Elton John: Farewell Yellow Brick Road Tour 17/11/2022

I had booked a trip to Los Angeles for a week to see Elton John’s “final” US concert at Dodger Stadium on November 20th, which is an extremely important show in the eyes of any Elton fan. I planned to fly in from the UK on November 17th, which would have given me enough time to find my bearings etc. before making my way to this. However, I couldn’t resist grabbing an extra ticket to see him at Dodger Stadium when this show was added to his list of tour dates. I bought a lot of my previous Elton tickets second-hand which cost quite a bit more than they originally sold for, so I jumped at the chance to get a pre-sale ticket for a fair price off the Dodger Stadium website directly. I like to pretend this cheap ticket “evened out” the expense of all the shows I’ve attended. I did worry my flight would be late or cancelled (a valid concern, it turns out) but the fact the ticket only cost $60 lessened my anxiety, as I knew I would get to see him at this venue on the 20th anyway. In the end, I actually added a few days on to the start of my US trip to explore San Francisco and see another of my favourite bands (why can’t they all announce their tours at the same time and make life easier for us?) so I made the journey from SF to LA via Amtrak on the 17th instead. The buses and trains probably took longer than a flight from London to LA would have done but I made it on time and in one piece, so I was happy with that.

I didn’t have a whole lot of time to freshen up before heading out to the concert. I’ve had no problems with tickets so far (touch wood) and got in without any issues once I got there. At least one third of my phone’s touch-screen doesn’t work after getting completely soaked in Edinburgh during an extremely rainy spell during the summer, so I needed to borrow Paul’s old phone to get the ‘Ballpark’ app to work. The app had my Elton tickets on there, for both nights. That could have been a disaster if I didn’t check and find out I couldn’t get into the app on my phone before I went, as printing them out wasn’t an option. He says I definitely need to look into getting a waterproof phone, as I’ve had too many accidents with mine. The venue was extremely easy to find, being just up the road in a straight line from the hotel. There was a lot of traffic, understandably, so us pedestrians had to wait around to cross the roads a few times. I felt like cars were getting priority most of the time by the people in control of the situation but maybe that makes sense as they have more work to do with finding parking spaces etc.

These Dodger Stadium shows were very highly-anticipated by Elton fans and I’m sure a lot more people than me travelled from all over the place to experience them. I loved seeing the stadium as it’s very famous, though I saw some people online talking badly about it and really putting it down. I suppose everybody has negative opinions about certain stadiums, depending on how they feel about specific teams. I’d say it’s one of the most famous stadiums in the US, as you hear about it all the time in movies and TV shows. I’ve read Elton’s autobiography and watched tons of his old videos, so I know all about the two iconic shows he performed here in 1975 just after he received his star on the Walk of Fame. This event was heavily advertised as the first time he’s performed here since then but that isn’t true as he did shows here in 1992 with Eric Clapton. False advertising to build hype! Or maybe the person advertising it on social media was genuinely clueless and I’m just a giant nerd for possessing such information. I was definitely excited to be there and had a lot of fun exploring, though it was a bit of a challenge to find my seat. The escalator to the very top deck wasn’t where I expected it to be (sort of hidden around a corner) and I went to the wrong level before figuring out there was an even higher section. Thankfully, I made it to my seat in time for Elton to come on stage shortly after 8pm.

One of the giant speakers at the far end of the field completely obstructed my view, so I quickly made the decision to evacuate the area and enjoy the show from the very top level. I think other people had the same idea, as there was barely anyone seated in that area by the time I got there. I did contemplate sitting down and enduring it as I’ve already seen him a few times but it was way too distracting and I was curious to see what else was up there. It’s not every day you get to visit Dodger Stadium, so I got up to stretch my legs, enjoy the views and soak in the atmosphere. I walked all around the top level, keeping behind the roped off areas mostly (where people were seated). There were lots of people dancing around and drinking near the bar, as well watching the concert from afar like me. I was a tiny bit nervous of the security people, since I thought they might instruct me to go back to my seat. It wouldn’t have been the end of the world if they did but I couldn’t fully relax knowing they were hanging around watching us all in every section. I’m glad I didn’t stay in my seat as I was entertained by people dancing and cheering – really getting in the party mood, especially by the second half of the night when the more upbeat songs started. I tried to capture their energy on camera without being noticed but I think I failed. Nobody gave me any abuse for taking photos of them. I hope they don’t mind me exposing them in my blog.

Elton was incredible, of course. I never tire of seeing him, though these last couple shows will probably be my last unless he announces more in the future. He still has a huge list of tour dates to get through before he eventually retires but I went to see him at my all-time favourite venues from his history – Madison Square Garden, Vicarage Road Stadium (Watford) and Dodger Stadium! They are all very important to him and are home to some of his most famous performances. I read in his recent ‘Jewel Box’ book that he hopes to do more intimate shows someday, where he can perform lesser known tracks of his choosing. That would be fantastic but it would be difficult to get a ticket, I imagine. They’d get snapped up instantly. I’d love to hear him perform some of my favourite tracks of his which are not obvious hits such as ‘Come Down In Time’, ‘Crystal’ and ‘I Swear I Heard The Night Talkin”. There are even songs he hasn’t performed in decades… One of the most sought-after is ‘Amoreena’. That would be amazing to hear him perform now. He has a massive catalogue of songs. It would be great to hear ones which don’t often get the limelight that would be appreciated by fans who are familiar with all/most of his work. I do understand why he stuck to mostly big hits for this final tour, since he’ll be wanting to appeal to a large number of people and new fans who have found him through his collaborations with popular artists including Dua Lipa and Ed Sheeran.

Elton announced he is glad to be ending his tour of America at the “very, very special” Dodger Stadium and he chose to finish it here specifically because it means so much to him. He hoped to “make it feel happy” and for it to be “a memorable show” before plunging into ‘I Guess That’s Why They Call It The Blues’ in front of an enthusiastic audience. The set list and order of songs has remained untouched since I last saw him in July and I can see why no changes have been made, since it flows so nicely from one song to another. I’m delighted ‘Have Mercy On The Criminal’ is still included and Elton is just as enthusiastic when introducing it. I’m betting some members of the audience didn’t know that one but it’s a great addition to the set list as it highlights Elton’s powerful voice, gives us something unexpected (not just songs which play on the radio all the time) and it has the dramatic *BANG* moment in the middle which gives the illusion the whole stadium is shaking. Definitely an attention grabbing number.

EJ introduced ‘Border Song’ as he always does, enthusing about his friendship with Aretha Franklin (“the Queen of Soul”) and gushing about how she elected to do a cover of his and Bernie Taupin’s song. It was even more meaningful tonight when he mentioned he’d just come over to America (LA) to promote his new album at the time, ‘Elton John’, when she heard it and liked it so much she wanted to sing it. He also talked about The Troubadour (the place he first performed and became famous in America after reaching a lot of people) and how thrilled he is that it still exists. I had a gig booked for the 18th there but it was sadly cancelled. I don’t know if I’ll ever go back to LA but if I do it will be on the top of my bucket list. I couldn’t replace it with anything else without completely ruining my itinerary and you can’t go to look inside unless there is an event on (trust me, I e-mailed to find out). It was also too “out of the way” to get there easily – about a two hour walk from my hotel. Writing about The Troubadour reminds me of an e-mail I got before the trip about Elton “taking over LA”. It had lots of places marked off around the city which are meaningful to him in some way or another, including his star on the Walk of Fame, some of his favourite shops and The Troubadour. It was a fun idea – a kind of treasure hunt for fans to meet up. I didn’t have enough time to incorporate all that into my trip as my schedule was already packed full of events. I barely had time to eat, most days! I did get to see his star on Hollywood Boulevard, though.

The whole band got a huge round of applause when EJ proudly introduced them one by one and ‘Don’t Let The Sun Go Down On Me’ was dedicated to beloved members of the band who have sadly passed away over the years – Dee Murray (bass guitar), Roger Pope (drums), Guy Babylon (keyboards) and Bob Birch (bass guitar). He said the four of them were wonderful people who added so much to his life and his music and it was a truly touching dedication. I think it’s really nice that he dedicates this song to at least one person each night as it adds a lot of emotional depth to an already complex song and gives adequate time to reflect before the songs get more chipper and fast-paced by the end of the evening. It was a fantastic night and these concerts are always bittersweet, knowing that Elton will soon be retiring and not gallivanting from place to place anymore like the good old days.

I enjoyed my walk back to the hotel (aside from annoying people trying to force tour t-shirts down our throats at every corner but you get them everywhere) and it was strangely peaceful considering so many people were gathering outside the hotel, crossing roads etc. I saw on the news the next day that an elderly couple were brutally attacked in the car park after the concert, after a supposed “fender bender”. It was also recorded and plastered all over the internet. I can’t believe something like this would happen after an Elton John concert of all things, where he spent the whole night promoting kindness/positivity and wishing everybody good health. It’s crazy that it happened and I hope the couple have recovered well from the incident. I didn’t go to the concert on the 19th (between this one and the “final” show) but the attack must have been brought to Elton’s attention as I read online he made a statement about how people should be kind to one another. Thankfully, situations like these are quite rare. Let’s hope nothing else like this happens throughout the remainder of his tour or at any other shows anywhere, for that matter.