Inside Elton John’s 31st Annual Oscar Viewing Party

After last year’s schedule change and a conflicting concert date kept Elton John from attending his own Oscars party, the Rocket Man touched down March 12 at West Hollywood Park along with David Furnish to hold court over the 31st annual Elton John AIDS Foundation Academy Awards Viewing Party, raising over $9 million for its global effort to eradicate the disease.

The only place more star-studded than the Dolby Theater at five o’clock that evening was the massive tented venue on San Vicente Boulevard that welcomed 1,000 guests throughout the course of the night’s festivities. From stars of stage and screen to titans of fashion and philanthropy, the incredible cast of characters on the guest list included Patricia Arquette, Christina Hendricks, Brooke Shields, John Waters, Donatella Versace, Kesha, Tiffany Haddish, Michael Imperioli, Tyga, Smokey Robinson, Heidi Klum, Liane and Richard Weintraub, August Getty, Christine Suppes, Brandon Maxwell, Christine Chiu, Zooey Deschanel, Kathy Hilton, Chris Colfer, and Hilary Duff.

No matter where it was positioned, every table in the vast dining room was A-list. Dallas-based philanthropists Emberli and David Pridham hosted T&C at their stage-front table along with past Academy Award nominee Jennifer Tilly, reality television O.G. Jill Zarin, fashion insider Cameron Silver, and socialite Tara Dollinger among their guests. At an adjacent table sat Shields and Klum (who wore a plume of yellow feathers), just beyond that were the evening’s hosts with Versace cozied up on John’s right, and to the far left of the room the entire cast of Netflix’s Queer Eye held court over their own stylish table—you couldn’t turn around without spotting a famous face even if you tried.

Special guests Eric McCormack and Michaela Jaé Rodriquez helped emcee the event during the awards telecast, encouraging the audience of supporters to empty their wallets and raise more than the previous year. And between over $273,000 in donations by text, proceeds from the live auction led by Lydia Fenet that included a replica of the rhinestone and sequin-embroidered Gucci robe that John wore during his last Dodger Stadium performance that fetched $100,000 and a Pierce Brosnan-signed Golden Eye pinball machine that brought $130,000, and ticket sales, the cajoling worked. To date—since its inception in 1992—The Elton John AIDS Foundation (EJAF) has raised nearly $535 million in support of the organization’s HIV and AIDS prevention and care programs around the world.

Following the seated dinner, awards ceremony, and auction activities, recording artist Rina Sawayama performed an incredible set that included a surprise duet of “Chosen Family” with John and, eventually, the evening culminated in a celebratory dance party and late-night nosh fest, complete with two In-N-Out trucks churning out burgers and fries for hungry revelers.