Sir Elton John speaks ahead of Birmingham gig

Sir Elton John has given himself the creative freedom to do as he pleases. His most recent album, Wonderful Crazy Night, was written after he gave himself the licence to make music for the fun of it.

“When Bob Dylan came out with Modern Times [in 2006] that had a huge impact.” The record encouraged a different approach, which was evident in the 2010 album The Union, a collaborated with long-ago hero Leon Russell, and the introspective 2013 album The Diving Board.

Sir Elton adds: “I don’t have to go chasing the hit single anymore. I can just do what I like. It’s freedom -- freedom from having to be worrying about whether I have a chart single. And then you look at Adele, and you think, [Wow!] it’s their time now — it’s not my time. It’s Justin Bieber’s time and Rihanna’s time, Drake’s time, let’s just accept it and get on with it, move over. I make an album every year and a half, it’s not an event when I make an album.”

Wonderful Crazy Night will bring Sir Elton back to Birmingham for his 36th gig in the city on Wednesday at th Genting Areana.

The star is playing the album, his 33th, on a solo UK tour. Fans can look forward to seeing Sir Elton play songs from that record, in addition to his most-loved hits from his stellar career.

The record found him back in the studio with his touring band, which includes guitarist Davey Johnstone, drummer Nigel Olsson and percussionist Ray Cooper.

“After I made the first two records with T Bone,” Sir Elton says, “I wanted to make a joyous record because I’m in a joyous place. I have a great band, I have a great career, I have a great relationship with my husband, I have two wonderful children — you know, I’m pretty damn lucky. I just wanted to go back and make a record that sounds like what we’re playing on stage.”

The record features surprisingly up-beat lyrics, after he asked songwriting partner Bernie Taupin to be ‘up-tempo’. That was as a result of his love for his sons, Zachary and Elijah.

“I said, ‘I’m not very good at writing up-tempo songs, but we’re going to make a joyous record. Even if the songs are slow, I want the lyrics to be joyous, I don’t want any sadness on this record . . .’

“I love a good, miserable song and Bernie and I can write one of those every five minutes.

“I’ve never had an argument with him in my life, not about work, not about personal things, nothing. And we’re totally different people. I mean, he’s a cowboy who likes guns and I collect tablecloths and porcelain. It’s very odd.”

Bernie didn’t expect the record to come so quickly. “I wasn’t really expecting to be making another record so soon after The Diving Board. His idea of making it upbeat, joyful and positive — that was also somewhat of a surprise, due to the fact that I usually set the tenor of the records.

“My direction is usually to be slightly oblique and write lyrics that are metaphor-riddled, to let people figure out some things for themselves. But once I got past that and put on my happy hat, it was kind of liberating.

“I hadn’t written anything like that in so long. I much prefer writing songs that are a little darker in nature, that deal with the underbelly of society. But when I actually thought about it, and look back at our body of work, I realized it’s riddled with up-tempo, not necessarily positive, but certainly joyous subject matter. So it’s not something totally new to me.”

Sir Elton says fatherhood has made him happier than he’s ever been. Being a father-of-two is the reason for his joyousness on his latest record. He also continues to campaign for LGBT rights – having not-so-long-ago become embroiled in a fake news story with Russia’s Vladimir Putin.

“I’m trying to write a song with Clean Bandit and my office phones: ‘You’re going to get a call from Putin.’ Oh, hell. So the phone goes, and it was so genuine-sounding, I had no idea. I answered the questions very studiously, so I didn’t really feel bad when it came out that it was a hoax, I didn’t feel like I’d made a fool of myself. And then the next day, the actual Kremlin get in touch: ‘President Putin is very upset about this, he’d like to call you.’ I was at home in Windsor, in the kitchen, when he rang. We spoke for about 10 minutes.” The situation arose after Sir Elton had said he wanted to talk to Putin about improving LGBT rights in Russia. “Do I think anything’s going to come of it? I sincerely hope so, whether or not anything will happen even if I do go and meet him, I don’t know. But if you don’t put your foot in the water, you’ll never find out.”

However, these days, he tries to avoid unnecessary controversy.

“But I am trying to rein myself in. I was supposed to do the Andrew Marr show, he’s a very great interviewer, I love Andrew Marr, but they wanted me to talk about politics and I thought: ‘You know what? I’m walking into a headline here.’”

Sir Elton has homes around the world. He and his husband live in Atlanta, London, Windsor, Nice, Venice and Beverley Hills. “I’ve too many homes, probably, but I love them. It’s a matter of creature comforts. It’s nice to stay in your own place, and you just accumulate them. Anyway, I’m not as bad as Keith Richards. He turned up in Paris once and he’d forgotten where he lived!”

But for all of that seeming extravagance, he says life is pretty normal at Chez Elton.

“To be honest, a normal night for me would be putting the kids to bed, reading them a story, and then having dinner with David at home. I don’t really hang out or stay up late. I’ve got to get the kids to school for half past eight. That’s my life, and I love it. I’m in a joyous place.”

Andy Richardson

l For tickets for Elton’s Genting Arena gig on Wednesday visit www.theticketfactory.com