Review: Elton John Farewell Yellow Brick Road at Levi's Stadium

With COVID-19 finally over and Elton John nearing retirement, we decided to see his final concert in the San Francisco Bay Area in Levi's Stadium, Santa Clara.

Parking near Levi's required some creative effort. Every parking lot nearby was charging $60 just to park, and street parking was unavailable. However, we found an accessible location within 15 minutes of the stadium.

After getting close, we talked to one of the security guards, and she told Inna that her small purse was too large to allow in the stadium (so we returned to our car to drop it off).

We decided to eat dinner, but the nearby restaurant was only open to hotel guests. Thus, we ate a few items from the nearby food truck. I ordered a hot dog and a burger. They were edible but hardly delicious.

Elton John was one of the first rock musicians I heard growing up. In fact, I recall that "Your Song," "Goodbye Yellow Brick Road," and "Crocodile Rock" were some of the first songs I heard played on my dad's record player.

I have seen two other Elton shows - the  Elton John's Made in England Tour in Tacoma Dome, Washington, on 9/9/1995 and the Million Dollar Piano at the Colosseum in Las Vegas on 10/13/2011.

Made in England is still my favorite rock concert, but I also liked the Farewell Yellow Brick Road concert.

The concert started out (on time)  at 8:00 pm with "Bennie and the Jets." Elton was in fine form, and the band backing him played well. Despite the horrible acoustics at SAP Center, Elton did not sound too bad.

My favorite songs from the concert were "Rocket Man," "Candle in the Wind," "Funeral for a Friend," "Don't Let the Sun Go Down on Me," and, of course, "Goodbye Yellow Brick Road."

The special effects on the large screens in the basement were charming.

The following YouTube video has much better video quality:

Setlist

1. "Bennie and the Jets"
2. "All the Girls Love Alice"
3. "I Guess That's Why They Call It The Blues"
4. "Border Song" (Solo)
5. "Tiny Dancer"
6. "Philadelphia Freedom"
7. "Have Mercy on the Criminal"
   
8. "Rocket Man"
9. "Take Me to the Pilot"
10. "Someone Saved My Life Tonight"
11. "Levon"
12. "Candle in the Wind" (Solo)

Band Intro

13. "Funeral for a Friend/Love Lies Bleeding"
14. "Burn Down the Mission"
15. "Believe"
16. "Daniel"
17. "Sad Songs (Say So Much)"
18. "Don't Let the Sun Go Down on Me"
19. "The Bitch Is Back"
20. "I'm Still Standing"
21. "Crocodile Rock"
22. "Saturday Night's Alright for Fighting"

Encore

23. "Your Song"
24. "Goodbye Yellow Brick Road"