Elton’s cult classic, Your Song, was in the setlist of the momentous performance at the world-famous Los Angeles club five decades ago. Elton shared the life-changing performance to his official YouTube channel, which can be watched below. This career-forming gig catapulted the singer into global superstardom, and the Rocketman has not come down since. 

Whilst only 300 people were in attendance that historic night at the Troubadour, Elton’s audience held some of the 1970s music scene’s paramount artists. The most notable audience members who witnessed the breathtaking performance were Peggy Lipton, Brian Wilson, Neil Diamond and none other than Quincy Jones. Robert Hilburn, chief music critic at the Los Angeles Times during 1970, also wrote a glowing review of the Crocodile Rocker.

In celebration of the special anniversary, a special deluxe gatefold double LP edition of Elton’s spectacular debut album will be released. The self-titled album will be a Record Store Day exclusive and will be available from the 29th of August.

The reissue of the groundbreaking Elton John playfully matches the eccentric artist, as it will be pressed with a translucent purple vinyl finish. The two-disc LP will feature a 2016 remaster of the classic LP, bonus tracks from the 2008 CD edition and unreleased demos of both Bad Side of The Moon and Border Song. To say that fans are in for a treat would be a gross understatement!

Elton John took to social media on the 25th of August to honour the performance that changed his life. In a post on Instagram, the Tiny Dancer hitmaker shared the special moment with his 3m followers.

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50 years ago today, I played in America for the first time at @theTroubadour. As I wrote in @britishgq last week, that show changed my life. When I walked on stage on August 25, 1970, I was just a little-known pop singer from England. It didn’t take me long to realise afterwards, though, that things would never be the same again.

 Swipe through to see original video from that show, plus the scene from @rocketmanmovie that captured the emotions from that night so beautifully.

A post shared by Elton John (@eltonjohn) on Aug 25, 2020 at 9:58am PDT

Featuring a snap of the legendary performance and a short clip from the wonderful Rocketman biopic, John captioned the nostalgic post: “When I walked on the stage on August 25th, 1970, I was just a little known pop singer from England. It didn’t take me long to realise afterward, though, that things would never be the same again.”  The post was greeted with a joyous reception from the star’s gigantic fanbase, receiving a whopping 116,000 likes and views. 

The Elton John Tracklisting will go as follows:

LP1 / SIDE A
1. Your Song
2. I Need You To Turn To
3. Take Me To The Pilot
4. No Shoe Strings On Louise
5. First Episode At Hienton
LP1 / SIDE B
1. Sixty Years On
2. Border Song
3. The Greatest Discovery
4. The Cage
5. The King Must Die

LP2 / SIDE A
1. Your Song (Piano Demo)
2. I Need You To Turn To (Piano Demo)
3. Take Me To The Pilot (Piano Demo)
4. Sixty Years On (Piano Demo)
5. Border Song (Piano Demo)
6. Bad Side Of The Moon (Piano Demo)

LP2 / SIDE B
1. Thank You Mama (Piano Demo)
2. All The Way Down To El Paso (Piano Demo)
3. I’m Going Home (Piano Demo)
4. Bad Side Of The Moon
5. Grey Seal
6. Rock And Roll Madonna

Back in 2012 when Axl Rose was asked about a possible classic line-up reunion he replied with “Not in this lifetime”. Funnily enough this secret gig was advertised under the name “Not in this lifetime” by the venue. Since the release of this advertisement, it has been announced that this is the name of their upcoming summer tour. The tickets were released early on Friday morning for an extremely small sum of $10 at the old Tower Records store where Slash once worked. The band had really thrown it back to the old days with this reunion with connections to their past lives especially considering that the Troubadour was where the rock legends were first noticed over 30 years ago.

4 years ago: Axl Rose about Guns N’ Roses Reunion Tour: ‘Not In This Lifetime’ https://t.co/QGOOLwbW02
Now: pic.twitter.com/Yg4r3bimXV

— Slash America (@SlashAmerica) April 1, 2016

Die-hard fans formed a long line all waiting to buy one ticket each which was the limit per person to prevent re-sales and mass capitalization on the huge demand. The day marked the first time the classic line-up played together since 1993 in Buenos Aires. The band started the show with their well known opener ‘It’s so Easy’ which brought a wave of energy to start the show off with. The set also included classic iconic songs, two songs from the band’s 2008 album ‘Chinese Democracy’ and a cover of The Who.

Alongside many fans, many famous fans attended the gig such as Bradley Cooper, Kate Hudson, Lenny Kravitz, Jim Carrey, Chris Brown, Nicholas Cage and Michelle Rodriguez who all came together at The Troubadour to celebrate the reunion of the legendary band.

However this reunion is only the beginning of a busy year for the band as they are scheduled to perform as the headline act at Coachella in California later this month, are playing two warm-up shows at the T-Mobile Arena in Las Vegas on April 8th and 9th and are set to go on a North American Tour which will all take place in iconic stadiums.

You can watch fan-shot clips of the show (despite the venue’s no-camera policy) down below: