(Credits: Raph Pour-Hashemi)
Sat 7 March 2026 1:00, UK
Elton John knew more than most that the music industry can be a dog-eat-dog world.
If you’re in it for the long haul, you’d better be willing to fight for every single thing that you are working towards when it comes time to go through the slog of touring through cities in the middle of nowhere, half the time you’re on the road. And while many people have tried their best to crack every single market that they ever could, John felt that some of the biggest names in the world weren’t pulling their weight like he thought they should.
Then again, it’s not like John couldn’t put his money where his mouth was, either. There were plenty of opportunities for him to pack things up and go home whenever he thought that things weren’t working out right, but he was willing to put his head down and soldier through even gigs where he thought that things were looking particularly dire. His shows in Australia are some of the greatest of his career, and yet he knew that he might never be able to sing again after that gig once he went in for vocal surgery.
That’s not something that anyone does without having some bravery behind them, but the first real hurdle for John was about breaking through in America. It’s often every musician’s dream to try and crack the US, but when John came out there during his first gig at the Troubadour club, he was thrown into the deep end without a net. There’s no telling what happens to someone like that, but he handled it like an absolute champ, even managing to impress his heroes like Leon Russell.
But the rock and roll world didn’t look the same as it did in the early 1970s when Oasis first started to play their overseas gigs. The timing was right for them to become one of the biggest bands in the world, but since they weren’t willing to kiss the ass of every single person they came across, a lot of their swagger seemed to get lost in translation when they started performing their first gigs.
And it only got worse when the band abruptly died for a few days when Noel Gallagher decided to walk out on the band. They were still willing to put in as much time as they could to make sure that they were giving the best first impression, but since a lot of their US tours involved them getting fed up and flying back home, John seemed a lot more frustrated with them than anything.
All he could see was a band that should have been massive, and all they were doing was blowing their chance at becoming legends, saying, “They (Oasis) never broke America. You only get (one chance), and, if you blow it, it’s gone. You can’t not regret that. I always thought, ‘You stupid sods. You’ll never get that opportunity again’.” Then again, it’s not like Oasis needed America to become superstars.
They were already becoming one of the most beloved bands across the world, and it would only be a matter of time before everyone else had caught on to what they were doing once ‘Wonderwall’ broke through and became one of the biggest tunes in the world. They still had a touch-and-go relationship with the other side of the Atlantic, but it seemed like their love affair with the US did pay off once they played their reunion tour.
Everyone that had been keeping the spirit of the band alive for all those years had only grown stronger over time, and when kids got to hear songs like ‘Rock and Roll Star’ and ‘Live Forever’ onstage for the first time, it was like all of those years being left in the dark had finally paid off. Liam had said numerous times that the band were told that they needed to play the game to be accepted, but no one needed to tell him what to do by the time that they reached iconic status.