Elton John postponed several European tour dates, including a performance at Hyde Park this weekend, due to appendicitis. In his first interview since the news broke, John said that he is lucky to be alive.
“I’m lucky to be alive,” the “Rocket Man” singer told The U.K. Sun.
He said that he had a sudden pain in his stomach and thought it was food poisoning. But he later learned that he had an appendix abscess. “I was a ticking time bomb,” he said. “I guess I could have died at any time.”
John added that he had even played through the pain. “I feel so lucky and so grateful to be alive. I played nine gigs and the White Tie and Tiara Summer Ball in agony,” he told the Sun, adding that he stopped his Halle, Germany show halfway through a set because of the pain.
The singer, 66, announced on Tuesday that he would have to postpone several shows in Italy and Germany, as well as his appearance at Barclaycard British Sumemertime Festival over the weekend. His rep said that he would have surgery in the coming weeks.
“Sir Elton is currently undergoing a course of intensive antibiotics and is expected to undergo surgery in the UK in the coming weeks, once doctors can be confident they have sufficiently reduced toxins within the inflamed appendicitis site,” his rep’s statement read.
Ray Davies has been picked to replace John at the Hyde Park festival. Elvis Costello and Nick Lowe are among the other acts performing.
image: NBC