Woman who's kept Elton John's shoe for half a century attends Toronto concert

It's been 51 years since a Toronto woman was given the boot from an Elton John concert, and on Wednesday night, she’ll be seeing the legendary singer again at Rogers Centre.

 

Bonnie Haas wasn’t thrown out of the show back in 1971, she was quite literally given a boot from the concert.

“I haven’t seen him since,” the New Zealand native told CTV News Toronto Wednesday.

It was Oct. 29, 1971 when Haas got tickets to see John at Western Springs Stadium on his first New Zealand tour. “We got free tickets from the promoter,” Haas, who worked in radio at the time, admitted.

 “I got into the second row.”

Along with the memories from that show, Haas has also held on to something else.

“He took his boots off,” she said. “He had the Rocketman boots, and he threw them into the audience and I got one!”

The leather, gold and red, right-footed Mr. Freedom winged boot was an early signature style piece for the flashy musician. The fancy footwear is even referenced in the 2019 autobiographical film “Rocketman.”

Back then, a young Haas wasn’t looking at her new find as a collector’s item.

“I put them on,” she said. “I was so hyper. I had one black boot and one Elton John boot. I went with my boyfriend at the time, and I stuck my leg out the window and I was saying, ‘I got the boot! I got the boot.’”

Haas says after the show she wore the boot to a nightclub and went dancing.

Along with her record collection, the boot was one of the few possessions Haas brought with her when she moved to Canada 46 years ago. For decades, it has sat in a display case in her Toronto home, both as a decorative piece and conversation starter.

“People love it,” she said. “And they say, ‘You have to contact Elton.”

Haas says she has no idea what the boot is worth, nor does she have any interest in selling it.

“I went to the Bata Shoe Museum and I was chatting to them- and they said they would be interested for me to put it in there on show. But you know, I didn’t want to give it away.”

Half a century after getting it, both the boot and the musician it came from are still standing.

John is playing two shows in Toronto at Roger's Centre this week on Sept. 7 and 8.

Haas says she will wear the boot on Wednesday night when she attends.

“I’d love to meet him,” she said.