Def Leppard News - 34 Years Ago DEF LEPPARD's JOE ELLIOTT w/ ELTON JOHN/George Michael/Rod Stewart

Thursday, 19th December 2019

34 Years Ago DEF LEPPARD's JOE ELLIOTT w/ ELTON JOHN/George Michael/Rod Stewart

Dublin 1984

Def Leppard singer Joe Elliott performed with Elton John, Rod Stewart and George Michael in London, England on this day in 1985.

Joe and the rest of Def Leppard had met Elton John for the first time in December 1983 when performing on the TV show 'Supersonic'.

Update

Many Elton sites and the bootleg info from this show were wrong and Joe actually appeared on 19th December 1985.

Elton was performing the last of nine consecutive nights at Wembley Arena in London, England on 19th December 1985.

Joe and the rest of Def Leppard were actually in Dublin on 14th December taking the photos seen in the inner sleeve of the 'Hysteria' album.

Rare Photo

View a rare photo of Joe on stage with Elton, Rod and George via Gettyimages.

The show was part of his 40 date long 'Ice On Fire' UK and Irish tour which lasted from 14th November 1985 until 11th January 1986. The full world tour ended on 15th October 1986 after 122 shows were played.

For the final night at Wembley Elton invited a number of special guests onstage for the final encore song which was a cover of 'Can I Get A Witness'.

The song saw Joe on stage for the first and only time alongside Rod Stewart, George Michael (then still with Wham!), Nik Kershaw and members of Spandau Ballet, who Def Leppard had gotten to know in Dublin when recording 'Hysteria'.

Joe would go on to appear at the same concert as both Elton and George in April 1992 for The Freddie Mercury Tribute show but did not sing on stage at the same time.

As explained below Joe had attended at least one of Elton's shows at the RDS in Dublin which he played for four nights from 14th to 17th of November 1985.

The photo of Joe and Elton (as their summer attire would suggest) was actually taken at the same venue but in June 1984.

Joe talked about the appearance in the 1987 'Animal Instinct' biography.

Listen to the full performance below including the intro music. Joe is introduced after the first 2 minutes.

The 14th December 1985 show was recorded by Elton fans and distributed as the bootleg called 'Lord Choc Ice Goes Mental'. The title is taken from the B-Side of 'I Guess That's Why They Call It The Blues'. Elton billed himself as Lord Choc Ice for the B-Side song called 'Choc Ice Goes Mental'.

Elton went on to record his next album 'Leather Jackets' at Wisseloord Studios in Holland from January to September 1986.

Joe Elliott/Elton John - Dublin Photo June 1984

This photo has been dated to the correct date of 16th June 1984 at the RDS Showgrounds in Dublin, Ireland on Elton's European Express tour.

Def Leppard - August 1987 'Animal Instinct' Biography Story

Joe Elliott celebrated Christmas, 1985 by joining Elton John on stage at Wembley Arena in London with a few other minor pop deities like Rod Stewart, George Michael of Wham!, Nik Kershaw and Gary Kemp and John Keeble of Spandau Ballet. Joe and the other Leppards had met Elton in a TV studio two years before, at which time Ol' Four Eyes told the band he loved the Pyromania album.

When he passed through Dublin on his '85 tour, Elton extended an invitation to Joe to come down to Wembley and take part in an encore singalong, Joe accepted, only to discover when he arrived for soundcheck that he didn't know the song Elton had picked for the grand finale, Marvin Gaye's 'Can I Get A Witness'.

He spent a couple of hours before the show sitting in a car in the backstage area, trying to learn the words from a tape of Elton's show the previous evening.

"He put this daft wig on for the encores and then we came out. It was nice that he introduced me first, because there was no real way I was going to follow Rod Stewart and George Michael. He said 'Please welcome Joe Elliott from Def Leppard' and I got a pretty good reception, although there was probably a lot of people wondering 'What the hell is he doing here?'"

At the end Joe and Rod Stewart took their bows together and headed backstage for a celebratory drink.

"Rod had this brilliant black-and-white checked suit on, and when he got up to get a drink, he lifted his arm up and the suit still had the price tag on it. No one else was around, so I reached up, pulled off the tag, threw it in the trash and said 'I won't say anything about it if you don't'."

Elton John - 14th December 1985 Quote

"We have some guests, some friends of ours...From Def Leppard we have Mr. Joe Elliott."

Dublin June 1984

Elton John Setlist - London, England 19th December 1985

00 - Highlander (Intro Music)
01 - Tonight
02 - One Horse Down
03 - Better Off Dead
04 - Rocket Man (I Think It's Going To Be A Long Long Time)
05 - Honky Cat
06 - Burn Down The Mission
07 - Someone Saved My Life Tonight
08 - The Bitch Is Back
09 - A Song For You
10 - Blue Eyes/I Guess That's Why They Call It The Blues
12 - Restless
13 - Passengers
14 - Bennie And The Jets
15 - Sad Songs (Say So Much)
16 - Shoot Down The Moon
17 - This Town
18 - Nikita
19 - I'm Still Standing
20 - Your Song
21 - Wrap Her Up (w/ George Michael)
22 - Candle In The Wind
23 - Can I Get A Witness - (w/ Joe Elliott/Rod Stewart/George Michael/Spandau Ballet/Nik Kershaw)