CULTURE: Elton John’s concert at a private estate raised $3 million to help overturn Prop. 8!

Elton John gave a private concert last night in Beverly Hills and it wasn’t for Rush Limbaugh! The music icon and new dad performed a 16-song concert at Ron Burkle’s estate which included Don’t Let the Sun Go Down on Me, Rocket Man, Bennie and the Jets and Levon and raised $3 million for the American Foundation for Equal Rights which is challenging Proposition 8 in federal court.

Among the celebrity guests were Adam Lambert, Jane Lynch, Matthew Morrison, Marisa Tomei, Rob Reiner, Jason Mraz, J.J. Abrams, David Geffen and Dustin Lance Black. David Boies and Theodore B. Olson, the famous lawyers who took on Proposition 8 in federal court, were also in attendance.”

The New York Times reports: The makeshift concert hall for Sir John was an elaborate tent, lined with curtains and backlit with soft lighting. There were about 500 assigned chairs, two video screens and a mini-camera perched on the right side of the keyboard, offering viewers high-definition proof that even at age 63, this is one versatile pianist. The screens were almost not necessary; there was no bad seats in this house.

“As a gay man, I think I have it all: I have a wonderful career, I have my health, I have a partner of 17 years, and I have a son,” he said. “But I don’t have the respect of the church or politicians who say I’m less worthy because I’m gay.”

Sir Elton was also remorseful in describing how he responded, as a younger gay man before he had gone public, to the outbreak of the AIDS epidemic, mixing criticism with the American government with personal remorse. “The American government was AWOL,” he said. “And I was AWOL.” He said the government’s response had been a disgrace. “And I was a disgrace as well.”