While the middle of the set delivered some of the slower moods of his music, the final run of songs turned up the energy with tunes such as “The Bitch Is Back,” “Crocodile Rock,” and “Saturday Night’s Alright For Fighting,” which closed the main set. Yes, he’s lowered some of the parts on songs such as “Sorry Seems to Be the Hardest Word,” where percussionist John Mahon picked up the high parts.īut on songs such as “Burn Down The Mission” or “Don’t Let the Sun Go Down On Me,” which was dedicated to four longtime members of his bands who are no longer alive, sounded rich and full as he sang. The second half opened with the mini-suite of “Funeral for a Friend/Love Lies Bleeding,” the first half of it a moody orchestral storm, the second a rocking romp.Įlton seemed a little creaky at times moving about the stage – he’d injured his hip in a fall last year, though reportedly that’s behind him – but his voice at 75 sounded remarkably strong.

“Candle In The Wind,” Elton’s ode to Marilyn Monroe, closed out the first half of the show, vintage-style videos of a Marilyn lookalike on the video screens, after which he slipped off stage for a few minutes to change his outfit – jacket, sunglasses, and shoes. (Drummer Nigel Olsson, who was with Elton since the beginning in 1970, and percussionist Ray Cooper, who’s been a regular player since 1973, both featured in this one.)

“Levon” opened with piano and voice before the band joined in to rock it soulfully to the finish. “Rocket Man” appeared in the extended version he’s performed for years, its second half a lovely instrumental outro that gave room for Elton’s piano work to shine. While it clearly wasn’t as familiar to the crowd, it rocked hard with Elton and his longtime guitarist Davey Johnstone swapping solos throughout. “Have Mercy on the Criminal,” a song from 1973’s “Don’t Shoot Me I’m Only the Piano Player,” is the one semi-rarity in the set this year.

It’s impossible for Elton to play every hit single a fan might want to hear – “Honky Cat” and “Daniel” weren’t in the set on Thursday – which makes finding room for an album track next to impossible. It was followed by “Tiny Dancer,” during which you could hear a surge of cheers as Elton sang the line about the “L.A. Early highlights included “Border Song,” dedicated to the late Aretha Franklin, who covered the tune when he and lyricist Bernie Taupin were still little-known.

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