It took a village to salute Elton John at Thursday’s iHeartRadio Music Awards, as H.E.R., Brandi Carlile and Demi Lovato came on stage sequentially to sing to Sir with love, with testimonials before and after the medley from Lil Nas X and Coldplay’s Chris Martin.
Lovato, singing “I’m Still Standing,” was the only one of the three medley performers to rock a pair of Elton-esque sunglasses, although the not previously so blonde Carlile was sporting a new look of her own as she belted a condensed “Don’t Let the Sun Go Down on Me.” H.E.R. kicked off the salute by playing both piano and inevitably guitar on “Bennie and the Jets,” as John and David Furnish looked on and sang along from the stage set’s signature banquette.
Martin set the salute into motion with a comedic introduction full of groaners. “I got into a very difficult fistfight with the guy who runs the teleprompter,” said the Coldplay frontman, mock-conceding that “I don’t know anything about Elton John” and would be relying on the largess of the man running the scroll. There followed such punchlines as: “Elton John was born in the U.S., and he and his collaborator, Bernie Sanders, worked and lived together in an apartment that his parter David furnished.