Elton John revived the rare "Skyline Pigeon" at Rock in Rio and turned his return into an emotional festival highlight
Elton John returned to the Rock in Rio stage in Rio de Janeiro on September 7, 2026, with one of his rare major performances since the end of the Farewell Yellow Brick Road farewell tour. In the closing section of the concert on the main Palco Mundo stage, he performed "Skyline Pigeon", a song that has for years been particularly associated with the Brazilian audience and which he had not sung live since 2019. Rolling Stone reported after the performance that this was the first rendition of the song in seven years and that the concert included 23 songs. In this way, one of the less frequently featured compositions in his global concert repertoire took a central place in an evening made up mainly of major hits. For the audience in Rio de Janeiro, the choice was not accidental: "Skyline Pigeon" has an unusually strong and long-lasting connection with Brazil, stretching back more than half a century.
The performance was particularly significant also because the 79-year-old British musician has no longer been on a conventional months-long world tour since 2023. His official website states that Farewell Yellow Brick Road ended in July 2023, after five years and 330 concerts, bringing to a close a period of continuous life on the road that had begun as far back as 1970. John, however, did not stop performing or leave music behind: in recent years he has accepted selected one-off concerts, festival appearances, private events and other special projects. Rock in Rio was precisely one of the rare examples of his return before a huge festival audience. In announcing the performance, he himself emphasized that the energy of such one-off concerts, after giving up regular touring, still means a great deal to him.
"Skyline Pigeon" as a surprise in the finale of a 23-song concert
According to the set lists published after the concert by Live Nation and Setlist.fm, Elton John opened the evening with "Funeral for a Friend/Love Lies Bleeding" and "Bennie and the Jets", and over more than two hours worked through a repertoire spanning several decades of his career. These were followed by "I Guess That's Why They Call It the Blues", "Philadelphia Freedom", "The One", "Tiny Dancer", "Sacrifice", "Honky Cat" and an extended version of "Rocket Man". In the central part of the program, he performed, among others, "Levon", "Sorry Seems to Be the Hardest Word", "Someone Saved My Life Tonight", "Have Mercy on the Criminal", "Candle in the Wind" and "Goodbye Yellow Brick Road". The final part of the main set brought "Don't Let the Sun Go Down on Me", "Crocodile Rock", "Saturday Night's Alright for Fighting" and "I'm Still Standing". The encore then featured "Cold Heart", "Skyline Pigeon" and, as the final song of the evening, "Your Song".
Setlist.fm states that the concert began at 11 p.m. on September 7 and ended at around 1:15 a.m. on September 8, meaning that it lasted approximately two hours and 15 minutes. "The Bitch Is Back" had also been planned on the printed set list, but according to the available information it was not performed. That is precisely why the final number of songs performed was 23, matching the Rolling Stone report. The repertoire leaned heavily on the best-known phases of John's career, but "Skyline Pigeon" was an exception that gave the concert a locally specific dimension without turning the performance into a regional program. It is a composition that remained overshadowed by the biggest singles in the global catalog, while in Brazil it acquired the status of a song with its own cultural story.
A 1969 song that Brazil turned into a classic
"Skyline Pigeon" comes from the debut album "Empty Sky", released in the United Kingdom in 1969. Elton John's official discography lists it as the album's eighth track, with songwriting credited to Elton John and Bernie Taupin, partners whose collaboration became one of the longest-lasting and most influential in the history of popular music. Over the years, John has described this very composition as one of the first moments in which he and Taupin felt they had found a strong shared songwriting language. The original version was recorded with prominent harpsichord and organ, during the period before John became an international star. At the time, the album "Empty Sky" did not achieve success comparable to what would follow as early as the beginning of the 1970s.
The song received a new life several years later. According to Elton John's official website, it was re-recorded in June 1972 during work connected with the album "Don't Shoot Me I'm Only the Piano Player", this time with piano, band and an orchestral arrangement by Paul Buckmaster. That version was released in early 1973 as the B-side of the single "Daniel". The decisive step for its popularity in Brazil came that same year, when it was included in the soundtrack of the television telenovela "Carinhoso". John's official website states that it was precisely the exposure through that series that turned the previously relatively obscure song into a radio hit in Brazil and opened the way to a long life for it at concerts in Brazilian cities.
For that reason, its appearance at Rock in Rio 2026 carried a different weight from the usual inclusion of a "deep" album track in a set. Rolling Stone states that John introduced the composition to the audience by recalling its place in the early phase of his partnership with Taupin and the fact that it gained particular popularity precisely in Brazil. Such a connection explains why "Skyline Pigeon" occasionally returned to his programs in South America over the years, even though it was not a standard part of concerts in other markets. The artist's official website highlighted its performance in SΓ£o Paulo as far back as 2017, likewise emphasizing that the song remained exceptionally recognizable in Brazil. Its return in 2026 was therefore not merely a curiosity for set-list collectors, but a deliberate linking of the present performance with the decades-long history shared by the audience and the song.
Return to Rio after the end of the farewell tour
Elton John announced Farewell Yellow Brick Road as the end of his life of constant touring, not as a complete end to his musical work. His official website states that the tour began in 2018 and ended with the final concerts in Stockholm in July 2023, and that 330 performances were held during that period. After the tour ended, he continued to appear on stage occasionally, but without the pace and logistics that had accompanied his world tours for decades. In its report from Rock in Rio, Rolling Stone described the Rio de Janeiro performance as a rare major appearance after the farewell tour, noting that John continues to accept selected festival, charity and private engagements.
The official announcement of the Rock in Rio appearance, published in November 2025, further explained why he accepted precisely this concert. John said at the time that his farewell tour had not reached South America and that, when invited by Rock in Rio, he agreed without much hesitation. Organizers presented the September 7 performance as his only concert in Brazil in 2026, and the day had sold out as early as July, according to official festival announcements. This gave his return the character of a special event, not only because of the rarity of the performance but also because part of the audience on the South American continent had been left out of the final cycle of the Farewell Yellow Brick Road tour. The concert in Rio therefore also functioned as a kind of belated chapter in that farewell story.
Rock in Rio brought Elton John together with major names from the Brazilian and global scene
Rock in Rio 2026 is being held at Cidade do Rock in Rio de Janeiro on September 4, 5, 6, 7, 11, 12 and 13, according to the festival's official information. Elton John was the headline performer on the fourth day of the festival, September 7, on the Palco Mundo stage. Before him on the same stage performed LuΓsa Sonza with Roberto Menescal, American pianist and composer Jon Batiste, and Gilberto Gil. Such a program combination brought together several generations and different musical traditions, from contemporary pop and jazz to Brazilian popular music and British piano rock. Folha de S.Paulo assessed in its festival report that John's concert had a strong farewell atmosphere, but at the same time the energy of a full festival performance.
For Rock in Rio itself, his appearance also has a historical dimension. Elton John's official website states in an article about his connection with Rio de Janeiro that before 2026 he had performed in the city six times and had played at Rock in Rio twice, in 2011 and 2015. The performance on September 7, 2026, was therefore his third appearance at the festival, but the first time he closed the evening as the final headliner on the main Palco Mundo stage. At the same time, it was his first concert in Rio de Janeiro in almost ten years. That combination of a familiar venue and a different role strengthened the impression of a return that does not attempt to pretend this is a new tour, but rather a specially selected event.
Classics dominated, but a rare song gave the concert its identity
Most of the repertoire was assembled to offer the large festival audience a recognizable overview of John's career. "Tiny Dancer", "Rocket Man", "Candle in the Wind", "Goodbye Yellow Brick Road", "I'm Still Standing" and "Your Song" are among the songs that have carried his biggest concert programs for decades, and audiences recognize them regardless of generation or market. Folha noted that a substantial part of the performance focused on the classic catalog, including several songs from the 1973 album "Goodbye Yellow Brick Road". Visual elements on the large screens accompanied individual songs, while the center of the performance remained John at the piano with his accompanying musicians. Within that structure, "Skyline Pigeon" acted as a deliberately selected departure from the expected sequence of hits.
Its position near the very end of the concert was particularly symbolic. After the more contemporary hit "Cold Heart", which in the version with Dua Lipa brought John a new generation of listeners in the early 2020s, came a song from the earliest phase of his creative work, followed by "Your Song", one of the foundations of his breakthrough in the early 1970s. In this way, the finale connected three very distant periods of his career in just three songs: late global pop success, an early rare songwriting composition and the classic that marked his rise. Such a sequence required no special dramatic introduction to be understandable. The position of "Skyline Pigeon" in the program and the reaction of the audience, which knows the song from a different historical context than most of the world, were enough.
One-off concerts instead of a return to conventional touring
The Rock in Rio performance does not mean that Elton John has reversed his decision to end regular touring. The available information points to the opposite model: carefully selected individual performances that allow him to return to major stages without months of travel. His official website had already emphasized, when Rock in Rio was announced, the difference between stopping touring and stopping performing, while Rolling Stone states that he also had several other special concerts during 2026. The same report mentioned scheduled performances in Mexico City in early October, further confirming that this is a selective concert schedule rather than a new global tour.
That is precisely why Rock in Rio 2026 has broader significance in this phase of his career. For the audience, it is an opportunity to see an artist whose concert availability is now significantly more limited in a full festival format, while it allows John to shape each such performance as a special event. In Rio de Janeiro, that principle received clear musical confirmation through "Skyline Pigeon". Instead of the repertoire being merely a compilation of the best-known hits, one song from the debut album became a bridge between the beginnings of his career, the specific history of the Brazilian market and the current period in which Elton John no longer lives on tour but still chooses the moments when he wants to stand before a large audience. On an evening filled with songs that have long since become global standards, it was precisely one of the most rarely performed compositions that gave the Rio concert its most distinctive signature.
Sources:
- Rolling Stone Australia β report on the concert, 23 songs performed and the first performance of "Skyline Pigeon" since 2019 (link)
- Elton John β official announcement of the Rock in Rio 2026 performance and context after the end of the Farewell Yellow Brick Road tour (link)
- Elton John β official history of the song "Skyline Pigeon", its connection with the telenovela "Carinhoso" and popularity in Brazil (link)
- Elton John β official discography of the album "Empty Sky" and information about the song "Skyline Pigeon" (link)
- Elton John β overview of the studio period of the album "Don't Shoot Me I'm Only the Piano Player" and the re-recording of "Skyline Pigeon" (link)
- Elton John β official overview of the Farewell Yellow Brick Road tour and the end of major touring in 2023 (link)
- Elton John β history of performances in Rio de Janeiro and previous appearances at Rock in Rio (link)
- Rock in Rio β official schedule, festival dates and performers on the Palco Mundo stage for the 2026 edition (link)
- Rock in Rio β official press releases on the sellout of tickets for September 7 and the special status of Elton John's performance (link)
- Folha de S.Paulo β report from Elton John's performance in Rio de Janeiro on September 7, 2026 (link)
- Live Nation β list of songs performed and confirmation of the 23-song concert (link)
- Setlist.fm β song order, concert duration and note that "The Bitch Is Back" was not performed (link)