Sir Elton John stormed off stage early after launching a furious rant towards the security guards at his concert in Leicester on Saturday night.

The singer became increasingly irate as the burly stewards at the gig, held at the Leicestershire County Cricket Ground for 17,000 fans, got heavy with audience members trying to leave their seats to dance.

Elton , 69, told them: “Security guards, sit down or I’m not going to do the rest of the concert and you’ll end up in f***ing trouble. Now sit down you pr***s.” Wearing a red and black jacket he then stood on the stage and glared at them in silence for several minutes until they did as he asked and sat down.

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Elton John performs at Leicestershire Cricket Ground (
Image:
Steve Thorne/Redferns)

Fan Simon Herne, who paid £67.50 for his ticket, said Elton stormed off stage several times during the concert before ending it early – with no encore and no goodbye to the crowd.

The concert was scheduled to end at 10.15pm, according to the official website, but Elton’s last song finished 40 minutes earlier.

Herne said: “The whole concert was chaotic. We arrived at 6pm and it took us an hour and a half to get a drink. When it started at 7.30pm the music was fantastic but he was clearly infuriated by whatever was going on right down the front. He stormed off twice during the set and in the end the whole thing finished at 9.35pm, far earlier than advertised. He didn’t say goodbye, there was no encore, he just stormed off and that was it. It was a shame, clearly there was something going on with the security guards that really annoyed him.”

Concert-goer Julia Hage explained: “Hated the fun police who wouldn’t let me stand at the end of the row so I could see...After Elton intervened we were able to stand, dance and drink in the 30m of grass which separated us from the next block.”

Luc Benoit said: “Elton loves people to have fun at his concerts and will not tolerate security guards being too firm with people.”

Leo Coombes said he’d “especially enjoyed his tantrum” while Rona Halse said: “Brilliant concert – Elton had a hissy fit about the security guards and threatened to walk off at one point.”

A general view of Grace Road in Leicester, England (
Image:
Getty Images)

The singer is currently touring the world with his 65-date Wonderful Crazy Night tour. His animosity towards security guards may be because his former personal bodyguard Jefferey Wenninger, who announced in March that he was suing Elton for sexual harrassment. Lawyers for the star said the claims were “patently untrue” adding: “We will not give into his latest abuse of the legal system.”

Last night a spokesman for Elton denied that the singer had ended the show early. He said: “Elton played a full set of well over two hours. He came onstage earlier than normal so that’s why it finished when it did. He did ask a few of the security people to relax and let the audience stand up and dance if they wanted to.”