The Annotated Elton John Setlist
hello goodbye
With 9 songs off Goodbye Yellow Brick Road and the first three nearly mirroring the first three on the classic double album, not only did Jack Phillips get it right here but my own anticipation level for the December 4th, 2013 is through the roof if not further.
Still, timing being everything, I am disappointing that this time round he isn’t playing his excellent new album The Diving Board. The first EJ album I’ve loved in decades and not only does it stiff but he doesn’t perform it live…
1. Funeral for a Friend/Love Lies Bleeding – Starts off with all the bombast you’d expect from the big time double album gatefold, superduper stardom EJ and then ups it – B
2. Bennie And The Jets – That piano bump at the start is as memorable as Kanye’s on “Runaway” and sampled constantly – A
3. Candle In The Wind – Really, my patience with this sort of stuff is minimal but still if you want a song about how misunderstood Marilyn Monroe was, you could do worse – C+
4. Grey Soul – Don’t know why he is playing this instead of “Candlelit Dinner”. The definition of a deep album track – C-
5. Levon – This is why I am not a huge John song, this is an oversung horrorshow – C-
6. Tiny Dancer – The best song on Madman, and “blue jean baby” is a real good description – B+
7. Holiday Inn – Celtic waltz -yuck – D+
8. Mona Lisa And The Madhatters – I prefer Jack Phillips cover myself, but sit isn’t a terrible song – B-
9. Believe – Wow, this song sucks – D
10. Philadelphia Freedom – Never has an artist been better served by a coupla of greatest hits albums. A true marvel, a wonderful melodic, spirit enchanting masterpiece “Shine the light won’t you shine the light…” indeed. Gamble And Huff must have been cheering – A+
11. Goodbue Yellow Brick Road – Ugh, morbund bullshit – D+
12. Rocket Man – I love this song but he overdoes it and then some on stage – B+
13. Hey Ahab – Stick a harpoon in it – C-
14. I Guess That’s Why They Call It the Blues – There is no excuse for this song to be so much fun, but there you go, when EJ is in the mood, he nails it – B
15. The One – Yeah, you know what, no – D
16. Oceans Away – Not my first choice but I’ll take this beautiful melody, John’s piano playing is, dare I say it, restrained – B+
17. Someone Saved My Life Tonight – ANother masterpiece, off the Captain Fantastic album, his greatest ballad… maybe – A+
18. Sad Sons (Say So Much) – Sure he was a drug addled disaster but h could write this – B+
19. All The Girls Love Alice – Why this tale of lesbianism and tedum? – C
20. Home Again – Faux classic rock but it works for me – B
21. Don’t Let The Sun Go Down On Me – The chorus is perfection, “I’d just allow a fragment of your life to wander free” is heartbreaking – A+
22. I’m Still Standing – Or was that stumbling? – B+
23. The Bitch Is Back – Elton gets his Stones on – A
24. Your Sister Can’t Twist (But She Can Rock ‘n Roll) – Second best rocker on GBYBR, but it gets no respect because… – B+
25. Saturday Night’s Alright For Fighting – One part parody of Slade, two parts agro – A
26. Your Song – Made his career – A+
27. Crocodile Rock – 50s rock nostalgia about 50s rock nostalgia – A
