Review by Luke Matthews

When I attend concerts, I’m always looking for what I call, “The Hey Jude Moment.” It’s a term I use for a moment in a concert that brings the greatest amount of joy. A moment that makes the hair on the back of your neck stand up. Its name comes from the first time I got to see Paul McCartney back in 2005 in Des Moines. While singing “Hey Jude,” he gestured to the crowd to begin singing the “na-na-na-na” portion of the song. You haven’t lived until you’ve heard a sold-out arena sing along to a musical classic in unison. It’s a transcendent concert moment. Hair: standing.

Saturday night at Wells Fargo Arena, Sir Elton John brought his “Farewell Yellow Brick Road” tour to town for what he says is his final tour of the world. Over 300 shows will take him back to all of the places he’s played throughout his incredible 50-plus-year career. The Des Moines stop was show number 202 according to Elton. It would be his 13th show in Iowa and it would be his last. So what would be the “Hey Jude Moment?”

When John walked to the stage at the beginning of the show to thunderous applause, he sat down at his piano and pounded just one note.

“Dun.”

The arena roared with approval. In a spontaneous game of Name That Tune, it was clear that by just one single note, most people in attendance knew the classic, “Bennie and the Jets” was to be the first of 22 songs Elton John would treat the crowd to that night. And they were right.

“Dun-dun-duh-nuh dun.” Big smiles all around.

“Good evening, Des Moines,” John said in his first remarks of the evening to the crowd. “We finally got here. Sorry for how long it took.”

Elton and his 6-piece band – most of whom have played with him for decades – began a walk down a yellow brick memory lane that stretched the entirety of John’s illustrious career. Beautiful ballads like “I Guess That’s Why They Call It the Blues” and “Someone Saved My Life Tonight” provided lovely memories of younger days playing records at home or watching MTV. Big numbers like “Philadelphia Freedom” and “The Bitch is Back” (with its companion t-shirt available at the merchandise booth) pushed the limits of the volume capable inside the arena.

John took time to recount his legendary performance in August 1970 at the Troubador in Los Angeles before singing “Border Song.” His Troubador set was named by Rolling Stone as one of the 50 best concerts of all time.

But what was going to be “THE” moment in Des Moines in 2022?

Perhaps it could have been when John brought out one of his signature songs, “Tiny Dancer” early in the evening. Panning the arena as John sings, “hold me closer, tiny dancer…” and seeing the faces of men and women holding up their drinks, eyes closed, and voices at full throat was a moment that made me realize that I really was here. I was seeing one of the most legendary musicians/singers/songwriters in history (for the first time, might I add) in my city.

It could have been just two songs later when John took the crowd on a journey through a nearly 9-minute version of “Rocket Man.” You see how much he enjoys performing. How, after celebrating his 75th birthday the day before, does he still have the fire to put on a show as if he were still 25? Elton John is ever the showman. What will he do when he’s not entertaining?

Speaking of Sir Elton’s birthday, several in attendance snuck in large signs wishing him a happy birthday. He made sure to point out a few of the signs throughout the night’s performance.

“I don’t feel 75,” John joked with the crowd. “But when you see it written down, it doesn’t feel so bad.”

A poignant moment of the night came as John was describing having a quiet day for his birthday, then finding himself saddened waking Saturday morning to the news that Taylor Hawkins, drummer for the Foo Fighters, had died overnight in Columbia.

“(Hawkins) had played on my Lockdown Sessions album and he was one of the nicest people you could have ever met and one of the greatest drummers,” John said in tribute. He then dedicated his song, “Don’t Let the Sun Go Down on Me” to Hawkins.

The final four songs of the main set were all smash hits. Despite being some of his oldest hits, songs like “I’m Still Standing” with its accompanying video montage of John’s career in popular culture and “Crocodile Rock” with its “Hey Jude Moment”-worthy sing-along of the “la la la la la’s” seemed to have new life breathed into them in a live setting. Then, it doesn’t get much better than “Saturday Night’s Alright for Fighting” being performed live… on a Saturday night.

While we’re on the subject of breathing new life into songs, during the night’s encore, John performed “Cold Heart,” his current hit duet with singer Dua Lipa which takes turns sampling two of Elton’s hits, “Sacrifice” and “Rocket Man.” He joked about having a hit on the charts as “pretty fun” before playing his very first hit that came out 52 years earlier, “Your Song,”

For his final song for Des Moines, he chose the tour’s namesake tune, “Goodbye Yellow Brick Road.” During the song, as John’s piano slowly crawled from one side of the stage to the other, the crowd was given time to reflect on an incredible touring career, filled with more than a dozen appearances in Iowa alone. That’s when it hit that the “Farewell Yellow Brick Road” tour was itself, one big “Hey Jude Moment.” The whole show was to be remembered and thought of fondly. Countless sing-along moments from an artist who will be long remembered for his music and charity alike. Elton John has had one of the most improbable careers of any rock musician. He’s deserved some time at home with his family.

As he left the stage in Iowa for the final time, John had some parting words for those that filled every seat in Wells Fargo Arena: “I wish you love and happiness. Remember, I won’t forget you.”

Bon voyage, Rocket Man. Thank you for the music.

ELTON JOHN SETLIST

“Bennie and the Jets”
“Philadelphia Freedom”
“I Guess That’s Why They Call It The Blues”
“Border Song”
“Tiny Dancer”
“Have Mercy on the Criminal”
“Rocket Man”
“Take Me to the Pilot”
“Someone Saved My Life Tonight”
“Levon”
“Candle In The Wind”
“Funeral for a Friend/Love Lies Bleeding”
“Burn Down the Mission”
“Sad Songs (Say So Much)”
“Don’t Let the Sun Go Down on Me”
“The Bitch Is Back”
“I’m Still Standing”
“Crocodile Rock”
“Saturday Night’s Alright”

ENCORE
“Cold Heart” (featuring video duet with Dua Lipa)
“Your Song”
“Goodbye Yellow Brick Road”