http://www.dailymail.co.uk/pages/live/articles/showbiz/showbiznews.html?in_article_id=465770&in_page_id=1773
By Richard Simpson
3rd July 2007
As a member of rock 'n' roll royalty, Sir Elton John does not take
kindly to being outranked.
Not even by Princes William and Harry.
So when his chauffeur-driven people carrier was stopped because of royal
security around the Concert for Diana, the veteran singer flew into one
of the rages for which he is renowned.
"Get out of my ****ing way," he screamed at a policeman. "Don't you know
who I am? I've been working all ****ing day and I need to get to my
****ing dressing room."
The officer, however, remained unmoved and eventually the 60-yearold
star, in tail suit with an extravagant lily motif on the sleeve, was
forced to get out and trudge the 50 yards to the VIP backstage area.
The incident happened late on Sunday night following Sir Elton's
performance in the grand finale of the concert at the new Wembley
Stadium.
He was upset because his act was delayed by technical problems, meaning
he had to cut it short.
And matters took a turn for the worse when he climbed into his people
carrier to be taken to the Wembley Arena 200 yards away, where the stars
had their dressing rooms and the after-concert party was being held.
By the time he arrived, police had sealed off the area ready for the
princes' arrival.
For security reasons, all vehicles were barred from within a 50-yard
radius of the arena.
Other performers including Lord Lloyd-Webber and members of Take That
were happy to get out of their cars and walk the short distance to the
party. But not Sir Elton.
Our man among the crowd of 100 who were watching said: "The princes were
due at any time and the police were getting pretty jittery.
"Elton pulled up in the back of a people carrier. A policeman stepped
into the middle of the road to stop the car and he said to the driver,
"Sorry you can't come in here at this point.
"You'll have to drive round the back or park up and wait five minutes".
The driver then said, "I have an important artist in the back who needs
to get to his dressing room".
"The policeman said, 'I don't care who's in the car, you cannot drive
down this road right now".
"At that point, Elton wound down the window and screamed at him.
"The policeman calmly said to him, 'Sorry but you are not going in this
road. You have to get out and walk from here or take a drive around the
block. We're waiting for the princes, who are coming through here any
minute'.
"Elton started ranting and swearing again. He just lost it and
instructed his driver to drive around the policeman.
"The driver started to move and at that point, the policeman stood in
front of the car gesturing to put his hands on the bonnet. The policeman
was saying to the driver, 'Stop there or you'll be arrested'.
"Sir Elton wound his window back up as he realised photographers were
starting to congregate.
"His security guard started reasoning with the policeman, saying they
needed to get him in there right away but the policeman would not budge.
"Then at that point, Elton jumps out of the back of the car, stomps
round to the front and barges through to get into the backstage
compound.
He stomped down the road shouting at people to 'get out of my way'."
Sir Elton, who had opened and closed the concert seen by an
international TV audience of 500million, left in a limousine before the
party started, although his partner David Furnish was later spotted
there chatting to Prince William.
A source close to Sir Elton said: "It had been the end of a very long
day. He had been meeting and greeting people for hours before he even
opened the show at 2pm.
"And his was the last performance at 10pm. Sound difficulties meant his
finale was delayed and Crocodile Rock had to be cut off the end, which
he wasn't happy about."
Received on Wed Jul 4 00:34:30 2007