Elton John’s drummer of 50 years opens up about road life as farewell tour kicks off in Australia
Legendary drummer and backing vocalist Nigel Olsson shares secrets from behind the kit on Elton John’s Farewell Yellow Brick Road tour.
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Elton John’s longest-serving drummer Nigel Olsson has a secret wish.
The charismatic musician, who has amassed his own fans around the world courtesy of his role in the Rocket Man’s band, wants the Farewell Yellow Brick Road victory lap to keep going beyond its three-year schedule.
The tour, which launches its three-month run in Australia in Perth today, kicked off on September 8 last year and is booked to finish at London’s O2 arena on December 17, 2020.
“I am personally hoping it isn’t the farewell tour because these shows have been going so incredibly; there’s a special feeling to it,” he says as he packs for his Australian sojourn.
“I don’t really want it to end so I am hoping there will be a rest after and maybe we’ll come back and do some one-off residencies all around the world. I’m keeping my fingers crossed.”
John has made it clear the reason for retiring from the rigours of touring the globe – as opposed to performing – is his family, with the 72-year-old wishing to spend more time with husband David Furnish and their two sons Zachary and Elijah.
Olsson, alongside the Farewell Yellow Brick Road band’s longest serving members, musical director Davey Johnstone and percussionist Ray Cooper, have been fixtures in John’s musical life since the late 60s.
The drummer has been getting the call to get the band back together – which usually comes from Johnstone – since 1969 when he was hanging around the London offices of Dick James Records where John was hired with lyricist Bernie Taupin to write songs for other artists including Lulu.
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When John was recording a demo of a new song he would ask the drummer to help him out and those early sessions sparked a five-decade musical relationship in the studio and on the stage, with Olsson’s credit on much-loved albums including Honky Château, Goodbye Yellow Brick Road, Caribou, Captain Fantastic and the Brown Dirt Cowboy, Too Low For Zero, Songs From the West Coast.
He has now played more than 2300 concerts with John and, even for a mammoth and technically complex production such as Farewell Yellow Brick Road, Olsson reveals the chemistry and match fitness of his band excuses them from the usual round of rehearsals and sound checks most performers have to do.
“We don’t do rehearsals actually,” he says.
“Maybe before the tour, we do maybe four or five days, basically to get the equipment set-up and once we have done that and know the songs we are doing, we will go through it a couple of times and that’s it.
“It’s so easy because our crew are unbelievable; most of them have been with us for 20, 30 years, so all I have to do is sit down and play.”
Olsson describes the hundreds of people on the road for the tour as a “huge family”.
He used to be the unofficial tour guide for new members of the band or crew – just as he showed John around Los Angeles in 1970, his first visit to America to play the career-making Troubadour club shows which catapulted him to success in the US.
Now he tells them where to go, preferring to spend his days off on the Australian tour with relatives or relaxing or catching up with the new music his boss has discovered on one of his expeditions to a local record store.
“If he really wants us to hear an artist, he will get dozens of copies for everyone, come into the dressing room and literally throw them into the room. You’ve got to be quick not to get smacked in the head,” he says, laughing.
Olsson says the necessary security required for John or any of the band when they step out of a venue or hotel has also changed how he manages his life on tour, particularly in the wake of the tragic Manchester terrorist bombing after an Ariana Grande concert two years ago.
“The security with us is pretty intense and we have to be really careful of what we do and how we do it,” he says.
“Just in case something happens … we always have to know two exits … it’s pretty horrible to think about. You just have to be aware of your surroundings and I often think about how different it is to the golden age of touring in the 70s and 80s.”
One of Olsson’s signatures is his ever-present golf gloves to protect against blisters with special grips to keep his sticks firmly in hand.
Another is his coloured kits, with the pink and yellow set dedicated to his wife Schanda and daughter Annette, who are breast cancer survivors.
He also wears a lapel pin in their honour.
“I had the kit made especially for them, their names are engraved on it and it’s a beautiful, beautiful piece of machinery,” he says.
Another kit which has made an appearance during the tour is his Formula 1 Ferrari edition. Olsson is a racing car driver and instructor and when not on tour, he builds and tests cars.
“I’d love to have a ride in one of the Supercars while we’re in Australia – I don’t think I could get my head around driving one in the streets but would love to get on a track with them,” the drummer says.
Olsson jokes the only thing louder than race cars at full throttle is Elton John’s onstage monitors.
The drummer suggests it may be an in-built security measure to dissuade anyone from touching the Rocket Man’s prized piano.
“I don’t think anyone would dare (touch it) … when you hit any note on his piano, it’s like standing inside a Concorde engine, it’s so loud, insanely loud,” he says.
“I remember when Celine Dion came up to sing with him one night and she was in the middle of the song and went to sit on his piano stool with him and then jumped so high out of that space when she heard how loud it was.
“We’ve had onstage monitors start smoking; it’s part of the fun and games of concerts.”
The Farewell Yellow Brick Road tour opens at Perth’s HBF Park today, with limited tickets still available for concerts via chuggentertainment.com
Originally published as Elton John’s drummer of 50 years opens up about road life as farewell tour kicks off in Australia