Fan Report from Helen L.
Friday night our seats were in the middle of the Garden. We needed binoculars and the people we met up with (friends of my brother Dave's) weren't that into it. HOWEVER... Saturday night was one of the best nights in my life! I always said I'd die happy if I ever had front row to Elton. Well, we got 9th row from Rocket, but for the last hour or more, we stood at the foot of the stage. Dave, who is a cop and a volunteer firefighter in Jersey, knows everyone. One of the security guards at the stage is a friend of his from when he worked for the Rangers, back when he was a teen. He kept in touch with Chris and lo and behold, there he was last night. I asked him if I could take pictures and he said they let everyone, it's never a problem. I was really happy. I snuck the camera in on the bottom of a big pocketbook, with my binoculars over it. I knew I wouldn't need them for Saturday, but thought at least they'd cover the camera. No one even checked my bag on Saturday night. On Friday night, security looked in briefly but only saw the binoculars.
I knew it was going to be a good night on Saturday when we were walking to our seats and who is coming towards me but Guy. I said "Hi Guy" and offered him my hand. We shook hands and I said "It's really nice to meet you". He said "It's great to meet you, too". Then we both just stood there in awkward silence for a couple of seconds, smiled at each other and I said "OK, bye!" My brother asked me who he was and I told him. He told me I should have had him (Dave) take a picture of us (me & Guy) together, but it never crossed my mind. Then when Dave saw Chris (the guard), he offered to ask him to get us into VIP. Chris has worked the Garden for 18 years and is senior in security. I told Dave no, as I didn't want to stand around awkwardly, not having been invited by anybody in there. I didn't want to go in and gawk or make a pest of myself asking for pictures or autographs. Also, I wasn't sure if Elton's security would work with MSG security that way. Now that I look back on it, what was I thinking? I should have said yes. :)
The woman next to me was so into it. We had a great time sitting next to each other. She told me it was her 56th show! I wish I'd kept track of all the Elton shows I've been to over the years. I figure it's about 12 - 15. When Nigel took the stage, he screamed his name. My brother told her I was a Nigel fan, too. I told her about the site and told her to join the club. Dave was on my other side and on the isle, so we had a great view of the stage. By now, the set list has been available through reviews and it would take me forever to remember everything they played, but he did perform "Empty Garden". He said MSG is the only place he plays that song. The Peachtree set was so much better than I expected. Everything from Captain Fantastic just blew me away. The only thing I thought was different was that Nigel didn't play all the fills on "Curtains" as on the recording. Maybe I'm wrong - what does everyone else think?
When he got to, as he called it "the Jukebox" (his hits), everyone went nuts. A few songs into the hits, the guards at the front of the stage folded up their chairs & moved away for us to go to the stage. We spent over an hour standing there, leaning on the stage. We were right in front of Davey & John. John broke a stick and rolled it right to me. There was a little boy with his father (he told me he was 11) and Davey gave him a pick. John sang the last verse of "Crocodile Rock" standing a Bob's mic. It wasn't Suzie he had fun with, but I didn't catch the name he substituted. After he finished singing, we walked the length of the front of the stage and handed out 4 sticks he had in his back pocket. He gave the last one to Dave and it was one of Nigel's drumsticks. Dave offered it to me, but I told him to keep it and if he ever didn't want it, then I'd take it. He got so into the night, I thought he deserved it.
Nigel and I had major eye contact and smiles and laughs while I was standing at the stage. He really is a sweetie. He didn't give out any sticks and I was disappointed. I really wanted one directly from him. (Note to Nor, please tell him the short girl in front, on the end to his left and wearing a green shirt on the last night at MSG was someone from your fan club and that I said "hello".)
The guys all wore jeans that had Harlequin type faces or playing cards painted on them. From the distance, Davey's looked like he had a giant bleach stain on the leg of his pants! Nigel's design was on his left knee, and it almost looked like he had a giant hole in the knee of his pants, but I knew better. He's so GQ, he'd never wear ripped jeans! For the last encore ("Your Song"), the band changed into their street clothes, or what I refer to as their pajamas. Bob was in his shorts both nights and a Detroit t-shirt on Friday, Friday night Davey had jeans tucked into Ugg type boots. Guy had on a t-shirt and John changed into t-shirts both nights, too. Of course Nigel had on a dress shirt and jacket.
It's very interesting being so up close. You really see things that you would otherwise miss. John was fooling around and pointing to a couple who had corner seats one tier up for most of the night. I watched Nigel take hits from his oxygen and Chris poke him with a drum stick when he wanted to talk to him while he was playing. They did a lot of conversing during the show, which I thought was interesting. I think if someone was poking me with a stick while I was drumming, I tell them to knock it off, I'm at work! :)
Lastly, when Elton came out to sign autographs, he signed Dave's ticket and I had brought the picture I won from Lunch Around The World. I took it out of the frame, but left it in the mat. He signed his autograph right above his head on the white mat. (Note to Nannette - The picture is so wonderful even without the autograph, but now it's really special.)
We had gone to the Hard Rock on Saturday because we had 2 hours to kill once we got to the city. I didn't see anyone familiar from my other Elton adventures, but I bought a really cool shirt for myself and I got shirts for my kids that say "My first Hard Rock Cafe T-Shirt" with the logo. I'll think of my incredible evening every time we wear the shirts :)
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