kiki Dee. "The Lion King" and scoring of movies was really good. You still knew it was him. He brought his music to a whole new generation. The latest with Dua Lipa, it sounds like a club song. [As for technique,] I like his voicings. They sound rich and full. I like the way he plays the bass line against the top end. It's not the norm.

Elton concert memory: I have never seen him. I can't afford it.

Last word: When he showed up, no one missed the guitar one bit.

He plays 13 to 16 songs during his regular Elton John tribute performances with vocalist Mick Sterling.

Elton songs he knows by heart: More than 100 — every album from 1969 to 1979.

Most requested: People love "Bennie and the Jets," "Rocket Man" and "Burn Down the Mission."

Elton's contribution to rock 'n' roll piano: As a teenager, I saw this concert footage of the early '70s and it blew my mind. The crouching down, doing the handstands, banging the hell out of this thing, and jumping on top of it. I completely rethought what I was doing at that point. It was like what the Beatles on "Ed Sullivan" did for guitar players.

Favorite song to play: Maybe "Tonight" from Blue Moves." We do it in our strings show, and I love the classical opening he does.

Favorite to listen to: "Empty Garden" because I'm a huge Beatles fanatic, and "Come Down in Time" from "Tumbleweed Connection."

Favorite album: It's a toss-up between "Tumbleweed Connection" and "Madman Across the Water." That early stuff was it for me.

His style: He was such a musical sponge. One song would be reggae, one song would be country. ... You could tell he was very classically based, the way some of his chord structures have been classically derivative. For pop and rock, it was something we'd never heard before.

Concert memory: I've seen him four or five times, first in 1976 for the Louder Than the Concorde Tour — we were out of our minds when he walked onstage at the St. Paul Civic Center — and the last time in Las Vegas for Red Piano. Every time I saw him, I got less enthused. The man is just sitting at the piano going through the motions. There's no adventure there anymore.

Last word: In a junior high school talent show, I did the Elton John revue, a three-song medley. To this day, people still come up to me and remember that damn thing.

A colorful indie-rock savant, Mallman is known for stunts like his 76-hour piano marathon concert.

Elton songs he knows by heart: Five or six.

Most requested: "I'm Still Standing." It's got that straight four-on-the-floor beat.

Elton's contribution to rock 'n' roll piano: He humanized piano on a grand scale. There's no one who took what Little Richard was doing and what Liberace was doing and combined that. Elton brought a lot of ideas from roadhouse and barrelhouse music that Little Richard and Jerry Lee Lewis were playing — only with a prog-rock feel.

Favorite to play: "Saturday Night's Alright for Fighting." It's just so fun.

Favorite to listen to: Besides "Grey Seal," I'd say "Sacrifice."

Favorite album: For sure, "Goodbye Yellow Brick Road." It's one of the best albums of the '70s. But those first seven records, I don't know any artist who had a succession of albums like that.

His style: When Billy Joel does a different style, it's fully engulfed. With Elton, it's always Elton's spin. It's very smart music but it's not snobby. The goal is fun — like Steven Spielberg. His piano style is rhythmically more complex than melodically complex, which is good because it never interferes with the melody. He is a lot like a drummer. He might be like Ringo Starr on the piano.

Concert memories: I've seen him twice: a solo tour in 1999 at Target Center and the 2019 "Farewell" show in Minneapolis.

Last word: You can't dress up like Donald Duck and have people take you seriously unless you're better at your instrument than you are outrageous in your outfit.

Elton John
When: 8 p.m. Tue.-Wed.
Where: Xcel Energy Center, St. Paul.
Tickets: $69.50-$249.50, ticketmaster.com