Elton John wowed Vicarage Road for two nights last year as part of his Farewell Yellow Brick Road tour, but the music legend has also played smaller gigs in Watford during his illustrious career – and one such occasion happened 47 years ago this week.

The former Watford FC chairman kicked off the hectic Louder Than Concorde Tour in Leeds at the end of April 1976 and it was to culminate with seven shows at Madison Square Garden in New York three-and-a-half months later.

The tour was still in its relative infancy though, when Elton performed for three nights at Earls Court in London before making the short journey to Watford for a show at Baileys nightclub on May 14, 1976.

A Watford Observer photographer was at the concert and these pictures from our archive show the musician in full showman mode, jumping on his piano, leaping across the stage - and bring presented with a gift.

We hope you enjoy looking through these images that have not been published for many years. You may be able to spot yourself if you were lucky enough to be in the audience that night.

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