One living legend. A bucket list experience. A space bursting with love. A visual feast. What more can I say about the experience of seeing Elton John perform at the Forum in Los Angeles, California? The reality surpassed my imagination.
Elton John is traveling around the world on his “Farewell Yellow Brick Road” tour, supposedly his last tour, though I imagine he’ll still play some live events here and there. He’s brought with him some of his faithful backing-band members, his catalog of hits, a wardrobe of sparkling outfits, and a giant screen which smoothly switches between pre-recorded videos and live shots from the concert onstage . I was a little concerned that with the vast number of songs he has recorded and the multiple concerts he was performing in L.A., that there would be many songs that as a casual fan, I wouldn’t know. No reason to fret, as the set list was packed full of hit songs.
Set list for Elton John at the Forum on February 2, 2019.
- “Bennie and the Jets”
- “All the Girls Love Alice”
- “I Guess That’s Why They Call It the Blues”
- “Border Song” — Elton noted this song was covered by Aretha Franklin.
- “Tiny Dancer” — Backed by a video featuring Angelenos filmed all around the L.A. area.
- “Philadelphia Freedom”
- “Indian Sunset” — He introduced this song by mentioning that it tells of the demise of the American Indian.
- “Rocket Man” — See the video I recorded at the Forum at the end of this post. Beautiful space-themed video played behind Elton as he sang this one.
- “Take Me to the Pilot” — He introduced this song as coming from the Captain Fantastic album and noted that that was one of his favorite albums.
- “Levon” — Included extended music jam at the end.
- “Someone Saved My Life Tonight”
- “Candle in the Wind” — Performed with clips of Marilyn Monroe in the background.
Marilyn Monroe Appears to Gaze Down at Elton John as He Performs “Candle in the Wind” at The Forum Wasn’t she something? Elton changed his jacket after this one.
- “Funeral for a Friend/Love Lies Bleeding”
- “Burn Down the Mission” — Elton took a moment after this song to talk to the audience about when he realized in 1990 that he needed help to handle his drug addiction and alcoholism. He remembered people showing him so much love and kindness and felt the healing power of compassion and love. Just a few years later he created the Elton John Aids Foundation. He said that the next song (“Believe”) was about the idea that “love is a cure for all that ails us in the world.” #loveisthecure
- “Believe”
- “Daniel” — When Elton introduced this song, he said that it was missing the last verse his lyric writer, Bernie Taupin, originally wrote for it, which Elton said, “Explains the whole thing.” The story goes that Elton had dropped the verse because he thought it made the song too long. The accompanying video showed Vietnam war footage behind and superimposed over the bottom part of the screen, a soldier lying down and sometimes writhing in pain. Very moving.
- “Sad Songs (Say So Much)” — After this song Elton waxed nostalgic about playing at The Troubadour in 1970 and how he was welcomed and embraced by the people of Los Angeles, even before he gained fame in the U.K. Throughout this concert, you could feel all the love from the audience at the Forum for Elton John, as they stood, cheered, and applauded for extended periods. In reaction, at one moment Elton became misty eyed and one could see him visibly taking a moment to mentally pull himself together in order to introduce his band members.
- “Don’t Let the Sun Go Down on Me” — The evening was feeling so special by this point I half expected George Michael to walk out on stage and join Elton. Then I remembered — if only we could transcend time. Well, George joined Elton on that stage in my imagination.
Elton John Playing Piano at the Forum - “The Bitch is Back”
- “I’m Still Standing” — accompanied by a background video of clips of Elton taken throughout the many years of his entertaining and charity work.
- “Crocodile Rock”
- “Saturday Night’s Alright for Fighting” — Since the concert was on a Saturday, this was a given, right? I actually thought on the way to the concert that he better play this one or I was going to be disappointed! It was a rocking performance backed by a video packed with clips of fighting scenes from movies. Of course, I borrowed part of the title for the title of this recap.
- ENCORE: “Your Song” — Elton in another outfit change, this time back on stage in a robe.
- “Goodbye Yellow Brick Road” — Of course, he closed with this song and a full audience singalong.
My seat was pretty far away from the stage (Lower Bowl, Section 132) and I decided early on not to take much video of the concert. After listening to “Indian Sunset” I pulled out my camera and decided I was going to record all of the next song he would play, no matter what it would be. It happened to be one of my absolute favorite songs of his and one of his most popular, extended to nine minutes long when including the opening video segment. Here it is from my seat, the incredible “Rocket Man.”
Would love to hear other people’s memories of seeing Elton in concert. Make a comment below!
Do you have all of Elton John’s albums? If not, take a moment to complete your collection of his music.