The city is already buzzing with the news that Sir Elton John will play a concert at Carrington Park as part of his farewell world tour, one of just six regional venues included on the Australian leg of the tour.

The show has already been months in the planning and it’s a credit to all involved that the news has not leaked out before now.

And it’s also a great credit to our city that we are seen as a venue capable of hosting such a spectacular.

This newspaper wrote last week week that Bathurst was rightly proud of its reputation as a “big thinking” city, and it’s that courage to dream that sets us apart from many regional centres.

As we said last week, this is the city that bid for (and won) the rights to host a national BMX event before it had a BMX track to run it on.

This is the city that fostered the growth of the Blayney 2 Bathurst from a regional event for mostly local riders to a national event offering qualification for the Union Cycliste Internationale (UCI) Gran Fondo World Series.

And this is the city that developed a rustic dirt track that snaked around a small mountain into one of the world’s premier motor racing circuits.

And now it is the city that has attracted a concert by Sir Elton John.

With a career spanning more than 50 years, Sir Elton is one of the few truly global megastars.

His biggest hits are instantly recognisable across the generations and a quick peek at the set list from his most recent North American concerts suggests they will all get an airing in Bathurst.

It’s going to be an incredible event and we would hope the 15,000 or so tickets will sell out well in advance, with fans expected to come from right across the Central West and even further afield.

The tour promoters admit that Bathurst is one of the smallest cities they’ve considered for this show, but we have always known that this is a city that punches well above its weight.

Now is the time for us to prove it to the world.

So circle January 22, 2020 in your calendar now. It’s a night the Bathurst region will not soon forget – and one we will all want to experience for ourselves.