Last night I watched Elton John’s Glastonbury set with a big grin and moist eyes. It was absolutely monumental. Yes he is getting on a bit, and everybody moaning about his voice is missing the point. He knows very well that he does not have the range that he used to have, hence the adjustments to the tunes. He is a lot more self-aware than the armchair critics give him credit for. (Contrast with Axl Rose the night before!) His piano playing has not diminished at all though.

Apart from all that, he has such a back catalogue of songs to choose from that he was able to put together a 2-hour set that was almost entirely made up of earworms – with the exception of the Stephen Sanchez Song which was so forgettable I had to look it up. It was interesting how he chose to open with one of his rare cover versions, given how many classics he has written himself, but then he is the Pinball Wizard! I think that Paul McCartney and Stevie Wonder are the only people who could compete for size and quality of catalogue.

The scary thing is that you could put together another 2-hour set from songs he missed out. You could even get a decent 2 hours just from 1970s songs that he missed out.

To prove the point, here are another 2 hours’ worth of the songs he didn’t play. Some are favourite album tracks, but quite a few were massive hits.

• Bite Your Lip (Get up and dance) -every bit as funky as Philadelphia Freedom
• Chameleon
• Crazy Water
• Ego
• Funeral for a friend/Love lies bleeding
• Grey Seal
• Harmony
• Honky Cat
• I Don’t Wanna Go On With You Like That
• Island Girl
• I Want Love
• Levon
• Lucy In The Sky With Diamonds
• Nikita
• Part Time Love
• Postcards from Richard Nixon
• Song for Guy
• Sorry Seems To Be The Hardest Word
• This Train Don’t Stop There Anymore
• Tonight
• We All Fall In Love Sometimes
• Wonderful Crazy Night
• Writing

At the end of it all he did exactly what you are supposed to do in entertainment – he left everybody wanting more, which is not something you could say about, for example, Guns N Roses.