Elton John "Levon" - New York, NY September 14, 1986

Elton John - Levon
Live at Madison Square Garden in New York City, NY
September 14, 1986

It has been brought to my attention that my previous upload of a clip from this concert may not have accurately represented how truly bad Elton's vocal condition was at this concert. So here is a song that makes the condition of his voice a bit harder to ignore, that being the vocally challenging "Levon".

After receiving the vocal nodule diagnosis following his disastrous show in Philadelphia on 9/8/1986--Elton opened a four night stand at his favorite venue, Madison Square Garden, on 9/11/1986.

He had made a miraculous recovery vocally, and the first three nights had been some of his best successes of the entire American "Ice On Fire" tour so far from a vocal consistency standpoint. This consistency certainly gives credence to the theory that he was given steroid treatment to help him get thru the remainder of the tour and not further irritate the nodules, or cause any further disaster like the Philadelphia show on 9/8.

Given the lack of any signs of vocal ware and tare after the third show, he seemed poised to complete a successful run of shows with the fourth, and final show on 9/14/1986.

Elton didn't seem to warm up his voice in the old days, so he'd usually discover the state of his voice either at soundcheck, or when the concert began. On 9/14 Elton went out for his soundcheck and began playing the opening number, 'Tonight'. To put it delicately...something was amiss. Something was very, very amiss.

Having been through this myself, steroids can indeed help reduce the swelling/inflammation and irritation that vocal nodules cause and can help a singer get some of their abilities back in an emergency. But steroids don't last forever, and receiving daily injections is likely unhealthy.
Not to mention the nature of nodules, where even without treatment you can have the occasional "good day" which can be quite deceiving, only to wake up the next morning unable to sing, let alone speak, despite having been able to sing decently the night before.

Much to his horror, Elton's voice was shot beyond any hope of saving before the show was to begin shortly. And while 9/8/1986 was a true disaster, it was nothing compared to what he'd have to go through on 9/14/1986.

This show is tied with only one other tape across his entire career for the worst show he has ever given from a singing standpoint. He quite literally cannot sing a majority of the songs in the set, having to come up with ways to dodge high notes on the fly the entire time, and cracking, airing notes, and straining all over the place. Even a song as simple as "Your Song", which even on his worst day so far he could push thru somewhat, was enough of a struggle that he had to come up with alternate phrasing to sing to get through it.

It was bad. Elton had almost made it through four consecutive shows without issue, but on the final night nodules pulled their dirtiest trick--the unexpected total loss of voice, despite having been fine the night before.

Following this, he'd have one day of rest as usual, and would pick up the tour again in Atlanta, GA on 9/16/1986. If he could rest his voice enough between shows, then he had a chance of maybe recovering some of his ability enough to be able to make it through that night, so long as he didn't do anything vocally unhealthy on 9/15/1986. Would he be that smart? To answer your question, do a little search for Elton on Howard Stern in 1986, and you'll have your answer.

And so, here he is, trying to get through the vocally demanding "Levon" on the now infamous closing night of Elton's 1986 Madison Square Garden run. Enjoy!

Видео Elton John "Levon" - New York, NY September 14, 1986 канала BL's 2nd Channel of Music and Other Oddities