British GQ May 2019

This has already been something of a massive year for Sir Elton John. After more than 50 long, exhausting years on the road, mirroring an extraordinary career that has seen him constantly redefine himself as a global icon, last year he kick-started his final global tour, Farewell Yellow Brick Road, which started in the US on 8 September and will see him play more than 300 shows across five continents, hitting North America, Europe and the Middle East, Asia, South America and Australasia before reaching its conclusion – maybe – in 2021. The tour has been going so well and the demand for tickets so high – with more than a few full-grown concertgoers behaving like star-struck teens – that it wouldn’t be a surprise if the tour gets extended.…

Chris MANDLE Chris Mandle interviewed Taron Egerton this month, talking to the actor about his role as Elton John in biopic Rocketman and how he appeared to out himself on social media (he’s straight). “He said he needs to learn to keep his guard up,” says Mandle. “But when he lowered it and talked about the pressures he’s faced in the public eye, I realised this profile was something of a reintroduction to him.” Olive POMETSEY & Faye FEARON In April, GQ Junior Digital Editors Olive Pometsey and Faye Fearon will be covering everything from culture to fashion for GQ Hype and GQ.co.uk respectively. “From Coachella to the new royal arrival, it’s set to be a big month,” says Pometsey. Of the Met Gala, Fearon says, “I’m excited for this year’s interpretations of…

There was a point playing Red Dead Redemption 2 at which my sense of self seemed so mixed with that of Arthur Morgan’s that I wondered if I had tuberculosis. Arthur coughed. I coughed. He rubbed his bloodshot eyes and I did the same. All nonsense of course. Rather than my condition deteriorating as Arthur’s did, like a rejected Black Mirror episode, it was just a coincidence that I was ill at the same time he was facing the abyss. The fact that I felt so weak while my character was confronting nothingness was surely just an amusing accident. I do look a bit like him, I thought, as I rubbed my whiskers. Same rugged good looks. A bit careworn. Can handle himself in a gunfight. One thing was clear, though:…

Few artists know how it feels to get a manager while still at school, score a multi-platinum hit (“Location”) straight out of the box and be hailed as the representative of a new generation. “It’s crazy that people are looking to me as a symbol like, ‘Oh, he’s the voice of the youth,’” said R&B prodigy Khalid in 2017, after releasing his debut album, American Teen. Since then he has recorded alongside Kendrick Lamar, Calvin Harris and Sir Elton John. At last year’s Grammys he scored five nominations en route to becoming the second-most streamed artist in the world. He was still just 19. An army kid, Khalid Robinson was born in Georgia in 1998 and grew up in various locations in the US and Germany, releasing “Location” on SoundCloud just…

For more than 20 years, video game companies operated much like smartphone manufacturers, working on the basis that new games made old games redundant. But once developers discovered that it was possible to resell us the games of our childhood, a trickle of remasters became a river. Today, developers issue rereleases of their vintage titles on an almost weekly basis. In fact, we have now entered a golden era. Game worlds are like buildings onto which textures are plastered, like wallpaper. “Remastering” an old video game world is principally, then, a case of swapping the old, dated wallpaper for a new, glossier version. Halo: The Master Chief Collection from 2014 used this technique to great effect, even permitting us to switch between the original textures and the upgrades to see just…

Nigel Farage’s new Brexit Party descended into chaos as it was revealed its official founder, Catherine Blaiklock, has a history of making anti-Muslim comments. Farage’s team says he hit the roof when her remarks were revealed. Farage has now privately decided to have nothing more to do with it – but can’t announce the U-turn due to his embarrassment. When special advisors asked Tory chair Brandon Lewis how many Conservative Party members could be mobilised in the case of a snap election he is said to have replied, “I won’t give a running commentary on figures.” Meanwhile, the Tories have continually attacked Labour for refusing to put a number on its membership. It’s bad news for Jeremy Corbyn’s aides when he goes on a “jam-making day”. The Labour leader often goes awol…