Sir El Tom
From the pub
to Carnegie Hall
in three years.
The songs Elton John and Bernie Taupin have composed stand with any body of work in music.
Sir El Tom exists to revive them, drawn from the exquisite original recordings and from the passion Elton has poured into them across more than fifty years onstage.
100% live and human. No backing tracks, lip syncing, avatars, holograms or AI.
Tom Cridland, known as Sir El Tom, is an Anglo-Portuguese musician from London.
He began performing Elton John's music in January 2022 in a New Orleans juke joint, as part of his recovery from alcoholism. Three years later he had played Carnegie Hall and the Adelphi Theatre.
Sir El Tom has gone on to become a composer and producer in his own right, and has recorded original music with the likes of Shania Twain, Ronnie Wood of The Rolling Stones, Kenji Suzuki of Simply Red and Bill Champlin of Chicago.
54 years later,
Nigel came back
to the Troubadour.
Nigel Olsson has played the Troubadour twice. Once with Elton in August 1970, once with Tom in August 2024.
In August 1970, Nigel, Elton John's drummer since 1969, played the legendary American debut of the Elton John Band at The Troubadour in West Hollywood. On August 5th 2024, nearly 54 years to the day, Nigel returned to that same stage to perform with Sir El Tom.
Nigel, still Sir Elton's drummer today, has since joined Tom onstage at Capitólio in Lisbon and The Belasco in Los Angeles, and recorded with him in the studio.
2026/2027 Tour
SLO ReviewRead the full review →“Rejoice. Tribute band music, which has been going through a rather uneventful, overly-saturated period lately, finally has a legitimate star.”
“He's Tom Cridland, a 33-year-old Englishman whose Central Coast debut at the Performing Arts Center SLO was, in almost every way, magnificent.”
What they're saying.
“From first piano note in late 2020 to performing a concert in front of 1,500 people at McKelligon Canyon Amphitheatre in Texas in 2023”
— The Guardian“Tom Cridland has made it his career to play the songs of Elton John”
— KCRW“Learning to play the piano — especially Elton John's music — helped him overcome a life-threatening drinking problem”
— Men's Health“Learned piano in lockdown and now gigs around the world in tribute to his idol”
— Daily Mirror“It was learning the piano and all Elton's songs that kept him sober and lead to a successful new career as a tribute act”
— BBC“Tours the world as an Elton tribute act”
— Daily Express“Cridland got to meet his idol at the star's buzzy Oscar party”
— New York Post“I love Tom and Deborah Cridland”
— Nigel Olsson“Olsson — who is still Sir Elton's drummer today — took to the stage at the Troubadour to perform with Elton tribute act”
— Virgin Radio