Elton John was honored at the iHeartRadio Awards at the Dolby Theatre in Los Angeles on Thursday night (May 27), with an Icon Award, as well as a medley tribute performance from H.E.R., Brandi Carlile and Demi Lovato.
John was introduced first by host Usher as “one of the greatest artists of all time,” and then by Chris Martin of Coldplay — who jokingly pretended to read a teleprompter full of factual inaccuracies, calling him one of the greatest guitar players of all-time and shouting out his classic hits “Uptown Girl” and “I Just Called to Say I Love You.” Finally, after a video career montage, Lil Nas X saluted him as a trailblazer and thanked him on behalf of all the people he inspired.
Then, the tribute performance began, with H.E.R. at the piano banging out Elton’s “Bennie and the Jets” — also singing the Goodbye Yellow Brick Road smash, and later whipping out the guitar for a ripping guitar solo. Then Carlile walked out to center stage in a very ’70s blazer and gold buttoned-down shirt to perform his mega-ballad “Don’t Let the Sun Go Down on Me.” Finally, Demi Lovato took the stage in John’s trademark square glasses to perform his ’80s classic “I’m Still Standing” — even handing the mic to Sir Elton for him to fill in on one lyric.
After the medley and a time-filling return from Chris Martin, John accepted his Icon Award — raving about how radio is “where you hear things… where you discover things” and talking about the importance of promoting new artists on his own radio show. He also gave a special thanks to Lil Nas X, calling him “a wonderful artist [with] balls of steel.”
