“It was very special for them”
Multi-instrumentalist Davey Johnstone has been Elton John’s guitarist for 50 years, which hasn’t left him much free time to focus on his solo career — his debut LP, Smiling face, was released on Elton’s Rocket Record Company label in 1973, and it took him that long to make a follow-up album. Johnstone found the moment, obviously, in 2020 when the COVID-19 pandemic put a temporary halt to Elton’s Farewell Yellow Brick Road tour – and the result is Deeper than my roots, a family affair featuring musical contributions from four of Johnstone’s sons and artwork from his daughter Juliet. Elliot, 15, Johnstone’s youngest child, sings lead on most tracks, including a cover of “Here, There and Everywhere”, which Johnstone describes as “one of the great Beatles songs of all time. time”.
As Johnstone speaks with Yahoo Entertainment/SiriusXM volume On the album, which comes out on February 4, he also plans the Elton’s Farewell tour, which finally resumes on January 19, and he naturally looks back on his thousands of past gigs with Elton. The looping conversation eventually leads to a particularly memorable Thanksgiving Day 1974 show in New York’s Madison Square Garden, when he and Elton actually shared a stage with a Beatle: John Lennon. “And it was to be, unfortunately, his last [public] performance,” signs Johnstone.
The night was “legendary” in another way, as it was this concert that ultimately led to the reconciliation of Lennon and his second wife Yoko Ono after their separation. “At that time he was with May Pang, who has also been a good friend of mine for all these years,” says Johnstone, referring to Lennon and Ono’s personal assistant who, at Ono’s request, became Lennon’s romantic companion during his 18 months. “lost weekend” away from Ono. “But that night Yoko came to the show and John didn’t know she was in the audience. I think he would have been really nervous if he knew Yoko was in the crowd. But they got [back] together soon after, and it was very special for them.
Johnstone believes Elton “conspired” with Lennon’s assistant, Tony King, a “great guy” who later worked as Elton’s assistant, to bring Yoko onto the show. “They knew she was coming and everything. And Yoko actually sent some beautiful gardenias to John to say, “Good luck with the show.” If you look at the pictures – there aren’t many pictures from this show; God knows why not, but there isn’t – you’ll see in John’s buttonhole, that gardenia he got from Yoko. But he didn’t realize that she was at the concert at the time.
Lennon was nervous even without knowing his ex-wife was in the audience, as he hadn’t performed live at all since his own concert at Madison Square Garden two years earlier. He also hadn’t played with the Beatles since the January 1969 Apple Corps rooftop concert immortalized in To recover, and he planned to sing two Beatles songs at Elton’s show. While Johnstone recalls that Elton’s band “quick rehearsal” with Lennon the night before had gone well (“It wasn’t really a repetition. … We chatted and laughed and had a few drinks”), Lennon was completely nervous by the time he showed up at MSG on November 28, 1974.
“The night of the concert, I was tuning all the instruments backstage, and John came into the box looking terrified,” Johnstone recalled. “And I said, ‘John, are you okay?’ And he was like, ‘Well, no. I think I want to throw up. I feel so nervous!’ – because he hadn’t played in forever. It had been so long since John had done a live performance. … But I tuned his guitar and kind of hugged him and him I said, ‘Look, I’ll see you up there. It’s going to be great!’ But Johnstone, a “huge Beatles fan” who remembers “getting chills” when he found out Lennon was a fan of Elton’s work, admits he was also secretly nervous. not deal with what was happening on stage.
“I walk with Elton and [bassist] Dee Murray and [drummer] nigel [Olsson] and [percussionist] Ray Cooper, and I think, ‘John Lennon will go on stage with us. This is insane!’ Johnstone laughs. “When Elton announced John in the middle of the show, it was a big surprise; none of the New Yorkers knew. And because he had become a New Yorker – and, well, because he was John Lennon – the place has gone absolutely crazy. When I think about it now, it was very surreal, the whole thing. … I could never forget such an incredible night.
And so, the night went down in rock ‘n’ roll history for being Lennon’s last public performance (he last performed, in 1975, on the television special Tribute to Sir Lew – The Master Showman), and for starting a new chapter in Beatles life with Ono (the couple officially reunited in February 1975, welcomed their son Sean in October of that year, and remained together until Lennon’s death in December 1980). But Lennon’s appearance almost didn’t happen, because it was all the result of a lost bet.
“When [Elton and his band] went on tour in the United States [in 1974], we decided to take a boat to America. We were all living in London at the time, and instead of flying and being jet-lagged, we decided to take a trip on the SS France,” Johnstone recalled. “We brought [John Lennon’s son with first wife Cynthia] Julian Lennon on the boat with us, because he wanted to spend the summer with his father in New York. So, we arrive at the New York docks and John is waiting for us, and we get off the boat and we all say hello and kiss and everything. I was completely blown away! Then the next day we went to the studio with him and watched part of the recording of [Lennon’s solo song] ‘Whatever Gets You Thru the Night’, on which I sang and played piano. John finally came [Colorado recording studio] Caribou Ranch to visit us and record ‘Lucy in the Sky With Diamonds’ with us and a few other songs, and then it was agreed that if ‘Whatever Gets You Thru the Night’ went to No. 1, then John would come on stage with us. And he said, ‘Yeah, sure’ – because he never thought it would be a #1 record. This has been a number 1! So he had to fulfill his obligation.
At Madison Square Garden, Lennon ended up performing “Whatever Gets You Thru the Night,” “Lucy,” and a surprising old Beatles “I Saw Her Standing There,” while Johnstone “kept looking over the top; he was right next to me on stage, and I’m like, ‘That’s crazy!’ And Johnstone was still smitten the next day, when Lennon paid a surprise visit to his hotel room.
“Elton called me…and he was like, ‘Wow, what a show that was! Listen, John would love to come over and hang out with you. Are you okay?’ And me [joked], ‘No, tell him to fuck off. Uh, from Classes tell him to come! ‘” Johnstone laughs. “And so John came to my suite about 15 minutes later. It was in the snow and it had the typical [Lennon look]: grandmother’s glasses, a cape, a turtleneck sweater, a scarf. I looked through the little peephole [in the hotel door], and I will never forget the sight of him walking towards me. It was just like, ‘This is really one of the greatest things in my life.’ … I tell you, I obviously miss him to this day, like so many people do. What a legend, what a guy, what a writer, what an artist.
Although Johnstone never had the opportunity to perform on stage with Lennon again, he continued to perform with Elton for decades, with the exception of Elton’s 1980 tour, during which Johnstone s am busy working with other rock legends like Alice Cooper and Stevie Nicks. “It’s an incredible achievement because I don’t know anyone who’s been with another artist for so long and played so many gigs,” Johnstone said of his tenure with Elton, who reckons they’ve given around 3,300 concerts together. Now, as he prepares to take one last ride with Elton, as Musical Director of the Farewell Yellow Brick Road Tour, he is enjoying his dream job as much as he was in 1974 – although he admits he never imagined playing with Elton for half a century.
“Back then, back in the day, we never really thought about things like that. When you’re in your early twenties, you just do it for love. It’s like, ‘Wow, I’ve been permit to do this. It’s a giftI was given. … So, it’s pretty amazing that I was able to do it [for so long]marvels Johnstone. “I attribute that to Elton’s stamina and tenacity, and the way he handles it all. He’s a great, great singer. His voice has changed over the years, but I think that he used it to his advantage. he has kind of a fatter, more soulful voice now. The guy is a freak. He’s one of those guys who plays and sings brilliantly, every night. I don’t have him never heard of not doing it very well every night.
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The above interview is taken from Davey Johnstone’s appearance on the SiriusXM show “Volume West”. The full audio of this conversation is available on the SiriusXM app.
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