Fan Report from Sharon
Prior to September 10th, the last time I saw EJ was in 1975. I’m going every year from now on.
When I got the tickets this past April, it clearly stated “no bags, no cameras.” Talk about heart failure. On the Friday before the concert I decided to call the MCI Center to ask if anything had changed and indeed, word had apparently come down from Captain Fantastic himself (or so they said) that small cameras would be allowed. We were out like a shot buying a new one, and a binocular camera too. All this technology didn’t help because they were both so sensitive to movement I lost about 90% of the pictures I took. Everything was wavy and surreal. Thank goodness for the monitors at the show or I’d have nothing.
We only had a 2 block walk to the center from the restaurant where we had dinner. There were a lot of security, but the crowd was very calm. I was shocked that T-shirts were $35, so I opted for a program and a keychain.
Even for the extreme price, the seats weren’t what I hoped they’d be. I had to strain to my right the whole time to see the stage, but Clive was seated right in front of me.
Seeing Elton and the band finally take stage was breathtaking. Elton began by asking us to be patient. New songs weren’t easy to sit through but it would be alright and the older stuff would be coming. Thankfully he warned us as he launched into the whole Peachtree Road album.
Elton’s voice was clear and supple. He put his heart into every song.
Watching the guys motivated me to add more funky shirts to my wardrobe. I loved Nigel’s.
Of course, my attention (and camera) remained mostly on Nigel. Unfortunately from my seat, Nigel was behind a cymbal most of the time.
His drumming was absolutely spot-on the entire 2 hours and 45 minutes. When Elton was introducing the band, he had not gotten out “and on drums, an original member of the Elton John Trio…” when the entire crowd showered Nigel with a more thunderous and heart-felt hug than anyone else. I’d like to think that my own affection is what made the difference.
Davey’s introduction garnered a good deal of noise and he blew us a kiss.
I had no idea how many guitars he used over the course of the show. One was pink with diamonds. He was unbelievable.
The first song after the Peachtree Road stuff was Pinball Wizard. A sitting crowd now became a standing frenzied crowd, which it basically remained the rest of the show. A version of Rocket Man was one of the best I’ve ever heard. “Bitch is Back” was played toward the end of the show.
Bob’s bass was so strong my whole body vibrated. John M. had quite an array of gadgets, and he came up front during one song to sing for a minute. Guy was fantastic. The band was very tight.
Over 2 hours had passed and I forgot about encores. It was hard to imagine how they could pull more out of their collective hat. Elton changed before the encores and came back on in a track suit to play Crocodile Rock. I loved doing the la la la’s. Even though I’ve often heard him express his love to the U.S. for what it had done for him, it was sweet hearing him say it while I was there. He then dedicated Your Song to us and the show was over.
I’m thankful Elton didn’t take the route of certain singers who perform only old songs, or die of an overdose. I was overwhelmed with pride and respect for them. Perfect show.
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