Musician battles addiction with Elton John music. His tribute act is coming to Simsbury Meadows.

Elton John announced six years ago that he would retire from touring with his “Farewell Yellow Brick Road Tour.” A September 2018 show at Hartford’s XL Center was one of the first stops on that massive tour, which lasted for five years (with a nearly two year hiatus due to the COVID pandemic) and ended in Sweden in July of last year. But Sir Elton leaving the road does not mean that you can no longer find bespectacled men in colorful outfits singing about crocodiles, jets, rockets, candles and Saturday nights.

That final world tour seemed to trigger a new wave of Elton John tribute acts. Already this year, Connecticut clubs and theaters have hosted Captain Fantastic at Mohegan Sun, Yellow Brick Road at the Shubert Theatre, the Early Elton Trio at Infinity Music Hall and “Elton Undressed” at the Garde Arts Center in New London. Now comes Tom Cridland with Tom’s Elton Tribute , for an outdoor show at Simsbury Meadows Performing Arts Center on Aug.

21. Cridland, also known as “Sir El tom John,” is easily distinguished from most of the other Eltons out there. For one thing, he’s actually British.

For another, he’s in his early 30s, on the young side for a 1970s tribute act. He’s also friends with one of Elton John’s longest serving bandmates, Nigel Olsson. Cridland has only been doing Tom’s Elton Tribute for a few years.

“I only started playing music when I stopped drinking,” he said. “It’s not like I was in the industry before. It’s not a pre-.