In the Conclusive 50-plus year career with a farewell tour, the British pianist and vocalist have created some of the most memorable and enduring music in the history of pop-rock, songs burned into the collective DNA of humanity.
They may be simple, like the primary four-chord glory of “Crocodile Rock,” or dazzlingly complex like the 11-minute magnum opus “Funeral ceremony for the buddies/Love Lies Bleeding.”
But now that it’s almost done, I hope you don’t mind that I put down in words how beautiful it has been to have Elton John on the radios and in our ears since the late 1960s.
The master, born 75 years before as Reginald Kenneth Dwight, kicked off the final leg of his North American farewell trip Friday night at Citizens Bank Park, the house of baseball’s Philadelphia Phillies. And yes, he found love that night.
“America made me well-known, and I can’t thank this country enough,” he told the public. “Thank you for the trust, the love, the kindness you showed me.”
He has sold over 300 million records overseas, has played over 4,000 shows in 80 countries, and recorded one of the best-selling singles of all time, his 1997 working again of “Candle in the Wind” to our Princess Diana vend 33 million photostats.
Sir Elton (hailed in 1998) has gained over 70 top 40 hits, including nine No. 1s, and released seven No. 1 albums in the three 1/2-year periods from 1972 to 1975, a pace second only to that of the Beatles.
He has five Grammy awards and a Tony award for “Aida.” His masterpiece of “Can You Feel the Love Tonight” in “The Lion King” motion picture has serenaded millions of kids and will entertain further generations of little ones.
The fantastic costumes and oversized glasses he was famous for in his early ’70s heyday are finished now (he dressed as Donald Duck, Pac-Man, the Statue of Liberty, Minnie Mouse, and a Los Angeles Dodgers baseball player, among others). And while the male has not met a sequin or a feather, he doesn’t cherish it. His wardrobe is (by Elton John standards) somewhat tamer these days.
He took the podium in a white tuxedo with black lapels and purple sparkly glasses. He walked somewhat amazingly to his shiny black piano to pound out the immediately recognizable opening chord to “Bennie and the Jets.”
Next up was “Philadelphia Freedom,” which he stalwart to the hometown crowd as “one of the greatest cities I have ever played in.” It was his 52nd live performance in the City of Brotherly Love.
Throughout the night, John rolled out a fantastic array of smash hits spanning musical styles and genres. The gospel wordings and cadences that so impact his early work were evident on “Border Song” and “Take Me to the Pilot,” and even the short radio staple “Levon” got a come-to-meeting revved-up ending.
He showed off the different power ballad, “Don’t Let the Sun Go Down on Me,” with its close cousin, “Someone Saved My Life Tonight.” And when longtime guitar sidekick Davey John’s hardest-rocking song ever, “Saturday Night’s Alright for Fighting,” and the bold, boastful, and Elton-to-the-bone anthem “The Bitch Is Back.”
John largely eschewed his famous falsetto; He still has 100 shows to go on the worldwide farewell tour that runs through next year, and he’s learned how to conserve his voice without sacrificing his style and authenticity over the years.
No matter: The crowd excitedly supplied the falsetto parts for him, including the public sing-along of the “la-la-la” chorus on “Crocodile Rock.” He returned for only one deep track, “Have Mercy on the Criminal,” featuring Johnstone’s bluesy guitar licks, tucking it amid the dozens of smash hits.
He avoided tearjerkers like “Sorry Seems to Be the Hardest Word” and the gut-wrenching “The Last Song” about a farewell between a father and his son who’s dying of AIDS, in favor of an upbeat, celebratory mood.
“All the females Love Alice,” one of the oldest mainstream rock songs to focus on same-sex relationships in the early ’70s, is an enduring live performance staple, as is the straight-from-the-heart “Your Song.”
Before the ending number, “Goodbye Yellow Brick Road,” John peered toward the complete line of his last tour. “I am looking ahead to spending the rest of my life with my children and my husband,” he said. “Be kind to yourself. Love each other.”
The consummate showman completed the song to the very end and was elevated into the sky on a hydraulic lift as a hole opened in a brick wall atop the stage, engulfed him, and closed again. So while Elton John will soon be gone from the stage, thank God his music’s still alive.
For more stories like this
Explore our website