The Night John Lennon Lost a Bet and Elton John Made Him Sick: Resulting in Lennon's Final Stage Performance
- Daniel Holland
- Oct 8
- 7 min read
It’s strange how history sometimes hinges on the smallest of things, a casual joke, a friendly wager, a “sure, sure, sure I will.” That’s all it took for John Lennon to step back onto the stage for what would be the last live concert performance of his life. And fittingly, it wasn’t just any stage, it was Madison Square Garden in New York City, and the man sharing it with him was none other than Elton John.
On the night of 28 November 1974, Lennon appeared on stage before a roaring, glittering crowd, joining Elton for three unforgettable songs: Whatever Gets You Thru the Night, Lucy in the Sky with Diamonds, and I Saw Her Standing There. It was his first major live performance in years, and as it turned out, it would also be his last. The entire thing happened because of a bet over a single song.
The Bet That Changed Everything
In the summer of 1974, John Lennon was recording his track Whatever Gets You Thru the Night when Elton John dropped by the studio to lend some harmony and piano magic. Elton, ever the showman, loved the energy of the song and told Lennon he thought it could hit Number One in the charts. Lennon laughed it off.
“Elton was in town and I was doing it and needed the harmony,” Lennon later told the BBC, in an interview recorded just a few days before his death. “He did the harmony on that and a couple more, and played beautiful piano on it. And jokingly, he was telling me he was going to do this Madison Square Garden concert — he said, ‘Will you do it with me if the record’s Number One?’”
Lennon, never one to shy away from a bit of cheek, replied, “Sure, sure, sure I will.”
He later admitted, “And I did not expect it to get to Number One at all. I didn’t think it had a chance in hell.”
But fate, or perhaps karma with a wicked sense of humour, had other plans. When Whatever Gets You Thru the Night shot to the top of the charts, Lennon had to make good on his word. “‘OK, it’s time to pay your dues!’” Lennon recalled, laughing. “It was the first Number One I had, actually. ‘Imagine’ wasn’t Number One, ‘Instant Karma’ wasn’t Number One, which I all think are better records than ‘Whatever Gets You Thru The Night.’”
That single moment of success, propelled by a playful wager, led to one of rock history’s most legendary nights.
Lennon’s Return to the Stage
For Lennon, who hadn’t performed a full concert since The Beatles stopped touring in 1966, the stage had become almost alien territory. He’d grown comfortable working within the studio walls, sculpting songs and experimenting with sound, rather than performing for screaming fans.
So when he stepped out at Madison Square Garden, the stakes were high. There must have been nerves, maybe even a flash of doubt, but if so, you’d never know it. The surviving footage shows Lennon brimming with confidence, humour, and a raw connection to the crowd that felt both nostalgic and electric.
The two friends launched into Whatever Gets You Thru the Night before diving into Lucy in the Sky with Diamonds, which Elton had recorded as his own single earlier that year, with Lennon cheekily providing backing vocals under the pseudonym “Dr. Winston O’Boogie.” They closed with I Saw Her Standing There, a Beatles classic that Elton was performing on tour at the time.
For fans who’d grown up with Lennon’s voice, that performance was like seeing an old friend again, one they didn’t know they’d be saying goodbye to so soon.
A Friendship Born from Music and Mayhem
Despite what it looked like on stage, Elton John and John Lennon hadn’t known each other for very long. In fact, they’d only met the previous year, in 1973. But when they did, they hit it off instantly.
“We got on like a house on fire and we hung out for a couple of years,” Elton later remembered. “I found him very kind, very funny. I don’t know why we clicked, but we did and he clicked with my band and he clicked with the people around me. And we had so much fun.”
Still, Elton confessed that meeting a Beatle came with its own set of nerves. “I was quite intimidated by him, because I knew he was razor sharp and could be very abrasive. But that side never came out with me, only the kind side and the funny side.”
Their friendship became one of mutual admiration and genuine affection. Lennon, for all his wit and reputation for being cuttingly direct, seemed to let his guard down with Elton.
In later years, Elton recalled the first time he met Lennon in person: “When I met your dad I was a little bit, obviously, I was in awe, I was in awe of any of The Beatles and they all treated me so brilliantly,” he told Lennon’s son, Sean, during an interview. “But your dad had that edge that none of the other Beatles had, kind of because he wasn’t afraid to say what he saw. And I met him on a video shoot for Mind Games with my friend Tony King playing the queen.”
Elton remembered the moment vividly: “I was wearing a bright green Saint Laurent satin suit and I thought, ‘In for a penny, in for a pound.’ And your dad was as kind and as generous and sweet and we just hit it off immediately. He was so funny. That’s what I loved about him. And we talked about music, we talked about records we loved.”
That chemistry, that mixture of playfulness and sincerity, was what made their on-stage chemistry so undeniable.
“Cocaine, a helluva drug…”
Of course, not all of Lennon and Elton’s shared memories were about music. Like many rock stars of the 1970s, they occasionally indulged in some wild escapades — and one of them involved a mountain of cocaine and a very persistent Andy Warhol.
Elton recalled one particularly bizarre night at the Sherry-Netherland Hotel:
“I can remember being stoned out of our mind on coke at the Sherry-Netherland hotel,” said Elton. “And at two in the morning, there would be a knock on the door… It took me five minutes to get to the door because I was so paranoid, but it was Andy fucking Warhol.
Caught completely off guard, Elton panicked and turned to Lennon for guidance. “I said, ‘It’s Andy Warhol.’ John began to shake his head frantically and made the gesture of cutting his neck. And [Lennon] said, ‘Don’t fucking let him in! He’ll have a fucking camera and everything!’”
Warhol, of course, was rarely without his Polaroid camera — he was known for snapping photos of everyone and everything. And there they were: Elton John and John Lennon, holed up in a hotel room surrounded by cocaine, desperately hoping the world’s most famous pop artist would just go away.
“So, between whispers,” Elton continued, “we both looked at the mountain of cocaine. We slowly backed up to get back to what we had in hand, trying to ignore that the most famous pop artist on the planet was pounding the door without stopping.”
It’s a scene straight out of a rock ‘n’ roll comedy, absurd, hilarious, and just a little sad when viewed through the haze of hindsight. But it also captures the era perfectly: two musical giants at the height of fame, trapped between brilliance and chaos.
Lennon’s Final Bow
That night at Madison Square Garden was more than just a one-off gig. For Lennon, it was a symbolic moment, a rare public reappearance that came during a turbulent period in his personal life. He and Yoko Ono had separated at the time, and it was rumoured that she attended the concert from the audience. Some fans even believe that the show helped spark their reconciliation not long after.
Whatever the truth, that concert became an emotional high point for everyone who witnessed it. Lennon’s voice rang out across the Garden, playful yet powerful, his old charisma intact. The chemistry between him and Elton was easy, joyful, and genuine, a reminder of how music can reconnect even the most distant of souls.
It would be the last time Lennon ever performed on a major stage. Six years later, he was gone, taken from the world far too soon. But the footage of that night still radiates warmth, humour, and that unmistakable Lennon charm.
For Elton John, the memories endure. Over the years, he’s spoken fondly of Lennon as both a friend and a musical hero, someone who changed the landscape of popular music and left an indelible mark on everyone he met.
“He was so funny,” Elton once said. “That’s what I loved about him.”
Legacy of a Wager
When you strip it all back, this story isn’t just about a concert, or even a friendship. It’s about how music, fate, and a simple bet collided to create one of the most iconic moments in rock history.
Lennon didn’t expect Whatever Gets You Thru the Night to be a hit. He didn’t expect to find a kindred spirit in Elton John. And he certainly didn’t expect that a bit of friendly banter would end up coaxing him onto the stage for the final time.
Yet there he was, playful, brilliant, alive, giving the world one last glimpse of his magic.
Sometimes history doesn’t come wrapped in grand gestures or careful planning. Sometimes it’s just a dare between friends, a Number One song, and a night that no one would ever forget.
Sources:
BBC Radio Archives, John Lennon interview, 1980.
Elton John: Me (Pan Macmillan, 2019).
Rolling Stone Magazine, “John Lennon and Elton John: The Night They Made History,” 2020.
NME Archives, 1974 coverage of Madison Square Garden concert.
The Guardian, “Elton John on Lennon: ‘We got on like a house on fire,’” 2020.
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