Elton John was set to close out Britain's legendary Glastonbury Festival on Sunday, bringing down the curtain on the annual spectacular with what has been billed as his final UK performance.

The 76-year-old pop superstar is winding down a glittering live career with a global farewell tour, having played his last concerts in the United States in May ahead of a final gig in Stockholm on 8 July.

The singer-songwriter has said he "couldn't be more excited" to make his debut at Glastonbury, Britain's best-known music festival hosted on a farm in southwest England for five decades.

He will take to the main Pyramid Stage on Sunday night, with fans eagerly awaiting the identity of four "collaborators" set to join him who have yet to be announced.

"Elton's a legend," Ph.D. student Giles Briscoe, 26, told AFP as he headed to the stage hours ahead of that, wearing a replica of the iconic baseball outfit John wore at his famous 1975 concerts at Dodgers Stadium in Los Angeles.

"The fact that he's going to perform on such a big stage, at such a historic moment of his career, is such a big event."

Theater producer Ben Monk, 30, had been staking out a spot in front of the stage since early morning, calling it a "very special day in Glastonbury history".