Pop star bids farewell to stage

For a film co-directed by the title character’s husband, David Furnish, Elton John: It’s never too lateWhile always entertaining, it’s oddly impersonal and lacking in intimacy. If you want to relive the glory days of Elton’s career, when he released a staggering 13 albums in five years from 1970-75, seven of which reached number one on the charts. advertising billboard This Disney+ documentary is a gold mine of mind-blowing concert footage, interview footage and photos that reveal Elton’s high-energy performance patterns and low states of isolation. Fans are going to eat it up. But the parallel repertoire in which he prepared to play a farewell show was impoverished from a contemporary perspective.

The 2022 concert at Dodger Stadium in Los Angeles marks the end of Elton’s 50-year North American tour. It also represents the full trajectory of his legendary performance in 1975 at the same venue in front of 110,000 people (wearing a sequined Dodgers uniform designed by Bob Mackie), when his global fame reached peak.

Director RJ Cutler and Furnish constructed their portrait around a series of tapes of conversations with Alexis Petridis, his music critic. The GuardianElton is preparing to write his memoirs. Petridis also served as a ghostwriter for a 2019 publication whose title was not false, I. Their chat, which focused on the performer’s 1970s heyday, was a light-hearted sit-down discussing tough issues with ease—or so we’re told. Elton’s autobiography is famous for its candor and a healthy balance of self-deprecation and self-awareness. It would have been nice if more of that had carried over into the movie.

Punctuation It’s never too late We will be stopping in various cities across North America on our “Farewell Yellow Brick Road” tour before the Los Angeles show. Bold pink text identifies each location and establishes a countdown of sorts: “9 months until Dodger Stadium” and so on.

Instead, we get some lovely onstage footage and more personal glimpses of Elton – a warm thank you to his band; he’s a loving voice during a video call with his two young sons in England father; record his rocket moment On the radio, he was an enthusiastic cheerleader for emerging talent. Access appears to be tightly controlled, but little is leaked.

In conversation with Peter Riddis and additional commentary from John, he outlines a life story that long-time fans will be familiar with from previous documentaries, specials, profiles, his autobiography and the 2019 biopic rocket manin which he is played by Taron Egerton.

That’s not to say the paradox of a global star, adored by millions but saddened by an inner emptiness, isn’t poignant, as Elton says. He admits that during those so-called golden years, his life was filled with nothing but success and drugs and later an abusive relationship with John Reed, who became his manager and offered him Cocaine was introduced.

But Elton has recounted the long and lonely road from addiction and desire for emotional fulfillment to sobriety and ultimately to love and family countless times before, and it feels like it, becomes apparent in his hindsight perspective. John is not interested in digging deeper, which makes him a frustrating documentary subject.

He even gushed about his troubled childhood, spending time in his own fantasy world while his abusive parents bickered. He displayed virtuoso piano skills from an early age, which brought him attention where he had previously felt neglected; he discovered at the Royal College of Music that classical music was not his cup of tea.

Propelled by editors Greg Finton and Poppy Das’s snappy montages, the film guides us through his clever use of split screens and fluid animated sequences In their early days as a band, the band opened for the Drifters, The Temptations and Patti LaBelle. Around this time, he also changed his name from Reginald Dwight because he had a gut feeling that Reginald Dwight would never amount to much, but El Elton can.

An encounter with lyricist Bernie Taupin was crucial to Elton’s success, a chance encounter when he was interviewed by a record label and rejected by a batch of Taupin’s lyrics . In a brilliant TV interview clip, he sits at a piano with the handwritten lyrics to “Tiny Dancer” in his hand, explaining how certain keywords like “ballerina” almost determine the tempo and chords.

removing any mystery from their long collaboration as songwriters and showcasing the effortless flow of lyrics from page to piano keys, making their prolific five years of classic songs even more compelling. Elton’s reflections on his friendship with Taupin are touching.

He proved equally adept at writing pop ballads and rock songs. “Your Song”, “Crocodile Rock”, “Benny and the Jets”, “Rocketman”, “Daniel”, “Saturday Night Good Fight”, “The Bitch Comes Back”, “Don’t Let the Sun Go Down” on Me”, “Philadelphia Liberty”: all the historical figures gathered in such a short period of time are dazzling. Not to mention the deep cut bounties.

His style often veers toward gospel music, such as “Border Song,” or toward hymns, such as “Goodbye Yellow Brick Road” or “Candle in the Wind.” The latter is heard in the recording, which marked John’s first time playing with an orchestra.

Elton’s lush honky-tonk piano style was an early influence from Winifred Atwell, Little Richard and Jerry Lee Lewis, who Became an amazing stage performer, often standing in front of the piano to play and then jumping off the piano like a gymnast. Although the clip from the show that he credits with making him famous, a 1970 show at the Troubadour Club in Los Angeles before an audience of only 250, featured no stagecraft, just a singer-songwriter hunched over Criticized music is created on the keyboard.

I wish there were more parts where Elton is beaming and seemingly absorbed, as when he recalls his friendship with John Lennon and the wild nights they drank coke together, once hiding out like kids Hotel room, giggling and ignoring Andy Warhol at the door.

Lennon had not appeared on stage since the Beatles’ final concert in 1966, when Elton persuaded him to sing as a special guest at a 1974 Thanksgiving Day show at Madison Square Garden. The #1 hit “Whatever Gets You Through the Night.” The crowd roared understandably. Elton was later credited with getting John and Yoko back together that night after their breakup. It’s a pleasant anecdote, but it’s a pity that the film skips over their previous collaboration on a cover of Elton’s Lucy in the Sky with Diamonds.

What’s missing from all of this is the expert context a music critic might provide, someone who elaborates on Elton’s unique way of connecting 60s pop and 70s rock. While the archival performances and interview clips are great, they also benefit from the occasional outside voice that’s more analytical than Elton’s recollections. A word or two about the outstanding musicians who worked with him during that period – notably Nigel Olsen, Dee Murray and David Johnstone – wouldn’t go amiss.

The documentary reduces extraordinary creativity to a dry narrative – of a working-class lad who launches a hit, develops a flamboyant stage persona and achieves worldwide success, fueled by booze, drugs and casual sex. Dilute the emotional emptiness in your life.

The great shots of the elaborate costumes he shows off on stage (I would die for that lime green three-piece sequined suit) also represent a missed opportunity. Elton said the shocking costumes were a reaction to everything he wasn’t allowed to do as a child. But queer theorists might delve deeper into the idea that these garments were expressions of sexualities that were still locked away in closets at the time.

This film looks at the impact of 1976 rolling stones In the cover story, he got personal, saying half-assedly that he wanted love but hadn’t met anyone he wanted to settle down with. Elton spoke briefly about the negative reaction, the destruction of his records by some conservative radio stations, and the freedom that even an incomplete unburdening brought him. But living as an openly gay man is not free enough.

Anyone with a semi-functional gaydar will be surprised that when he married Renate Blauer, a sound engineer, in 1984, that three-year marriage is not mentioned here. Elton came out in much the same way that Liberace and Barry Manilow came out, which is to say, if you pay attention, there was no coming out at all. No one is saying that being a queer elder statesman obligates Elton to talk about LGBTQ rights in this document, but it might be insightful to hear how he sees himself evolving in relation to the wider picture.

Back in the 1970s, anxious record company executives would no doubt have worried about the impact on sales and airplay if one of their best-selling artists came out as gay. Now married to a man, he remains one of pop music’s most beloved figures, whose songs have brought joy to generations.

To the filmmakers’ credit, while the documentary often seems to be heading toward the breakup moment of John and Furnish coming together in 1993, casting the latter as the savior of lost souls, that doesn’t happen. Instead, their civil partnership in 2005 was covered almost perfunctorily, and there was no mention of their conversion of that contract into a marriage in 2014 when same-sex marriage was legalized in England.

Downplaying these life-changing events It’s never too late Pointing out missing parts of its subjects’ lives multiple times seems like an odd choice that almost cancels out the emotion.

However, this was offset by a series of beautiful moments from the 2022 Dodger Stadium show – first Elton’s emotional pouring into “Someone Saved My Life Tonight,” then his bow with Taupin, and finally It was he who welcomed his performance with pride.