GregsynthWizard's video: 12 Sorry Seems To Be The Hardest Word Elton John - Live In New York: 10 23 1984

All right you amazing and wunderbar subscribers! I know some of you have been waiting for these next few uploads for quite some time. It is now time to upload Elton’s run of shows from New York and boy, do they have some interesting backstories about them. From suffering from the flu, to some of his roughest singing from the era, and to passing out at one show - these shows have some notoriety surrounding them. This is the first of three New York shows from October 1984 and this is a slight upgrade compared to an older copy that circulated. Despite sounding slightly better, this recording isn’t in great quality overall, has occasional speed issues, and it sounds like it was recorded from the nosebleed section. On the plus side, the recording is mostly complete - so you’ll get about 2 hours of Elton John singing through the flu and doing his best to maintain his vocal range! Despite still suffering from a brutal flu, Elton bravely soldiers on with the Breaking Hearts Tour at Madison Square Garden. His sickness has taken a further toll on his voice and energy as both of those qualities are suffering at this show. While Elton’s range is mostly intact, he audibly struggles at times to reach certain notes and a good amount of his singing sounds very coarse and even strained at times. Elton’s effort is still commendable as he still does his best to sing the material and you can tell that his heart is still in it to do the show. The rest of the band members are having a great night at the office as the MSG crowd pushes them to give a stronger-than-usual performance for the tour leg. Despite the distant and rough audio quality, there is some great playing at this show which makes up for Elton’s weakened state. Now, time to get through the performance paragraphs! “Tiny Dancer” has Elton sounding very rough in places and his voice also has a weary sound to it. Despite this, he still goes for all of the classic falsetto notes. “Levon” has Elton sounding tired throughout and somewhat strained, but at least he remembers the words. “Li’l ‘Frigerator” has Elton remembering the words and trying his best to belt the song out (although his intonation isn’t all clean). “Rocket Man” suffers from Elton struggling to sing some of his high notes and his tone is quite ragged in places. The improvisation section is quite good, but doesn’t feature Elton going all-out vocally for obvious reasons. “Daniel” sounds pretty good overall with the band being a highlight. “Restless” doesn’t have the prettiest singing from Elton as he insists on thrashing his voice and oversinging randomly. “Candle In The Wind” has Elton flubbing a line in the second verse and doing a weird take on the ending embellishment - but at least it’s not completely ridiculous like earlier versions. “The Bitch Is Back” has Elton swapping lyrics early on and overdriving his flu-stricken voice into the ground. The rest of the band on the other hand, sound fantastic on this version. “Don’t Let The Sun Go Down On Me” is a surprising version as Elton backs off the aggressive singing for the most part and sings with a softer tone. “Who Wears These Shoes” has harsh growling throughout the performance (especially on the word, “Darling”). “Sad Songs (Say So Much)” has Elton darkening his voice in a few spots, does harsh growling, and nearly train-wrecks the band during the second chorus. Concluding this section, “Sorry Seems To Be The Hardest Word” is one of the best performances of the night as Elton sounds vocally stable. “Bennie And The Jets” has random and reckless phrasing throughout (especially during the final chorus). “Philadelphia Freedom” has Elton sounding rough on his mid-range and some of his intonation is spotty. “Blue Eyes” features Elton clunking a chord (and laughs afterward) and some of the vocals aren’t his cleanest. “I Guess That’s Why They Call It The Blues” features Elton overdriving and growling harshly. “Kiss The Bride” has some of the worst/harshest growling on the song before the Reg Tour versions. “One More Arrow” is a shocking (for this gig) performance as Elton somehow turns back into his European Express form and sings the song mostly cleanly with gliding. “I’m Still Standing” is back to “flu Elton” as his singing has a ton of rasp on it (with the last chorus sounding extremely forced in particular) and the backing harmonies are off at times. “Your Song” has a few piano clunkers from Elton, but he sings the classic hit single well and the musicianship is excellent. “Saturday Night’s Alright For Fighting” has extremely forced and pushed singing from Elton and he actually has a bit of trouble with the high note in the last chorus. The rest of the band members are absolutely on fire and display great energy throughout the performance. “Goodbye Yellow Brick Road” has Elton sounding fatigued, misses lyrics in the second verse, and has trouble some of the falsetto notes. Lastly, “Crocodile Rock” shows off Elton’s worn-out voice! ENJOY!!!