Elton John
Universal Amphitheatre
Los Angeles, CA
September 29, 1979
Mike Millard First-Generation Tapes via JEMS
The Lost and Found Mike the MICrophone Tapes Volume 153

Recording Gear: AKG 451E microphones (CK-1 cardioid capsules) > Nakamichi 550 cassette recorder

JEMS 2022 Transfer: Mike Millard First-Generation Cassette made for Jim Ri > Nakamichi RX-505 (azimuth adjustment) > Sound Devices USBPre 2 > Audacity 2.0 capture 2496 > iZotope RX8 > iZotope Ozone 8 > MBIT+ resample to 1644 > Audacity > TLH > FLAC


01 Your Song
02 Sixty Years On
03 Daniel
04 Skyline Pigeon
05 Take Me To The Pilot
06 Rocket Man (I Think It's Going To Be A Long, Long Time)
07 Don't Let The Sun Go Down On Me
08 Goodbye Yellow Brick Road
09 Roy Rogers
10 Candle In The Wind
11 Ego
12 Where To Now St. Peter
13 I Heard It Through The Grapevine > Singing In The Rain
14 Funeral For A Friend
15 Tonight
16 Better Off Dead
17 Island
18 I Think I'm Going To Kill Myself
19 I Feel Like A Bullet (In The Gun Of Robert Ford)
20 Scott Joplin Intro > Bennie And The Jets
21 Sorry Seems To Be The Hardest Word
22 Mama Can't Buy You Love
23 Part-Time Love
24 Crazy Wate
25 Song For Guy
26 Saturday Night 's Alright For Fighting >
27 Pinball Wizard
28 Whole Lotta Shakin' Goin' On >
29 I Saw Her Standing There >
30 Twist And Shout >
31 Crocodile Rock >
32 Back In The U.S.S.R.

Known Faults:
-Tonight: end cut

Introduction to the Lost and Found Mike the MICrophone Series

Welcome to JEMS’ Lost and Found Mike the MICrophone series presenting recordings made by legendary taper Mike Millard, AKA Mike The Mike, best known for his masters of Led Zeppelin done in and around Los Angeles circa 1975-77. For the complete details on how tapes in this series came to be lost and found again, as well as JEMS' long history with Mike Millard, please refer to the notes in Vol. One: http://www.dimeadozen.org/torrents-details.php?id=500680.

Until 2020, the Lost and Found series presented fresh transfers of previously unavailable first-generation copies made by Mike himself for friends like Stan Gutoski of JEMS, Jim R, Bill C. and Barry G. These sources were upgrades to circulating copies and in most instances marked the only time verified first generation Millard sources had been directly digitized in the torrent era.

That all changed with the discovery of many of Mike Millard’s original master tapes.

Yes, you read that correctly, Mike Millard’s master cassettes, long rumored to be destroyed or lost, have been found. Not all of them but many, and with them a much more complete picture has emerged of what Millard recorded between his first show in late 1973 and his last in early 1993.

The reason the rediscovery of his master tapes is such a revelation is that we’ve been told for decades they were gone. Internet myths suggest Millard destroyed his master tapes before taking his own life, an imprudent detail likely concocted based on the assumption that because his master tapes never surfaced and Mike’s mental state was troubled he would do something rash WITH HIS LIFE’S WORK. There’s also a version of the story where Mike’s family dumps the tapes after he dies. Why would they do that?

The truth is Mike’s masters remained in his bedroom for many years after his death in 1994. We know at least a few of Millard’s friends and acquaintances contacted his mother Lia inquiring about the tapes at the time to no avail. But in the early 2000s, longtime Millard friend Rob S was the one she knew and trusted enough to preserve Mike’s work.

The full back story on how Mike’s master tapes were saved can be found in the notes for Vol. 18 Pink Floyd, which was the first release in our series transferred from Millard’s original master tapes:

http://www.dimeadozen.org/torrents-details.php?id=667745&hit=1
http://www.dimeadozen.org/torrents-details.php?id=667750&hit=1

Elton John, Universal Amphitheatre, Los Angeles, CA, September 29, 1979

Back in the U.S.S.A. is what Elton John called his 1979 tour, which makes its Lost and Found Series debut courtesy of first-generation cassettes Mike "The Mike" Millard made for Jim Ri, becoming the fourth Elton recording to be released so far

With still more John masters to come, it's clear that Elton is up there in Millard's top ten favorite artists along with the likes of Led Zeppelin, the Rolling Stones, The Who, Peter Gabriel, Linda Ronstadt and Yes.

This was a special tour in that it featured Elton playing solo in the first part, which he had not done since the start of his career, then accompanied by percussionist and on-stage foil Ray Cooper for what was in effect a second set and encore. The solo format encouraged Elton to dive deeper into his catalog and the set features a generous 32 songs, including several unplayed on recent tours.

Interestingly, Elton had not played Los Angeles since he wrapped his 1975 West of the Rockies tour with two legendary nights at Dodger Stadium. Not to be outdone, Elton's 1979 return was a whopping ten-show stand at the Universal Amphitheatre, with this being show four. Mike also recorded the October 6 concert, closing night.

Jim R offers detailed memories of this show below and he took nice photos featured in the artwork. The taping location was prime and Mike pulls the fine, full show, albeit with scattered channel dropouts that were patched for this release. Given it was Elton in a relatively small venue in LA after a four-year wait, the crowd is exuberant to say the least, and more obtrusive than a typical Millard recording from this venue. Thankfully, SVP of Post Production mjk5510 used his digital toolkit to tame those audience interruptions and leave more of the music for your listening pleasure. Samples provided.

If you're a deep Elton fan, there is so much to like about this setlist and performance. We're thrilled we were able to expand our Millard archive to include this historic recording.

Here's what Jim R recalled about seeing Elton John at the Universal Amphitheatre in 1979:

Mike and I saw Elton John with Ray Cooper at the Universal Amphitheater on Sept 29, 1979, where we sat in the first row behind the Orchestra Pit. Section 1, Row AA, dead center, a great location from which to record. This was the fourth night of a ten-night stand at Universal.

We also attended the October 6 show, closing night of the residency, where we sat in the sixth row of the Orchestra Pit on the left side directly in front of Elton's piano bench, perfect seats. We are saving the final '79 recording for the future, so stay tuned Elton fans.

With Universal being near Hollywood, the LA ticket brokers controlled most of the choice seats for this one. Even with ten concerts, choice seats were expensive--we could only afford to go to two shows. Elton had loads of devoted fans, many of whom would go multiple times, so they scooped up a lot of the good tickets thus increasing ticket demand.

With Elton you have to pick and choose your seat location wisely. We learned this over the course of seeing him several times leading up to this tour. In those days, his piano was on the left side of the stage. If you got seats close up on the right, all you would see is the piano and his feet, maybe the top of his head if he stood up. Not good. But Mike and I played it right.

Elton John was playing with only percussionist Ray Cooper, instead of a full band, so we were thinking, "How is this going to work?" They pulled it off. Ray Cooper was quite the entertainer. He and Elton were playing off each other and it was funny at times. The songs had a different sound to them too but it worked.

The stripped-down approach allowed Elton's piano playing skills to be on full display. If memory serves, Ray Cooper did not appear until well into the set during "Funeral For A Friend."

It just so happens that only two nights before on 9/27, Elton collapsed on the Amphitheatre stage, memorialized by an item in Rolling Stone magazine's Random Notes column that included a photo showing an assistant pulling him off stage. A quick intermission was called, then ten minutes later Elton came back and finished the set. What a trooper, despite a bout with the stomach flu.

Despite going to two shows, I only shot a couple rolls of 36 slides total, keeping a low profile so Mike would not get busted.

I hope you enjoy the sights and sounds of this one.

Cheers to my buddy Mike. RIP.

###

JEMS is proud to partner with Rob, Jim R, Ed F, Barry G and many others to release Millard's historic recordings and to help set the record straight about the man himself.

We can’t thank Rob enough for reconnecting with Jim and putting his trust in our Millard reissue campaign. He kept Mike’s precious tapes under wraps for two decades, but once Rob learned of our methods and stewardship, he agreed to contribute the Millard DATs and cassettes to the program. Our releases would not be nearly as compelling without Jim’s memories, photos and other background contributions. As many of you have noted, the stories offer an entertaining complement to Mike’s incredible audio documents.

We are deeply thankful to Jim Ri for loaning us his copy of this show and helping expand the Millard archive. Professor Goody gave the show a pitch check, and the aforementioned mjk5510 did yeoman work prepping this for final release including the cover art. Cheers to them all.

Finally, cheers to the late, great Mike the MICrophone. His work never ceases to impress. May he rest in peace.

BK for JEMS

Images for all shows as well as full size images for this show.

Images for this show: