Review: Your Song Finds The Heart Inside Elton John’s Greatest Hits

★★★★½

Elton John is one of those artists almost everyone has a story about. Maybe it’s a wedding song. Maybe it’s a funeral song. Maybe it’s something your parents played to death in the car, or a track that still punches you in the chest because of who it reminds you of.

Very few artists have a catalogue that reaches across quite so many generations, or so many life moments. In that context, Your Song sees The Little Red Company building a show around that depth of emotional attachment as an instinctively smart and assured choice. That said, Elton is not exactly easy territory.

At this point, it is no secret that Little Red Co is one of my favourite independent companies in Brisbane, if not the country. I will back them into battle most days of the week, but even for them, taking on Elton John feels ambitious. Between his songs being huge and his voice being unmistakable, his stage presence is also so locked onto pop culture that trying to replicate it would be a fool’s game.

Thankfully, Your Song doesn’t fall into that trap. It’s not interested in doing a Vegas-style Elton impersonation night. It’s a lot smarter than that. Instead, it leans into the heart of what Elton’s music has meant to people.

Every day Australians were invited to submit stories about how his songs have shaped their lives, and those stories are woven throughout the performance. It gives the show a real emotional anchor. Without that, this could have just been a very good concert.

With it, the whole thing becomes something warmer and far more personal. It’s still absolutely a concert, and a bloody good one. But it also becomes a reminder that songs do not just belong to the artist once they are out in the world. They belong to the people who have lived alongside them.

And my god, what a cast to trust with that job.

Luke Kennedy is one of those performers who just instantly settles you. The second you know he is in the lineup, you stop worrying about the vocals. From The Ten Tenors to The Voice Australia to what feels like half of Little Red’s greatest hits, he has long since proven he can handle just about anything thrown at him.

Here, he is in seriously fine form. His rendition of Daniel is underpinned by the story of an eight-year-old boy and his family trying to find the right name for his new baby brother. And it is without a doubt one of the night’s most affecting moments. Kennedy is controlled, clear and emotionally switched on.

His Tiny Dancer is also a standout. And honestly, if you are going to hand one of Elton’s biggest songs to anyone, Kennedy is not a bad place to start.

Jason Arrow, the people’s Alexander Hamilton, also absolutely nails his place in this show. He has charisma to burn and the kind of easy confidence on stage that makes him impossible not to watch. His performance of I Guess That’s Why They Call It the Blues had the audience dead quiet. And not in the awkward “are we meant to clap here?” kind of way. In the locked-in, completely with him kind of way. Even for someone like me who did not exactly grow up in Elton’s era, it landed hard.

Just to make sure nobody had recovered, Arrow and Kennedy then team up for Rocket Man, which is every bit the powerhouse moment you hope it would be.

And then there is John O’Hara, because apparently the cast wasn’t already stacked enough! Simply put, there is nothing this guy can’t do. His vocals are always effortless, his timing immaculate. And he knows exactly when to lean into the humour and when to just let a moment sink in a minute.

Regardless of the artist, Crocodile Rock was always going to be a fan favourite, but O’Hara’s slightly chaotic rendition is certainly an instant crowd pleaser. However, it is his lead-in to Goodbye Yellow Brick Road that really got me.

Telling the story of a young boy realising he was gay, dressing as The Little Mermaid while the other boys turned up as more “acceptable” heroes, only to then have that part of himself dulled down through his teenage years at a private Catholic school, gives the song a completely different weight. I already loved the song. But after that, it hit in a way I was not expecting.

Rounding out the cast is Little Red regular Irena Lysiuk, and thank God for that. I have said it before, and I will happily say it again; she is one of the most consistently powerful female voices on a Brisbane stage.

What makes her so watchable, though, isn’t just her voice. It’s her warmth. The openness. The sense that she means every word she sings. Her Sorry Seems to Be the Hardest Word is a genuine tearjerker, and one of those moments where you could feel the whole room collectively soften. She brings so much heart to this show, and if there is ever a Little Red production without Irena in it… Oh, who am I kidding, I’ll still see it – but with protest!

Backing them is a cracking band made up of Mik Easterman on drums, OJ Newcomb on bass, Damian Sim on keys and Stephen Ward on guitar. There is no point pretending a show like this works without a band that can really drive it, and this lot absolutely do. Elton’s music needs weight, lift and groove, and they give it exactly that. Nothing feels thin. Nothing feels underdone. The whole night sounds full and alive.

The setlist doesn’t exactly mess around either. It rolls out favourites like Candle in the Wind, Benny and the Jets, Saturday Night’s Alright for Fighting and I’m Still Standing. There’s something pretty special about hearing songs that iconic land in a room like this, especially when the crowd already has such a strong connection to them.

Candle in the Wind in particular carries a certain weight for obvious reasons. Given Elton never performed that reworked version again after Princess Diana’s funeral, there is always going to be something a little heavier sitting over it. Sure enough, it lands with exactly the kind of quiet respect you would hope for.

For me personally, this was also a pretty special night for another reason. It’s not often these days I get to take my parents along when I’m reviewing something, and that made this one hit a little differently.

Given Elton John was such a part of their world, and the fact they saw him live at Brisbane’s Festival Hall back in 1984, there was really no universe where I was going to this one without them. That personal link probably made the night resonate even more for me. And if anything, that just proves the show’s point. Everybody in that room had brought their own Elton history in with them.

This show gets that. It understands that this music is not just iconic because of the charts or the costumes or the sheer force of Elton John as a performer. It’s iconic because people have attached their lives to it.

Your Song is funny, full of heart and stacked with knockout vocals, but its greatest strength is knowing exactly what his music means to people. 

Your Song is presented by The Little Red Company and runs to 29 March at the Brisbane Powerhouse. 119 Lamington Street New Farm Qld 4005.

See full 2026 tour dates below.

Tickets: https://brisbanepowerhouse.org/events/your-song/

Website: https://www.thelittleredcompany.com/your-song

Socials: Socials: https://www.instagram.com/thelittleredco/

Photo credits: Joel Devereux

2026 Australian Tour Dates:

Brisbane 25 – 29 March, Brisbane Powerhouse

Sydney 6 – 10 May, Sydney Opera House

Brisbane 2 July, Redland Performing Arts Centre

Toowoomba 8 July, Empire Theatre

Maryborough 15 July, Brolga Theatre

Gladstone 25 July, Entertainment Centre

Proserpine 30 July, Entertainment Centre