For the first time at the Elton John Aids Foundation’s Academy Awards viewing party, Elton John… wasn’t there. Elton, 75, missed the gala to play a rescheduled date on his long-delayed “Farewell Yellow Brick Road” tour. “He does want to finish touring,” said David Furnish, Elton’s husband, while speaking EXCLUSIVELY with HollywoodLife at the Mar. 28 part. “It is very important for him to spend more time with the family, but Elton will never stop.”
“His passion and connection with young artists and creating new music – we have two stage musicals opening this year,” David tells HollywoodLife. “You know he is a tour de force, and he is more connected to the music world more than perhaps he ever was before. With his Apple Radio show, he is always talking to young artists. And he now has a fantastic collaborative album [The Lockdown Sessions] in the top of the charts at 74. He just keeps redefining what a great and happy music career can be. And it all comes from a genuine love and fan of his craft, and that will never stop!”
While Elton missed out on the evening, David, 59, was there with their two children – Elijah, 9, and 11-year-old Zachary. “I am very proud of them,” David shares with HollywoodLife, “as we had a real crisis this year when they moved the day of the Oscars, and Elton wasn’t able to be here in person. They heard Elton and I talking, we were like, ‘What can we do? I can’t host it on my own. I am not Elton John!’ And the boys said, ‘We’ll help you. It’s the family’s charity! And we would be very happy to support!’ And I was like, ‘Well, thank you. We’ll take that and advantage of that.'”
“Then after we got the support of [Lady] Gaga and Eric McCormack and Billy Porter and with Brandi Carlile performing, I can relax and do the work I have to do and not worry about carrying any extra weight on my shoulders,” added David. “So, it is great to have that kind of support.”
While David was tending to his duties at the viewing party, Elton was putting on a show for a packed Pinnacle Bank Arena in Lincoln, Nebraska. “They asked me to postpone the show and come to the Oscars. I said, ‘I can’t. It’s been postponed too many times,'” Elton said, according to the Lincoln Journal Star. “It’s the first one I’ve missed in 30 years. You’re worth it. OK?” He played to a packed house of 14,000 fans who witnessed a whirlwind performance of Elton’s biggest hits.