In one of the greatest memorabilia 'swap' deals of all time Sir Elton John has retrieved his legendary Los Angeles Dodger's Uniform from the Hard Rock Cafe, as he kicks off his UK tour.
![Elton John Hard Rock Cafe memorabilia swap](https://cdn.shopify.com/s/files/1/0367/1729/7800/files/elton_john_picture_480x480.jpg?v=1656524305)
Back in October 1975 Elton John strode on stage at the LA Dodgers Stadium, for the first of two sold-out gigs, wearing a sequinned white Dodgers Baseball team kit.
Elton later donated the outfit to the The Hard Rock Cafe restaurant chain. An act of generosity it seems that Elton has always regretted.
So to put things straight Elton has now gifted Hard Rock his famous Gucci suit, in return for the Dodger's outfit.
The Gucci suit was worn throughout the Farewell Yellow Brick Road Tour that began in 2018 and will feature over 300 concert dates.
The Gucci suit has added to the The Hard Rock's awesome 88,000 piece music memorabilia collection that was originally founded on the gift of a single piece of memorabilia from Eric Clapton.
Jim Allen, Chairman for Hard Rock International told us:
"As Hard Rock celebrates its 50th year anniversary and Elton celebrates 50 years of touring, we're honored to mark this occasion by adding a fitting piece of memorabilia from an artist we've had the immense pleasure of working with throughout the years,"
"The iconic Gucci outfit that Elton has gifted to us will memorialize these special moments in time, while allowing Hard Rock to tell and celebrate artist stories, for generations to come."
The story goes that George Harrison, of The Beatles fame, was once thrown out of the Ritz hotel in London for wearing denim jeans and complained that Mayfair, London needed a less conservative drinking den.
So on June 14th 1971 up stepped Isaac Tigrett who opened the first Hard Rock Cafe at 150 Old Park Lane, Mayfair.
Eric Clapton was a regular and bemoaned the lack of bar stools so 'bribed' Tigrett to provide him a bar stool for his personal use, in exchange for one of his guitars.
Tigrett displayed the guitar on the wall above the bar and the Hard Rock Cafe legend was born.
Cool story eh?