Watch Queens of the Stone Age Cover Elton John’s ‘Goodbye Yellow Brick Road’
Queens of the Stone Age had some surprises in store for fans when they returned to the stage for their encore set at the Forum on Feb. 17 — including a cover of Elton John's "Goodbye Yellow Brick Road."
For that number, along with several other encore performances, the band was joined by producer Mark Ronson, who helmed the Queens' 2017 Villains LP. "Goodbye Yellow Brick Road" marked the third number in the encore set, following "The Vampyre of Time and Memory" and "Broken Box" — the latter of which received its first concert airing in over a decade.
While the Forum show was the first time Queens of the Stone Age performed "Goodbye Yellow Brick Road," it isn't the band's first connection with Elton John. As fans will no doubt recall, John contributed piano and vocals to "Fairweather Friends," a cut on the 2013 QOTSA ...Like Clockwork LP, and although their collaboration started with John calling frontman Josh Homme to quip that the band needed an "actual queen," it clearly blossomed into something deeper.
"He called me on the phone and it took me a minute to work out if I was being punked or not," Homme admitted. "He came in and we tracked a rock song live together, which was a wonderful experience. That's what collaboration is all about, learning something from someone else and about someone else and maybe reminding them of something they enjoy too. To experience that with Elton was wonderful."
Queens of the Stone Age, The Forum, Inglewood, CA - 2/17/18
"If I Had a Tail"
"Monsters in the Parasol"
"My God Is the Sun"
"Feet Don’t Fail Me"
"The Way You Used to Do"
"You Can’t Quit Me Baby"
"No One Knows"
"The Evil Has Landed"
"I Sat by the Ocean"
"Burn the Witch"
"Domesticated Animals"
"Make It Wit Chu"
"Smooth Sailing"
"I Appear Missing"
"Villains of Circumstance"
"Little Sister"
"Go With the Flow"
"The Vampyre of Time and Memory" (with Mark Ronson)
"Broken Box" (with Mark Ronson)
"Goodbye Yellow Brick Road" (with Mark Ronson)
"Un-Reborn Again" (with Mark Ronson)
"A Song for the Dead"