Photo: WENN.com
The line-up for this year’s iTunes Festival boasts some of today’s biggest artists – Lady Gaga, Justin Timberlake, and Katy Perry to name a few – but the real jewel in this glittering array of superstars is a now-humble, elderly Englishman who helped streamline rock’n’roll into the 70s, and has sold more albums that Gaga, JT and Perry combined.
Elton John is back. Not that he ever went away, but after an everlasting residency in Las Vegas, Elton has chosen 2013 as the year to reclaim his rightful place as Britain’s greatest surviving performer from the 60s/70s (yes, including The Rolling Stones and McCartney). Armed with an excellent new album (‘The Diving Board’, his 30th album), a newly invented Brit Icon award, a handful of contemporary collaborations (Queens Of The Stone Age, Fall Out Boy), plus his overwhelming headline performance at Bestival (his first UK festival since 1979), Elton’s return is explosive yet gracious. Any worries that this iTunes performance might be nothing more than a shameless preview of his new album – à la Gaga – are thankfully vanquished when Elton, wearing trademark glasses and a glitzy sequined tailcoat, settles at his piano and launches into opener ‘The Bitch Is Back’.
From here on out, Elton and his dependable 11-piece band cherry-pick hits from across his six decade career – from piano-rockers ‘Bennie And The Jets’ and ‘Saturday Night's Alright for Fighting’, to the party-pop of ‘I’m Still Standing’ and his 2010 collaboration with Leon Russell ‘Ahab’.
New material is limited to just four tracks, including the mature gospel blues of ‘Mexican Vacation (Kids in the Candlelight)’ and ‘Home Again’, a classic Elton-sounding ballad backed by a choir and brass section.
The highlights come courtesy of the more tender hits, with Elton’s heartfelt voice propelling ‘Don’t Let The Sun Go Down On Me’, ‘Rocket Man’, ‘Tiny Dancer’, ‘Sorry Seems to Be the Hardest Word’ and, in particular, beautiful set closer ‘Your Song’. Seeing these five songs – five of the greatest songs ever written – so close to Elton that you can see the melancholy behind his tinted glasses is powerfully compelling.
Even more compelling is the fact that after all these years performing the same songs an artist can play with such conviction, and look and sound so thankful to be doing so. Whereas The Stones looked like they were on autopilot at Glastonbury, Elton John, as he walks along the front of the stage pointing and cheering ‘thank-yous’ between each song, remains genuinely connected to his audience. “This is a magical time to be alive,” declares Elton. Magical for us all.
SETLIST:
1. The Bitch Is Back
2. Bennie and the Jets
3. Levon
4. Tiny Dancer
5. I Can't Stay Alone Tonight
6. Philadelphia Freedom
7. Oscar Wilde Gets Out
8. Mexican Vacation (Kids in the Candlelight)
9. Goodbye Yellow Brick Road
10. Rocket Man (I Think It's Going to Be a Long, Long Time)
11. Hey Ahab
12. Sorry Seems to Be the Hardest Word
13. Don't Let the Sun Go Down on Me
14. I'm Still Standing
15. Saturday Night's Alright for Fighting
Encore:
1. Home Again
2. Your Song
