Australian Jordan Mailata was fired up after an unnecessary late shot from New York’s Quincy Williams sent Philadelphia quarterback Jalen Hurts crashing to the ground.
The Jets scored a 24-21 win over the Eagles in the pre-season game but coach Robert Saleh was left less than impressed by Williams’ cheap shot.
The incident, which happened in the first quarter, saw Hurts forced to scramble towards the sideline on a third-and-5 play for no gain.
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Williams though came charging towards Hurts, even with the Eagles quarterback clearly heading for the sideline, hitting him late and hard.
That was to the displeasure of Australian left tackle Mailata, who came running over to confront Williams, telling reporters post-game he was “seeing red” after the hit.
Eagles coach Nick Sirianni was also livid, with the Eagles awarded a 15-yard penalty which ultimately led to them scoring the opening touchdown of the game.
Jets coach Saleh admitted to reporters after the game that it was a bad look and something Williams needed to address.
“You know, it’s one thing to make a mistake in the game,” Saleh said, calling the hit ““egregiously awful”.
“It’s another thing to make a mistake that leads to points.”
Hurts was not injured by the shot, although the Jets will be sweating on quarterback Zach Wilson after he injured his right knee on a scramble in the first quarter.
Based on how Wilson went down, there was fear that he had torn his ACL, which would end his season.
But after the game, head coach Robert Saleh said initial tests indicated the ACL was intact, but nothing would be known with certainty until Wilson underwent an MRI exam on Saturday. Sources said the Jets had optimism that Wilson’s injury will only cause him to miss weeks and not months.
After initially being wrong on his diagnosis of tackle Mekhi Becton earlier in the week, Saleh chose his words carefully in the postgame press conference.
Zach Wilson walks to the locker room after an injury. (Photo by Mitchell Leff/Getty Images)Source: Getty Images
“I’m always concerned until you get the final evaluation,” Saleh said. “We’ve walked off the field with very positive thoughts and it’s been opposite. We’ve walked off the field with bad initial readings and it’s been the opposite. I’m just going to let it play out and we’ll see [Saturday].”
The injury came on the Jets’ second drive of the game.
Saleh said Wilson “100 percent” should have gone out of bounds.
“It was tough, man to see a guy like that, a guy that you’ve got so much love for not just as a player but as a person to go down like that it was tough,” wide receiver Corey Davis said. “We do n’t know the extent of his injury to him but we just hope he’s all right.”
Wilson also injured his right knee last season as a rookie. That injury, a sprained PCL suffered on Oct. 24 at New England, cost Wilson four games. ESPN reported Friday that the Jets believe the new injury also may be to Wilson’s PCL.
The Jets have high hopes for Wilson in his second season after a disappointing rookie season. The entire offseason was about surrounding Wilson with better talent.
Zach Wilson failed to finish the game. (Photo by Mitchell Leff/Getty Images)Source: Getty Images
For a while it looked like the lowlight of Wilson’s night would be an interception by Eagles linebacker Kyzir White that ended the Jets’ first drive of the game. Wilson went 3-for-5 for 23 yards and the interception before suffering the injury.
If Wilson is ruled out, the question will become whether the Jets will stick with veteran Joe Flacco as their starter or try to make a trade for 49ers quarterback Jimmy Garoppolo, whom San Francisco has been trying to trade for months without finding a taker. Saleh and offensive coordinator Mike LaFleur were with Garoppolo for 3 ½ years in San Francisco.
“You guys know how I feel about Joe,” Saleh said of Flacco. “Everyone does, the whole world does. Joe is a phenomenal football player. He’s having a great camp and he’s got a juice left.”
Things got ugly for Ben Simmons in Philadelphia and if Kevin Durant is not careful, he could be heading down a similar path in Brooklyn — if he is not already.
But could that be all part of the Nets superstar’s master plan?
Well, Durant certainly got the NBA world talking earlier in the week then he issued an ultimatum that left Nets owner Joseph Tsai in a tricky situation.
Durant, who requested a trade in June, reportedly told Tsai he needs to choose between the 12-time All-Star and the pairing of head coach Steve Nash and GM Sean Marks.
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A subsequent report from The New York Post laid out Durant’s specific grievances with the team, including a lack of consultation over the Nets’ firing of assistant coach and director of player development Adam Harrington.
But not everyone in the NBA world seems to think that Durant actually wants Nash or Marks fired from the organization.
That is certainly the opinion of Fox Sports’ Nick Wright, who said on ‘The Herd’ with Colin Cowherd that Durant’s ultimatum is all about achieving one “single goal”.
“I don’t think Kevin Durant actually wants those guys fired,” Wright said.
“I think he just wants to be traded. I think if he wanted Sean Marks and Steve Nash fired, he would have gone to Joe Tsai a month ago when he did the trade demand and quietly and privately said: ‘Listen, if you don’t fire these guys, I’m going to demand a trade’.
“I read this differently than most. I read this as Kevin Durant asking for something he knew he would not get in order to make it untenable for them to bring him back because he was starting to get concerned they were actually going to bring him back.
“This was him upping the ante to a level that is pretty unprecedented. It’s why I think Durant understood Joe Tsai is not going to do it and they also, I don’t believe, can ask Steve Nash to now coach Kevin Durant. I think it was a really smart move if his single goal is to be traded and I think that is his single goal.
Could Kevin Durant be heading down a similar path to Ben Simmons? (Photo by Adam Hunger/Getty Images)Source: Getty Images
You see, it is not like Durant has much leverage in this situation, as NBA front office insider John Hollinger explained in a recent article for The Athletic.
Hollinger pointed towards two numbers in particular to prove that point — 34 and four — Durant’s age and how many years he has left on his contract.
“Throwing both his coach and GM under the bus — in many cases for moves that came with a wink and nod from Durant’s camp — certainly makes it less likely the Nets will find it tenable to reunite everyone in the fall,” Hollinger wrote.
“Of course, this gambit offers no guarantees. The trade offers in front of the Nets today aren’t any different from the ones they rejected yesterday, and it’s not clear how or if Durant’s latest demand will compel action.”
What it could do though is lead to a similar situation to the one Simmons found himself in Philadelphia last year, although there are a few key differences as Hollinger also pointed out.
“Seemingly the sharpest arrow left in Durant’s quiver is pure hardball: a holdout, one that would cost him a chunk of his $44 million 2022-23 salary for every day he sat out,” he wrote.
“It would, ironically, be a near carbon-copy of the situation a year ago in Philadelphia with Durant’s occasional teammate Ben Simmons.
“Here’s the thing: The Nets are working on a different timeline than the Sixers were.”
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Hollinger is right. Philadelphia had to move relatively fast to capitalize on Joel Embiid’s prime and as such was more inclined to reach a swift resolution in the Simmons drama.
The same cannot be said for the Nets though, as Hollinger argued.
“If anything, they would seem to have the opposite motivation,” he wrote.
“Yes, Brooklyn’s first choice would be to run it back with Durant, Simmons and Kyrie Irving (or a suitable replacement). But in the absence of Durant, wouldn’t the Nets’ second choice be to tank the season and try again in 2024? And wouldn’t a Durant holdout do anything more than accelerate the Nets toward that endgame?
“Brooklyn’s best-case scenario may be waiting until midseason, when this summer’s free agents are eligible to be dealt with. It seems less likely they’d let a year of Durant’s contract wither on the vine at his age and wait until next offseason… but it ca n’t totally be ruled out either given the tanking incentive.
Durant has told Brooklyn Nets owner Joe Tsai that he must choose between keeping Durant or head coach Steve Nash and general manager Sean Marks, The Athletic reported on August 8, 2022. (Photo by ELSA / GETTY IMAGES NORTH AMERICA / AFP)Source: AFP
What was consistent among a host of voices in the NBA media landscape was a sense of uncertainty, not knowing what exactly was coming next, again similar to the Simmons saga.
“The whole situation is a mess, but the kind of mess Brooklyn might happily sweep under a rug and ignore, if only it could,” The Ringers Rob Mahoney wrote.
“It’s impossible to replace Kevin Durant. Hell, it’s hard enough just to set a fair return for Durant in a trade, much less one suitors can realistically meet. Every ask sounds ridiculous because Durant is a genuinely ridiculous player.
“That might be the only reason he’s still a Net some six weeks after requesting a trade—and maybe the real reason KD is stirring the pot with this ultimatum in the first place. Does he really want Marks and Nash gone? Or is he just looking to send a shock through the Nets’ system?”
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The Athletic’s Alex Schiffer, meanwhile, pointed towards Durant’s strong endorsement of Marks after the Brooklyn’s four-game sweep at the hands of Boston as proof of just how confusing it all is.
“If Durant wanted Nash out but didn’t feel like putting him on blast to the media 10 minutes after the season ended, he could have discussed Nash’s future with an ‘I don’t know’ or ‘Now’s not the time for that’ . But he didn’t,” Schiffer wrote.
Schiffer agreed one “plausible explanation” is that this is Durant trying to force Brooklyn’s hand, to make the situation so untenable that the Nets back down.
Durant wants out of Brooklyn. (Photo by Elsa/Getty Images)Source: Getty Images
The Heat have been heavily linked to Durant since he first requested the trade but are unlikely to have the assets to make it work, at least in a traditional two-team deal.
The Miami Herald’s Anthony Chiang though Durant’s ultimatum was an important point in the drama, even if it still left “plenty of questions unanswered”.
“But in the wake of The Athletic’s report that Durant doesn’t want to work with Nash or Marks, the question is: Will this force the Nets to trade Durant prior to the start of training camp in late September to avoid any awkward tension and drama between the two parties? he wrote.
“That sort of deadline could take away some of the Nets’ leverage as the window to trade Durant before training camp shrinks as each day passes.
“The Nets could also decide to take Durant into training camp if a good enough offer doesn’t present itself, which would force Durant to decide whether to skip practices as he waits to be dealt or play through it.”
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NBA insider Brian Windhorst though was not so sure it would pay off, should Durant’s ultimatum have been a ploy to try speed up a trade out of Brooklyn.
“Doing it now is a manoeuvre, a manoeuvre that I don’t think worked because as I talk to teams out there, they don’t think this increased his trade demand. They think this hurt his trade value,” Windhorst said on ‘NBA Today’.
Windhorst brought up Tsai’s tweet earlier in the week as proof of it, in which the Nets owner claimed: “Our front office and coaching staff have my support. We will make decisions in the best interest of the Brooklyn Nets.”
“I want to point to the second half of the Joe Tsai tweet,” Windhorst said.
“I think it’s obviously important to look at the first sentence which is that he’s not going to fire Sean Marks and Steve Nash. But the second sentence is really the sentence that the league paid attention to it. And it seems benign when he says ‘We make decisions for the best interest of the Brooklyn Nets.’
“But I’m going to decode that for you. What he’s basically saying is despite what Kevin Durant is trying to do here, we’re not going to change what our expectations are for a trade and if you are not traded, we expect you to be reporting to camp to continue the four years you have left on your contract.”
At this stage though, we are no closer to either party getting what they want, with Schiffer putting it best in his summation of the drama.
“During’s ultimatum,” he wrote, “opened a chest’s worth of questions while the clock to training camp continues to tick more loudly”.
The Phoenix Suns and Miami Heat were initially listed as preferred landing spots for Kevin Durant but now two new contenders have emerged.
According to SNY’s Ian Begley, the Boston Celtics and Philadelphia 76ers are also desirable destinations for the 12-time All-Star.
Of course, Durant has been heavily linked to Boston in recent weeks, with a potential trade package centered around Jaylen Brown.
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But those reports were focused on a move that would work for the Nets. This one looks at just what Durant may be after and it looks like he is keen on the Celtics too.
Boston reportedly offered Jaylen Brown, Derrick White, and a first-round pick but even that does not seem to be enough for Brooklyn, who want reigning Defensive Player of the Year Marcus Smart.
The Sixers, meanwhile, could offer an attractive package including Tyrese Maxey, Tobias Harris and/or Matisse Thybulle and would see Durant reunite with James Harden.
Durant would be likely to accept a trade to Boston of Philadelphia, though his Brooklyn future is likely in the hands of Joe Tsai.
The 12-time All-Star made an ultimatum to the Nets owner, asking for GM Sean Marks and coach Steve Nash to be fired or be shipped out of town himself.
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Durant told Brooklyn Nets owner Joe Tsai that he must choose between keeping Durant or head coach Steve Nash and general manager Sean Marks. (Photo by ELSA / GETTY IMAGES NORTH AMERICA / AFP)Source: AFP
Durant’s issues with the Nets and specifically Tsai go much deeper than his demand they fire Nash, a source close to the Nets and familiar with KD’s thinking told The New York Post.
“The ultimatum he made is not what really caused the deterioration. It’s not the ultimatum itself,” the source said.
Durant, among other things, was not consulted on the Nets’ firing of assistant coach and director of player development Adam Harrington when the season ended, the source believes.
“There are simple things that destroy a relationship. You fired someone he was close to and didn’t have a conversation about it,” the source said.
Last week, the popular Harrington attended a Liberty WNBA basketball game and was seen hugging current Nets players, according to a Reddit post.
“I would think there are so many things, it’s not one thing,” the source said. “I think KD wants to leave and it doesn’t matter what reasons he says.”
During a meeting this weekend with Tsai said, as he did last month, he wanted to be traded unless Nash was fired, The Post confirmed. There are also reports he wants general manager Sean Marks fired as well.
Marks was the main force behind hiring Nash, sources said.
Where will Kevin Durant end up? (Photo by Elsa/Getty Images)Source: Getty Images
Durant believes “he traded away too many pieces,” the source said.
Tsai, after the reports Monday about the meeting with Durant, tweeted, “Our front office and coaching staff have my support. We will make decisions in the best interest of the Brooklyn Nets.”
All involved recognize Marks and Nash do not have autonomy and ultimately if the Nets blow up it is because of Tsai, the source said.
Tsai now has to decide whether to lower his high asking price and get a Durant trade done before training camp opens at the end of September as the 33-year-old star has requested.
“I don’t think anybody on the team is safe from being traded. Everyone is up for grabs,” the source said.
Durant signed a four-year, $198 million contract extension in 2021, so he has limited power in forcing a trade unless he refuses to play. A source told The Post this week that’s an unlikely scenario.
“I don’t think he’s not going to play,” they said.
This article first appeared on The New York Postand was reproduced with permission.
WASHINGTON (AP) — US Rep. Scott Perry said his cellphone was seized Tuesday morning by FBI agents carrying a search warrant.
The circumstances surrounding the seizure were not immediately known. Perry, though, has been a figure in the congressional investigation into President Donald Trump’s actions leading up to the Jan. 6, 2021, Capitol insurrection.
Former senior Justice Department officials have testified that Perry, a Pennsylvania Republican, had “an important role” in Trump’s effort to try to install Jeffrey Clark — a top Justice official who was pushing Trump’s baseless claims of election fraud — as the acting attorney general.
In a statement Tuesday, Perry said three agents visited him while he was traveling Tuesday with his family and “seized my cell phone.” He called the action “banana republic tactics.”
“They made no attempt to contact my lawyer, who would have made arrangements for them to have my phone if that was their wish,” Perry said. “I’m outraged – though not surprised – that the FBI under the direction of Merrick Garland’s DOJ, would seize the phone of a sitting Member of Congress.”
The lawmaker, representing Pennsylvania’s 10th District, was cited more than 50 times in a Senate Judiciary report released in October 2021 outlining how Trump’s effort to overturn his election defeat Joe Biden brought the Justice Department to the brink of chaos and prompted top officials there and at the White House to threaten to resign.
Perry, who has continuously disputed the validity of Biden’s victory in Pennsylvania, has said he obliged Trump’s request for an introduction to Clark, then an assistant attorney general whom Perry knew from unrelated legislative matters. The three men went on to discuss their shared concerns about the election, Perry has said.
The Justice Department found no evidence of widespread fraud in Pennsylvania or any other state, and senior Justice officials dismissed Perry’s claims.
The Senate report outlined a call Perry made to then-acting Deputy Attorney General Rich Donoghue in December 2020 to say the department wasn’t doing its job with respect to the elections. Perry encouraged Donoghue to elicit Clark’s help because he’s “the kind of guy who could really get in there and do something about this,” the report said.
Perry has said his “official communications” with Justice Department officials were consistent with the law.
The Justice Department’s inspector general conducted a search in June of Clark’s Virginia home.
Perry slammed the Justice Department’s decision to serve him with a warrant as an “unnecessary and aggressive action.”
“My phone contains info about my legislative and political activities, and personal/private discussions with my wife, family, constituents, and friends,” Perry said. None of this is the government’s business.”
The seizure of Scott’s cellphone was first reported by Fox News Channel.
Ben Simmons’ rocky NBA career has taken another turn after the Brooklyn Nets guard reportedly left a players group chat before a decisive playoff game last season.
Simmons was drafted first overall by the Philadelphia 76ers in the 2016 NBA Draft but found himself locked in a standoff with the franchise after demanding a trade.
The Australian was eventually dealt to the Nets as part of a package for All-Star guard James Harden, and was expected to don his new colors for the first time in the playoffs.
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The Athletic reported in April that Simmons was set to debut for Brooklyn in Game Four, during the first round of the playoffs.
Brooklyn were already down 3-0 to the eventual Eastern Conference champions Boston Celtics when he pulled out with back soreness.
But renowned NBA analyst Ric Bucher has made a stunning revelation about Simmons, saying that he left a players group chat without saying a word before Game Four.
“They’re having a team chat before Game four, thinking he’s going to play against the Celtics, and from what I’m told, Ben just left the chat,” Bucher told Colin Cowherd on The Herd.
“They asked him, ‘Are you going to play?’ Ben left the chat. Like he didn’t even answer the question. He just left the chat.”
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The 26-year-old required surgery in March on his lower back after withdrawing from that crucial playoff clash with the Celtics.
ESPN’s Adrian Wojnarowski reported that Simmons needed back surgery after experiencing “pain soreness” the day before the Nets were eventually eliminated.
“Brooklyn Nets swingman Ben Simmons will require three to four months of rehabilitation after undergoing back surgery, but is expected to be fully recovered to return to the court well ahead of pre-season training camp in September, sources told ESPN on Wednesday,” Wojnarowski wrote.
“The decision to undergo the surgery was reached after ‘consultation with multiple back specialists,’ the team said Wednesday.”
Simmons said that mental health was the reason behind his ugly exit from Philadelphia, as he opened up on his “dark times.”
However, sports radio host Ben Maller believed that it was just an excuse for the Melbourne-born talent to leave the Sixers.
“Ben Simmons in Philadelphia was a charlatan, a fake, a phony and a fraud,” Maller said on Fox Sports Radio in February
“This guy has been hiding behind the mental health card playing it from the bottom of the deck, knowing that it makes you untouchable in a polite society.
“The establishment media are afraid of even slightly criticizing someone who makes this claim, like Ben Simmons.”
SCRANTON, Pa. — A defense attorney targeted vulnerable clients and pressured them into having sex in exchange for legal work, the Pennsylvania attorney general’s office said Monday.
Corey J. Kolcharno is charged with four counts of promoting prostitution after an investigation found he sexually exploited clients, tethering “his performance as their counsel to a demand for sexual services from them or in exchange for payment,” police wrote in an affidavit.
Kolcharno — a former Lackawanna County prosecutor — was arraigned Monday and released on a $20,000 unsecured bail. A statement issued by his attorney from him said Kolcharno “has made a conscious decision to accept responsibility.” Kolcharno told reporters he intended to give up his law license.
According to state police, Kolcharno targeted women who struggled with addiction, had been sexually abused or had financial problems. At first he requested nude photos or worn underwear, then escalated his predatory behavior into a demand for sex in exchange for legal services, authorities said. I have paid his clients as much as $500, police said.
Victims said they were ashamed but felt they had no choice but to give in, authorities said.
Kolcharno “picked these victims because they had limited choices, because he thought they would be easy to silence, and less likely to be believed if they ever came forward,” Attorney General Josh Shapiro said in a written statement.
Investigators said they found hundreds of sexually explicit images of Kolcharno’s clients on his cellphone.
Police said the crimes took place between 2018 and 2022, when Kolcharno was a partner in the Fanucci & Kolcharno law firm outside Scranton.
Before reentering private practice, Kolcharno was an assistant district attorney in Lackawanna County from 2005-2011.
SCRANTON, Pa. — A defense attorney targeted vulnerable clients and pressured them into having sex in exchange for legal work, the Pennsylvania attorney general’s office said Monday.
Corey J. Kolcharno is charged with four counts of promoting prostitution after an investigation found he sexually exploited clients, tethering “his performance as their counsel to a demand for sexual services from them or in exchange for payment,” police wrote in an affidavit.
Kolcharno — a former Lackawanna County prosecutor — was arraigned Monday and released on a $20,000 unsecured bail. A statement issued by his attorney from him said Kolcharno “has made a conscious decision to accept responsibility.” Kolcharno told reporters he intended to give up his law license.
According to state police, Kolcharno targeted women who struggled with addiction, had been sexually abused or had financial problems. At first he requested nude photos or worn underwear, then escalated his predatory behavior into a demand for sex in exchange for legal services, authorities said. I have paid his clients as much as $500, police said.
Victims said they were ashamed but felt they had no choice but to give in, authorities said.
Kolcharno “picked these victims because they had limited choices, because he thought they would be easy to silence, and less likely to be believed if they ever came forward,” Attorney General Josh Shapiro said in a written statement.
Investigators said they found hundreds of sexually explicit images of Kolcharno’s clients on his cellphone.
Police said the crimes took place between 2018 and 2022, when Kolcharno was a partner in the Fanucci & Kolcharno law firm outside Scranton.
Before reentering private practice, Kolcharno was an assistant district attorney in Lackawanna County from 2005-2011.
NESCOPECK, Pa. — Authorities say at least half of the 10 people found dead after an early morning fire in northeastern Pennsylvania died of smoke inhalation.
The Luzerne County coroner’s office said autopsies on the victims of the early Friday blaze in Nescopeck began Saturday. Examinations by Dr. Gary Ross were completed on three women, one man and a girl, the office said in a news release Saturday afternoon.
Determining the manner of death — classifying the deaths as accidents or homicides, for example — for the victims is pending the outcome of the fire investigation, the coroner’s office said. Positive identification of the victims is pending review of medical records, dental records and DNA if required, the coroner’s office said.
State police said seven adults ranging from late teens to age 79 were killed along with children aged 5, 6 and 7.
The county’s district attorney, Sam Sanguedolce, said a preliminary investigation suggests the fire broke out on the front porch at around 2:30 am on Friday. He said it appears that “the fire started and progressed very quickly, making it very difficult to get out.”
Nescopeck is a small town on the Susquehanna River, about 20 miles (32 kilometers) southwest of Wilkes-Barre. The house was on a residential street of largely owner-occupied, single family homes.
The fire at a Pennsylvania house that killed 10 people from the same family, including three children, may have started on the front porch of the Nescopeck home, according to an official.
A preliminary investigation suggested that the blaze erupted on the porch around 2:30 am Friday, according to Luzerne County District Attorney Sam Sanguedolce.
“The information I have is that the fire started and progressed very quickly, making it very difficult to get out,” he said.
Shannon Daubert, 45, died in the blaze.FacebookLaura Daubert, 47, was also killed.
The victims have been identified as Dale Baker, 19; StarBaker, 22; David Daubert Sr., 79; Brian Daubert, 42; Shannon Daubert, 45; Laura Daubert, 47; and Marian Slusser, 54.
The names of the youngest victims, two boys ages 5 and 6 and a 7-year-old girl, were not officially released, but a GoFundMe identified the 6-year-old as Aiden Michael James Daubert.
Autopsies were planned for this weekend.
The three children were visiting their aunt and uncle who owned the home.AP
There were 13 dogs in the two-story house as well. The fate of the animals was not clear.
Dale Baker, a 2021 graduate of Berwick Senior High School, was, like his parents, a volunteer firefighter for Nescopeck, which is about 50 miles southwest of Scranton.
Just three adults were able to escape the fire, which completed destroyed the house. A state police investigation into the cause is underway.
The tragedy was compounded when one of the responding volunteer firefighters pulling up to the blaze, Harold Baker, realized that the fire was at the home of his relatives and his son and daughter and grandchildren, among other family members, were inside.
The children were visiting their aunt and uncle who owned the home, Baker said.
“All I wanted to do was go in there and get these people, my family. That’s all that I was thinking about, getting in to them,” Baker told The Associated Press.
At age 75, Elton John looked to be in fine form when he brought his Farewell Yellow Brick Road tour to Soldier Field in Chicago on Friday.
The legendary British crooner turned back the clock and delivered many of his hits from his six-decade career.
The tour — which kicked off in the US in Allentown, Pennsylvania, back in September 2018 — has endured several postponements due to the COVID-19 pandemic and, at times, John’s health.
He’s still standing! Elton John, 75, looked to be in fine form when he brought his Farewell Yellow Brick Road tour to Soldier Field in Chicago on Friday night
John (born Reginald Kenneth Dwight) and his band kicked into the set opener with a rousing rendition of Bennie And The Jets, all while he flashed his megawatt smile from behind the piano.
But with the band sounding tight and full of energy, it didn’t take long before he got up from his seat to engage with the audience.
Decked out in a black tuxedo blazer, filled with an assortment of embroideries and black pants, the Pinner, Middlesex, England native worked the crowd with both the music and his banter.
His look wouldn’t be complete without wearing his trademark flashy glasses, which on this night were large framed and red-tinted.
Wowing the crowd: The legendary crooner wowed the crowd by playing many of his greatest hits, which began with set opener Bennie And The Jets
Delays: The tour — which kicked off in the US in Allentown, Pennsylvania, in September 2018 — has endured several postponements due to the COVID-19 pandemic and John’s health
With the massive crowd all pumped up after the high-octane energy of the set opener, John and company didn’t lose any momentum when they followed up with Philadelphia Freedom.
As his show went on, John delivered renditions of his other hit songs that included I Guess That’s Why They Call It The Blues, Rocket Man, Candle In The Wind, Sad Songs (Say So Much), Don’t Let The Sun Go Down On Me, Crocodile Rock, I’m Still Standing and Saturday Night’s Alright For Fighting.
Following the show in Chicago, John and the band will have a brief one-month break from being on the road.
They will return to the stage on September 7 when the tour resumes with a couple of shows at Rogers Center in Toronto, Canada.
Piano man: Decked out in a black tuxedo blazer, cropped in the front with plenty of embroideries, and black pants, the British singer–songwriter spent much of the show behind the piano singing his heart out
Farewell: The Farewell Yellow Brick Road tour is intended to be his final trek around the world
After the September 2018 kickoff to the Farewell Yellow Brick Road tour, which is intended to be John’s final trek around the world, the band played consistently for about a year-and-a-half.
But then, when COVID-19 was deemed a pandemic in March 2020, the tour came to a screeching halt, which happened right after his show in Sydney, Australia, on March 7 of that year.
Between the pandemic and John’s recurring health problems, including surgery on his hip due to a fall ‘on a hard surface’, the tour ended up being sidelined until January 19, 2020, when he hit the stage at the Smoothie King Center in New Orleans.
Enthusiasm: John (born Reginald Kenneth Dwight) looked to be full of excitement and enthusiasm during the show, which is the last show of this leg of tour; it resumes on Sept 7
After restarting in the Big Easy, the tour made its way around parts of the US until April 28 in Miami.
From there, John and his band took a three-week hiatus before picking back up in Europe with a show in Fornebu, Norway, on May 21.
The European leg continued on through July 4 in Watford, England, and then John took an eleven-day break before resuming in the US with Friday’s show in Philadelphia.
The tour will make its final stop in the United States on November 20 at Dodger Stadium in Los Angeles.
The five-year Farewell Yellow Brick Road tour is slated to formally wrap up in Stockholm, Sweden, on July 8, 2023.
End in sight: When it all comes to and end with a show in Stockholm, Sweden on July 8, 2023, , John’s tour will have spanned five years
