Alex Ovechkin and his wife Nastya attended the Elton John concert at Nationals Park on Saturday.
John, 75, is currently on his final tour, titled Farewell yellow brick roadbefore he intends to retire from the road.
Ovechkin, wearing a NIKE hoodie and custom red Echostage hat, was spotted in the lobby by Capitals fan Amy Cubert as they left the venue. Ovi has been spotted at major DC concerts over the years, including when Lady Gaga stopped by Capital One Arena in 2017.
She describes her experience (with enthusiasm) below:
After the Elton John concert on Saturday night, in the hallway of the first floor section before the third base gate at Nationals Park, I was walking out, and there was this tall man in a red sweatshirt and a shorts on the right side of the hallway with his wife trying to make a call. Then he looked up at me, and I froze, stopped dead and thought, “OMG this is OVI!!!” And no one noticed!
My first thought was that my son at home was not going to believe this. That’s what even made me ask for a picture because if I walked past Ovi and noticed it and didn’t ask for a picture, I’d be sorry forever and no one would believe me! So I had to at least try.
I shyly approached him and said, “Excuse me, can I take a picture with you?” To say I was completely stupid would be an understatement.
He then looked at me blankly, and I had this creepy moment where I thought “Omg, that’s not really Alex Ovechkin, and I’m just bothering his look-alike!” But then I took a closer look at his wife, and yes, it was Nastya, so I had the right person.
Then he pulled himself together, and I think Nastya nodded like everything was fine and picked up his phone. And I wasn’t sure if he didn’t want to be disturbed, so I said, “If you’d rather not, it’s okay if you’re with your family, I understand.” And he said, “No, no, let’s go. Yes of course!”
At this point the adrenaline starts to hit me and I start shaking a bit, and I try to pull out my phone for a selfie, and this SAINT of a man walks up and says “I’ll take the pics for you,” and he started taking a bunch of live photos for me.
Ovi was so nice and kind. When I was getting ready for the photos, I asked Ovi if I could put my arm around him (I didn’t mean to be presumptuous), and he said “yes”. And then he asked me if he could also put his arm around me. I said “yes” (of course!), and he passed me his arm too, then the Saint took the pictures. I thanked Ovi several times, and he was so sweet about it, saying “of course!”
And people kept passing by, and still, no one really recognized him. And then they kind of started to recognize him, but he was moving on.
Then I sent one of the pics to my son, and that part was hilarious too. Ovi is my son’s favorite. And my husband is ignorant. So when I sent the photo, my son got the right reaction, as you would expect. And my husband and my other son didn’t know who it was.
I was so thankful that Ovi stopped to allow photos. I will remember this evening forever. I got to see two GOATS and ROCK STARS last night. I thought yes, Elton John was pretty fantastic, but OVI!
John was performing at Nats Park one night after being surprised at the White House by President Biden with the National Humanities Medal. John was credited at the ceremony “for moving our souls with his powerful voice” and being a “lawyer with absolute courage, who found purpose in defying convention, defying stigma and advancing the simple truth. that everyone deserves to be treated with dignity and respect.”
