Featured Image Credit: BBC
Topics: Music, Glastonbury, Celebrity, Entertainment
Jess Battison
Elton John treated the crowds of Glastonbury and all of us watching on at home to a stellar show for his last-ever performance in the UK. But how much was he paid for gracing the infamous stage?
The ‘Rocket Man’ himself took to the festival’s Pyramid Stage last night, 25 June, as thousands danced and sang along to his grand finale at Worthy Farm.
And sitting down in front of the telly, over a whopping seven million rocked on as they watched it live on the BBC.
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But - and it’s not really the biggest surprise - a lot of talk has turned from ‘Bennie And The Jets’ to money, money, money.
Whispers are whispering and gossipers are gossiping as many are left wondering just how much the 76-year-old will have been paid for his mega performance.
Glastonbury is known to favour donating millions of pounds to charities each year rather than splashing out that cash on the artists who perform. Acts, therefore, tend to get about 10 percent less of a pay cheque compared to other festivals.
So we can easily forget the idea that Sir Elton bagged a million for his super set last night.
In a 2017 interview with BBC Radio 6, co-organiser of the festival Emily Eavis explained: “We're not in a situation where we're able to just give people enormous amounts of money.
"So we're really grateful for the bands that we get because they're basically doing it for the love of it."
Emily’s dad (and the Glasto founder) Michael Eavis did once let slip that he paid Coldplay and Paul McCartney about £200,000 for past headline sets.
Michael said in the previous chat: “I paid £200,000 for Paul McCartney and for Coldplay, and although it sounds a lot, they could have charged me far more."
The ‘Fix You’ band have played four performances at Glastonbury (in 2002, 2005, 2011 and 2016) and Paul McCartney made history as the oldest-ever solo star to headline last year, after previously playing in 2004.
In a recent interview with Somerset Live, Bestival organiser Rob Da Bank revealed: "[Glastonbury] cap their budget and even the headliners don't get paid more than 500 grand, I think, which is cheap for some of the headliners and they've had a lot of them.”
While it’ll be kept under wraps just how much Elton John will have been paid for his final ever UK performance, it’s pretty reasonable to rumour that it’ll be around that half-a-million mark.
Lyle Bignon, a music consultant who specialises in live music venues and festivals, told the Metro: “The likes of Elton John and Guns N' Roses, who have decades of global fame behind them, can likely command higher prices running into the £250,000+ range."
But whatever he was paid, Elton’s definitely got us all raving about just how brilliantly fabulous his grand finale was.
BRB, off to re-watch it.