If you had asked me how old Elton John is today, I probably would have guessed 76 — maybe 74.
Try 84.
Except, he’s not. He’s 74. I had written this entire post before double-checking his age. I was misled by an email from Rolling Stone magazine:
That means he was 49 39 when my friends Rob, Colin and Paul saw him in concert on Aug. 17, 1986 at Pine Knob Music Theater. He was on his worldwide Ice on Fire* tour.
As I remember it, he was supposed to play something like seven shows at Pine Knob but came down with laryngitis and had to cancel most of them. We weren’t sure until the day of the show whether he was playing.
I can still see the two guys pacing back and forth in the aisle between the lawn seats and the pavillion section carrying a banner that read “The Bitch Is Back.” It wasn’t until later that I learned that’s one of Elton’s signature songs.
Good times.
*The phrase is in the lyrics to “Nikita.”
Mike McClary 