Footage found of Elton John and John Lennon at MSG!

Amazingly, a guy who filmed Lennon's guest appearance at Elton John's Thanksgiving show on November 28, 1974, has uploaded it to YouTube. It's silent footage and the part with John doesn't appear for long (from 3:42 onwards), but it's still a real find.

Thanks! Never thought I'd see footage of this legendary concert, after all these years... They did a pretty cool version of "I Saw Her Standing There", Elton must have thought so too as he put it out as the b-side to "Philadelphia Freedom" way back in 1975.

Fans have already set to work with overdubbing the original audio:
http://www.classicpopicons.com/footage- ... on-at-msg/


Couple of examples there, although the last one is a fantasy edit using additional footage.

Woah!

Wow, that's quite fantastic - great footage. Elton has really been round the block when you come to think about it AND has played with and frequented with some of the good and great over the years. I would love to see footage - and audio - of Elton and Frank Sinatra on stage in Monte Carlo, from a decade later, surface at some point.

GREAT to see and hear such a momentous event.

It would be the last time John Lennon set foot on a concert stage.

It would be the last time John Lennon set foot on a concert stage.

It is often thought that John Lennon's last public performance was on November 28, 1974, when he performed three songs with Elton John at Madison Square Garden. However, his final performance before a live audience was actually on April 18, 1975, when he appeared at the Waldorf Astoria Hotel to perform on "A Salute to Sir Lew Grade", supported by Dog Soldier. On this television special, Lennon performed "Slipping and Sliding" and "Stand By Me", both from his latest release, and his most popular solo composition, "Imagine".

Read more: http://wiki.answers.com/Q/When_was_John ... z1GZ0s3usV

It would be the last time John Lennon set foot on a concert stage.

It is often thought that John Lennon's last public performance was on November 28, 1974, when he performed three songs with Elton John at Madison Square Garden. However, his final performance before a live audience was actually on April 18, 1975, when he appeared at the Waldorf Astoria Hotel to perform on "A Salute to Sir Lew Grade", supported by Dog Soldier. On this television special, Lennon performed "Slipping and Sliding" and "Stand By Me", both from his latest release, and his most popular solo composition, "Imagine".

Read more: http://wiki.answers.com/Q/When_was_John_Lennon's_last_performance#ixzz1GZ0s3usV

But that was an invitation-only TV appearance, for an audience of specially-invited celebrities, far different from a rock 'n' roll show at Madison Square Garden.

Some of the information regarding the 1975 appearance is inaccurate.

This is more correct:

April 18, 1975 - Salute to Sir Lew
Taped: Friday 18 April 1975
Aired: Friday 13 June 1975

For tonight's show, John, sporting a pair of dark round glasses, appears with his long hair tied back into a ponytail and is dressed in a bright red boiler suit covered in zips. Clutching an acoustic guitar, he performs live vocal versions of 'Slippin And Slidin' ', 'Stand By Me' and, rather nervously, 'Imagine', in which John changes the lyrics to "brotherhood and sisterhood of man", a reference to his espousal of feminist politics.

He is joined by the eight-piece band Etcetera, who appear dressed in matching boiler suits and, rather strangely, face masks attached to the back of their heads. John is naturally asked about the significance of these masks. He replies: "It was a sardonic reference to my feelings on Lew Grade's personality!" (His resentment stems from Grade's ATV company taking control of The Beatles' Northern Songs in 1969. The Beatles, most significantly John and Paul, were forced to sell their remaining stock in Northern Songs to ATV for a sum reputed to be in excess of $5 million.)

Incidentally, John's backing band, Etcetera, is actually the group BOMF, which stands for Brothers Of Mother ****, a name still visible on the bass drum during their performance. (BOMF had actually originated from the group Community Apple, whose previous lead singer Joey Dambra sang backing vocals on John's track 'No. 9 Dream'. At John's suggestion, BOMF will later change their name to Dog Soldier - the words from one of his songs.)

John returns at the very end of the Salute To Sir Lew show to take a bow with the rest of the cast, this time dressed in a more formal blue shirt and white trousers, plus, of course, his trademark cap and scarf. Joining him on the star-studded bill tonight is the host, the Irish comedian Dave Allen, plus singing stars Tom Jones and Julie Andrews, comic genius Peter Sellers and the Dougie Squires Second Generation dance group.

The show is watched by an equally star-studded audience, which includes from the world of American entertainment, George Segal, William Conrad, Shirley MacLaine, Kirk Douglas, Gene Kelly, Goldie Hawn and Lauren Bacall.

The 52-minute videotaped show is first transmitted in America on June 13, 1975, while the UK TV screening takes place one week later, across the ITV network on June 20 at different times throughout the evening.

Both US and UK versions of the show cut 'Stand By Me' from John's three-track live performance which will turn out to be John's last. (Incidentally, Sir Lew Grade died in London, aged 91, during the early hours of December 13,1998, following complications with a heart operation.)

http://lifeofthebeatles.blogspot.com/2009/03/april-18-1975-salute-to-sir-lew.html

TJ Thanks for the upload. Do you have a copy of the upgraded "Here and There" Elton John CD that came out in 1995?

TJ Thanks for the upload. Do you have a copy of the upgraded "Here and There" Elton John CD that came out in 1995?

I do and it's fantastic.
I don't think there's a better source for that historic live recording.

A great find! Thank you for sharing it.

TJ Thanks for the upload. Do you have a copy of the upgraded "Here and There" Elton John CD that came out in 1995?

I do and it's fantastic.
I don't think there's a better source for that historic live recording.

You got that right.
Also why did Elton see fit to include "Your Song" and "Take me to the Pilot" from both concerts?

http://www.discogs.com/Elton-John-Here- ... se/2096628

Last edited by Robt on Sat Mar 19, 2011 9:19 am, edited 2 times in total.

Woah!

Almost.

It's "woo."

TJ Thanks for the upload. Do you have a copy of the upgraded "Here and There" Elton John CD that came out in 1995?

No I don't have that.

TJ Thanks for the upload. Do you have a copy of the upgraded "Here and There" Elton John CD that came out in 1995?

I do and it's fantastic.
I don't think there's a better source for that historic live recording.

You got that right.
Also why did Elton see fit to include "Your Song" and "Take me to the Pilot" from both concerts?

http://www.discogs.com/Elton-John-Here- ... se/2096628

Why not?

It's 2 different concerts / versions.

I'd love to find out a listing of all of the songs on what was performed by EJ that night.

Also, is there any particular reason why Elton or Gus Dodgeon have opted not to release the concert in it's unabriged form commercially ? Similarly the "Face to Face" with EJ and Billy Joel- a 1998 Japan concert - is not available but at least there is a stunning superb sounding bootleg available as a download.

Great clip .thanks for uploading