Elton John hired a sniper for his ultimate prank against lifelong 'frenemy' Rod Stewart
The rock legends have a long history of playing viscous pranks on one another.
Elton John and Rod Stewart.
For over 50 years, rock ‘n roll legends Elton John and Rod Stewart have been historic “frenemies” and pranked each other in grand ways that only people worth hundreds of millions of dollars can. “We try and publicize the fact that we always have a go at each other in the papers, but in fact, we do that for reasons known only to us. Actually, we're really good friends,” John told David Frost in 1983. The rockers even have drag names for one another, John calls Stewart “Phyllis, and Stewart calls John “Sharon.”
The rivalry came to a head in 1985 when John saw the perfect opportunity to cut Stewart’s ego down to size. The “Do Ya Think I’m Sexy” singer was playing a series of dates at London’s Earl’s Court and had enormous balloons, the size of blimps with his face on them, hanging above the venue to advertise the shows.
John couldn’t miss such an incredible opportunity to prank Stewart. So, he had a sniper bring down the balloon with an air rifle. “I was staying in London and could see it from my hotel room. It was too good an opportunity to miss. So I called my management, who hired someone to shoot it down: apparently, it landed on top of a double-decker bus and was last seen heading towards Putney,” John recalled.
“An hour later, the phone went. It was Rod, spluttering: 'Where's my f***ing balloon gone? It was you, wasn't it? You cow! You bitch!' A year later, when I was playing Olympia, the promoters hung a huge banner across the street. It was mysteriously cut down immediately after it was put up,” John continued. “I learned this had happened from Rod, who seemed curiously well-informed. 'Such a shame about your banner, love. I heard it wasn't even up five minutes. I bet you didn't even get to see it.’”
John and Stewart may have enjoyed a friendly rivalry over the years, but a few years ago, things turned sour. In 2019, Stewart criticized John for going on multiple farewell tours and it rankled the “Goodbye Yellow Brick Road” singer. “Talking about retirement, I’ve never spoken about retirement, and if I do retire, I won’t make an announcement. I’ll just fade away,” Stewart said in 2018. “I don’t think this big deal, ‘I’m going to retire’ – it stinks of selling tickets…it’s dishonest. It’s not rock and roll.”
Stewart even emailed John, ribbing him for having multiple farewell tours, but didn’t receive a response.
“He was accusing me of being dishonest about one of the biggest decisions of my life. What’s more, I thought he had a cheek, complaining about me promoting a tour while he was sat on a TV show promoting his own tour,” John wrote in his memoir.
The comments may have hurt John, but Stewart did have a point. In 2015, John had a “Final Curtain” tour, but then in 2018 hopped back behind the piano for a 330-date “Farewell Yellow Brick Road” tour that lasted until 2023.
But Stewart later revealed that it was all water under the bridge and the two were able to leave the comments behind them. “I was a bit spiteful when he announced his tour. I regret it. I really do regret it. So we’re mates again now. I do love him,” Stewart said.
