Elton John Talks Performing With Rolling Stones in Fort Collins

Fort Collins is the location of one of the most talked about stories in Elton John's new autobiography, which is being released today (Oct. 15).

In 1975, The Rolling Stones were in Fort Collins for a big show at Colorado State University's (now demolished) Hughes Stadium. Elton John happened to be hanging out in Fort Collins when the Stones asked him to join them on stage for a song. According to an excerpt from his autobiography, "Me," that's when things got crazy.

"Cocaine gave me too much confidence for my own good. If I hadn’t been coked out of my head when the Rolling Stones turned up in Colorado and asked me to come onstage with them, I might have just performed 'Honky Tonk Women,' waved to the crowd and made my exit. Instead, I decided it was going so well, I’d stay on and jam along to the rest of their set, without first taking the precaution of asking the Stones if they wanted an auxiliary keyboard player. For a while, I thought Keith Richards kept staring at me because he was awestruck by the brilliance of my improvised contributions to their oeuvre. After a few songs, it finally penetrated my brain that the expression on his face wasn’t really suggestive of profound musical appreciation. I quickly scuttled off, noting as I went that Keith was still staring at me in a manner that suggested we’d be discussing this later, and decided it might be best if I didn’t hang around for the after-show party."

See the video (below) from right before the group took the stage at Hughes Stadium with a "toned down" Elton John.