Louder Than Concorde Tour

The Louder Than Concorde Tour was a concert tour by English musician and composer Elton John, in support of his 10th studio album Rock of the Westies. the tour included two legs (United Kingdom and North America) and a total of 62 shows.

Tour
John and his band recorded the Blue Moves album (and No. 1 hit single "Don't Go Breaking My Heart") in Toronto in March 1976, and began touring the UK on 29 April in Leeds. This leg of the tour, which included a midnight show in Glasgow, ended on 4 June in Cardiff. On 29 June 1976 in Landover, Maryland, the eastern half of the US got the newly named "Louder Than Concorde (But Not Quite As Pretty)" tour, a testament to the onslaught John and his ferocious band were delivering to a country in the midst of its Bicentennial celebration.

On 4 July 1976, John played Schaefer Stadium near Boston. Billie Jean King sang backing vocals and John slipped "Holiday Inn" in to the 20-song set list, a unique event on this tour. Part-way through this leg of the tour, Ray Cooper fell ill and was forced to miss roughly a dozen shows. Ever the punsmith, John declared that the missing percussionist was "Ray Cooper-ating from surgery."

The tour concluded in mid-August with a record-breaking seven sold-out nights at Madison Square Garden. For these shows, John and the band shared the stage with the New York Community Choir and performed encores with Kiki Dee, Alice Cooper and Divine. As this week was winding down, John notified the band that he was taking a break from touring and the group soon disbanded.

Set list
Encore:
 * 1) Grow Some Funk of Your Own
 * 2) Goodbye Yellow Brick Road
 * 3) Island Girl
 * 4) Rocket Man
 * 5) Hercules
 * 6) Bennie and the Jets
 * 7) Funeral for a Friend/Love Lies Bleeding
 * 8) Love Song (Lesley Duncan cover)
 * 9) Lucy in the Sky with Diamonds (The Beatles cover)
 * 10) Don't Let the Sun Go Down on Me
 * 11) Empty Sky
 * 12) Someone Saved My Life Tonight
 * 13) Don't Go Breaking My Heart
 * 14) I've Got the Music in Me (Kiki Dee cover)
 * 15) Philadelphia Freedom
 * 16) We All Fall in Love Sometimes
 * 17) Curtains
 * 18) Tell Me When the Whistle Blows
 * 1) Saturday Night's Alright for Fighting
 * 2) Your Song
 * 3) Pinball Wizard (The Who cover)

Personnel

 * Elton John – lead vocals, piano
 * Davey Johnstone – lead guitar, acoustic guitar, backing vocals
 * Caleb Quaye – rhythm guitar, backing vocals
 * Kenny Passarelli – bass guitar, backing vocals
 * Roger Pope – drums
 * James Newton Howard – keyboards, electric piano, synthesizer
 * Ray Cooper – percussion
 * Cindy Bullens – backing vocals
 * Jon Joyce – backing vocals
 * Ken Gold – backing vocals