Elton John is an artist who needs no introduction. Just one look at his vast catalog and collection of #1 hits would do that for you. John is currently on his final farewell tour, appropriately titled the Farewell Yellow Brick Road World Tour. For most artists, this would last maybe a chunk of a year. But for an artist like John, this began last year and will go well into this year, no surprise considering the 50 years of adoring fans that he’s made along the way.
On March 5th I caught his performance at Madison Square Garden, the first sold out show of a two-show run before he continues on to Brooklyn for a set of shows at Barclays Center this weekend.
There was, of course, no opening act, this was just a night purely dedicated to the legend that is Elton John. I mean, what other artists could kick off their set with a song like “Bennie and the Jets,” and play big-time favorites like “Tiny Dancer” and “Rocket Man” all during the first eight songs of a set. For most artists these songs would have to be saved for the encore, but not for John. He ran through an epic 24-song set of material from throughout his career, that more or less included everything fans could reasonably expect him to play. John would get up and thank the crowd after each song and address the crowd with a little anecdote about a song’s background, thanking us for making an Englishman feel so welcome in America, or apologizing if he didn’t get around to playing the one song you really wanted.
But this crowd, largely on the older side of age, was perfectly fine with everything that John delivered, maybe not with the useful swagger of his old days, but with plenty of heart and passion that made this an unforgettable night. I sadly had never got around to seeing John perform before this (shame on me) but I was glad to finally get my chance and to see him on his final run when he was still very much on top of his game.
Elton John setlist:
1. Bennie and the Jets
2. All the Girls Love Alice
3. I Guess That’s Why They Call It the Blues
4. Border Song
5. Tiny Dancer
6. Philadelphia Freedom
7. Indian Sunset
8. Rocket Man (I Think It’s Going to Be a Long, Long Time)
9. Take Me to the Pilot
10. Someone Saved My Life Tonight
11. Levon
12. Candle in the Wind
13. Funeral for a Friend/Love Lies Bleeding
14. Burn Down the Mission
15. Daniel
16. Believe
17. Sad Songs (Say So Much)
18. Don’t Let the Sun Go Down on Me
19. The Bitch Is Back
20. I’m Still Standing
21. Crocodile Rock
22. Saturday Night’s Alright for Fighting
Encore:
23. Your Song
24. Goodbye Yellow Brick Road
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