Elton is planning an extraordinary four-day bash to celebrate David's 50th birthday.

Elton is billing the lavish do in Los Angeles as 'the party to end all parties' and guests are expected to fly in from all over the world. Elton will perform and Lady Gaga, the Scissor Sisters, Cher and Cirque du Soleil will also appear at the party's various venues. Guests including David and Victoria Beckham and Elizabeth Hurley have been invited to the extravaganza, which has taken six months to plan. Those who have flown in will be put up at Elton's expense at the Four Seasons Hotel in Beverly Hills, where rooms start at £310 a night.

The celebrations for David – whom Elton insists should be referred to as his husband after their civil ceremony in 2005 – kick off on October 24, 2012 at the couple's £4 million new home in the Hollywood Hills. The first night will take the form of a housewarming party for the couple's mansion, which has undergone a multi-million-pound renovation and includes a nursery for their son Zachary, who will celebrate his second birthday on Christmas Day.

The following day is David's birthday and dinner will be laid on for 200 guests in the ballroom of the 112-year-old Belasco Theatre in downtown Los Angeles. Those guests who are still standing on Octber 26, 2012 will continue the celebrations at nightclub Greystone Manor, where Cher will perform.

The party will round off on October 27, 2012 when guests will be driven 300 miles to Las Vegas to see Elton's Million Dollar Piano show at Caesars Palace. 'Elton wants this to be the party to end all parties,' said a friend. 'Money is no object.'

His own 50th birthday was a study in excess, with the host turning up in an elaborate Louis XIV-style costume complete with 15ft silk train and a towering wig. The hairpiece was so tall he had to be driven to the venue in the back of a lorry.

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