After his 50-year career, Elton John is embarking on his final 300-date tour, which will take him to five continents over three years. In an event at New York City’s Gotham Hall on Wednesday, John announced his Farewell Yellow Brick Road Tour, a three-year, five-continent outing that will feature more than 300 concerts, and will be the last of his career. “It’s time to come off the road so I can fully embrace the next important chapter of my life,” he said. “I need to dedicate more time to raising my children.”

The name of the tour takes its inspiration from John’s 1973 album Goodbye Yellow Brick Road. On the title track, the singer meditated on fame and celebrity, referring to the music as his “back-to-my-roots” phase: “When are you going to come down? When are you going to land?” he sings in the first verse. With the unveiling of his final stretch of concerts, the singer seems to have finally answered that question.

The tour will begin in Pennsylvania in September 2018, and will visit 10 cities across the UK in 2020. In the gold-leafed grand ballroom of Gotham Hall, once the Greenwitch Savings Bank, John’s name and logo- a giant E with a star in lieu of the middle stripe-shone on the granite walls of the atrium.

His arrival was preceded by a short introduction by CNN anchorman Anderson Cooper, and then a virtual reality installation that guided audience members through the highlights of his storied career. When the video ended and the headsets were removed, sir Elton surfaced at his piano and began to play two of his biggest hits, Tiny Dancer and – appropriately – I’m Still Standing.

After his performance, John officially announced the Farewell Yellow Brick Road tour, and addressed speculation that the announcement had anything to do with his health, saying, “if you’re going to do 300 shows, you’re not in ill health.” The reasoning, instead, is that the singer would like to spend more time with his two children.

“When I stop, they will be 10 and 8 and that’s a very important time of their lives. I don’t want to miss them, I don’t want them to miss me,” said John, wearing an embellished blazer with the words “Gucci Loves Elton” engraved on the back. The fashion brand, whose creative director Alessandro Michele reminded John of his “dear friend” Gianni Versace, will be designing all of the outfits for the Farewell tour.

“It’s going to be the most produced, fantastic show i’ve ever done,” added the singer. “It’s a way pf saying thank you and going out with a bang. I don’t want to go out with a whimper.”

Speaking to The Guardian after Wednesday’s event, John added the announcement served as the culmination of the discussions he had with partner David Furnish in 2015 about the pair’s children. “we had taken them around everywhere when they were little, because they were very portable,” he said. “But then they weren’t so portable and we had to have a big discussion about what I wanted to do with my life, the children and my career. And I said I’d like to end with a big tour and spend the rest of my life with my children.”

John was quick to note, though, that the  last leg of his touring career is not meant to signal an end to all creative endeavours. “I’m not stopping music,” he said. “I will hopefully be making more records, writing more music. Mostly I’ll be taking my kids to soccer games. But I’ll be creative, hopefully, until the day I die.”