A scene in the fantastical musical biopic “Rocketman” depicts Elton John’s debut concert at Los Angeles’ famed Troubadour club, wherein his opening performance of “Crocodile Rock” proves so mesmerizing and touched by ecstasy as to negate gravity and cause both the burgeoning pop star and all his concertgoers to literally float above the ground.
On Wednesday night at Vivint Smart Home Arena, in the show that kicked off the latest U.S. leg of his “Farewell Yellow Brick Road" retirement tour, the inclusion of “Crocodile Rock” — the sole difference in the setlist from his European tour stops — had the pedestrian-by-comparison effect of merely lifting a reverential if occasionally restless audience from seat to feet.