Elton John is celebrating the 50th anniversary of his eighth studio album Caribou with rare footage of his first live performance of the iconic hit “The B___h Is Back.”
The incredible video shows Elton on stage on May 5, 1974, in front of over 40,000 fans at Vicarage Road at his legendary Watford FC Benefit Concert in 1974, playing the song two months before its release on Caribou.
The track would be the album’s second single and would reach No.4 in the US and No.15 on the UK charts. Elton had recently been appointed as director of Watford Football Club and put on the benefit concert to give the club a financial boost—tickets started from £1, and it included guests such as Rod Stewart and Nazareth. The concert was not filmed for official release, making the video a rare gem.
The resurfacing of this special footage comes just before Record Store Day on April 20, which will see UMe release a special 50th Anniversary Edition of Caribou.
The reissue will be released as a 2LP set on 180-gram limited-edition sky blue vinyl. The package includes the original album, which features favorites “The B___h Is Back” and “Don’t Let The Sun Go Down On Me,” plus a newly compiled LP of bonus tracks, including the previously unreleased “Ducktail Jiver,” which is the only true out-take from the Caribou sessions of January, 1974.
Caribou’s lead single was a stone-cold classic. “Don’t Let The Sun Go Down On Me,” with a typically incisive Bernie Taupin lyric about an intense relationship, was further enhanced by the harmony vocals of Carl Wilson and Bruce Johnston of The Beach Boys, and Toni Tennille of the soon-to-be-huge Captain & Tennille.
As with several of his singles, the song’s UK performance belied the hallowed status the song has assumed, and it peaked at No.16. In America, the gold-selling single landed at No.2, behind only John Denver’s “Annie’s Song.”
Pre-order the 50th anniversary vinyl edition of Caribou.