The Marquis of the Wiltern Theater for Elton John's Special Event
Elton John performed a rare appearance at the Wiltern Theater last Thursday, in a one night special event to promote his new album "Wonderful Crazy Night". The intricately designed interior of the landmark theater, one of the art deco masterpieces of Los Angeles, made for an unusually intimate space to see a performer who is the third most successful artist in the history of the American charts, second only to Elvis Presley and the Beatles, and who has no problem filling much larger stadiums.
"I would be lying if I said this wasn't a nerve wracking night," John said halfway through the evening. "Singing new songs is terrifying, and thank you for your patience!"
The new album will be released in a few weeks and he was singing to the choir as the insiders and fans who paid $200 a ticket to see him started cheering from the first chord of "Funeral For A Friend", an old favorite he often starts his concerts with. What's impressive is that at 68 Elton John's voice is rich, textured and powerful as ever. The many jams and piano solos he tore through the evening during his two and half hour performance showed a vitality I sometimes feel is missing from younger acts. Not to mention that the newer groups consider a full concert set to be 75 minutes. This concert was upbeat, brash, musically intricate and just good 'old school' rock and roll.
Elton John performing at the Wiltern Theater 2016
Sprinkling the new work inbetween old standards like "Levon", "Yellow Brick Road", a tempered "Benny and the Jets", a rockin' "The Bitch Is Back" and a "Philadelphia Freedom" that felt like an anthem, he rolled out new songs, including "Wonderful Crazy Night" and "Blue Wonderful", some of which felt like old school rock and roll and others which were rock ballads with a small hint of country.
He thanked Island Records for their support of his new work. "I wanted to make a record to reflect my current state of mind," he said.
This is a joyous record. My last one was very introspective, but this one is just rock n' roll like it used to be. Nobody rocks out anymore, they're all bed wetters!
He had a somber moment mid-show speaking of early in his career when he was unsure what direction to go in but was so affected by an album called 'Space Oddity'. He reached out to Gus Dudgeon, the producer, and asked him to produce his own work, which started a successful career together beginning with the hit 'Your Song." "I have David Bowie to thank for that," he said, "and I want to dedicate this song to the Starman himself." He followed with a piano instrumental of "Space Oddity" which felt like an affectionate eulogy, where he started with the familiar structure, then built on syncopated rhythms, broke into a classical bridge and returned to a rock gospel crescendo to finish. It's at that point that you start thinking he needs more than 88 keys to express himself properly. From there he went into "Rocket Man" to the delight of the audience.
He played against expectations as well, going into a wild rockabilly jam on "Sad Song" with a fantastic upbeat piano. Towards the end of the evening he thanked the two dearest in his life, his husband, David Furnish, "David spent the last 18 months weeding out the bad people in my life and put me on the straight and narrow." And he gave a nod to Bernie Taupin, who once again was his lyricist on the new album. "And Bernie, it's been 49 years and I love you more than ever." He dedicated the next song to them, rolling into "Your Song."
John had three special guests join him during his concert, all Island clients, Demi Levato who joined him on "Don't Go Breaking My Heart." Shawn Mendes on a "Tiny Dancer" duet and Patrick Stump of Fall Out Boy who rocked in kind on "Saturday Night's Alright For Fighting" which ended the evening. Elton John, of course, joined Fall Out Boy on their self title song of their last album, Save Rock and Roll and were clearly having fun on stage together.
A recording of the show is slated to premiere Feb. 4 on SiriusXM's The Spectrum channel. The following day will be the scheduled release of "Wonderful Crazy Night," John's 33rd studio album.
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PHOTO CREDIT: Philip Morton