Elton John 1977 ‘Live From the Rainbow Theatre with Ray Cooper’ Due

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A concert album of Elton John’s 1977 residency with Ray Cooper at London’s Rainbow Theatre is returning to vinyl and getting its first edition on CD. The title, Live from the Rainbow Theatre with Ray Cooper, will be released on July 25, 2025, via UMe, following a limited vinyl run for this year’s Record Store Day. The CD and digital editions include a brand-new bonus track, “Goodbye,” plus the original twelve-song track list, personally curated by Elton John, and additional liner notes. It’s available for pre-order in the U.S. here and will be available in the U.K. here.

From the June 12 announcement: In May 1977, Elton John took the stage at London’s iconic Rainbow Theatre with percussion legend Ray Cooper for a six-show residency. These performances were the first of 233 Elton-and-Ray only shows that would follow, and featured the live debut of deep cuts “Roy Rogers,” “Cage The Songbird,” “Idol,” and “I Feel Like a Bullet (In the Gun of Robert Ford).”

May 1977 was the first time in five years that a full month had passed without an Elton LP or single appearing on the U.K. charts. It had also been eight months since his last performance, after averaging one show every four days throughout the previous seven years. Ticket holders expecting to see a typical Elton concert were in for a big surprise. The first half of the set would be Elton alone at the piano, the second half would see him accompanied by Ray Cooper, the two performers working together telepathically, harking back to the earliest days of Elton’s rise to superstardom. The stripped-back performances have since been regarded as some of the finest of his career.

The material selected represents a generous sampler of Elton’s career to date, yet without the big hits that were part of his regular set, offering a glimpse of what he would have been playing had he been a cult artist, not the global superstar he had become.

Elton John at the Rainbow Theatre (Photo: Watal Asanuma; used with permission)

Speaking on the album, Elton John says: “It’s an album I’m incredibly proud of, and listening back to it, I’m astounded by how great it sounds. The freedom I felt playing with just the two of us is something I will always remember.”

The pair were born just months apart: Elton on March 25, 1947; Cooper on September 19, 1947.

The release comes in the wake of Elton’s chart-topping album with close friend and eleven-time GRAMMY-winning US superstar Brandi Carlile, Who Believes In Angels? A true collaboration between Elton, Brandi, Bernie Taupin, and multiple GRAMMY Award-winning producer and songwriter Andrew Watt, the ten-track LP became the star’s tenth U.K. number one album.

Elton John – Live from the Rainbow Theatre with Ray Cooper Track List
The Greatest Discovery
Border Song
Cage The Songbird
Where To Now St. Peter?
Ticking
Better Off Dead w/Ray Cooper
Sweet Painted Lady
Tonight w/Ray Cooper
Idol w/Ray Cooper
I Feel Like A Bullet (In The Gun Of Robert Ford) w/Ray Cooper
Roy Rogers
Dan Dare (Pilot Of The Future)
Goodbye*

*Bonus track available on digital and CD release only