Elton's cheeky smile!:-)
*~*~*
Taken from my post on the Elton John Newsgroup, (alt.fan.elton-john)June 13, 2000
*~*~*
Well, we recently got back from Elton's concert at
Burghley Park (near Stamford, Peterborough, Lincolnshire) and I
feel envigorated!
Before I give you a brief review of tonight's great show, though, I
just
noticed this heading on eltonjohn.com!
**
"Elton in Nice, Brenda gets a Rocket!
24 May 2000"
--
So, what's all that about? Why have they changed the heading of last
month's video diary, from "Elton gets a Nice little holiday"?
to what it says now!? hmmmmmmm? (what's Elton UP to!?;-)
Did Elton really say "Brenda",
on his last video
diary? More importantly ~ Who's Brenda? (Besides me, on his newsgroup,
and Elton's "old
friend" in Whitchurch Hill?) Why does Elton keep saying
the name!!?
As most of you know, he first said it on his Radio 99X interview, last month, saying "Blender" sounds too much like "Brenda" and then
on the Rocket
video, when there's a crashing sound and he says,
"Oh that's Brenda for you" and then proceeds to jokingly call
her a "noisy, nosey cow"! and THEN dedicates a song to a "Brenda" at
Woburn Abbey,
who, oddly enough, was like me ~ lived nearby but was too ill to go to
his concert that night! Then again at Highclere.
Coincidence?! (or is Elton making fun of me!?)
Hope he's just having fun with the fact that you guys are all annoyed with me and my "preaching"! (as he and his staff probably are too!;-)
Oh well, I'm sure the mystery will unfold soon.
*~*~*
Anyway, tonight's show was better than I expected. My daughter Katy and I arrived about 3:30 p.m. as I wanted to take a tour of the grand old Stately Home of Burghley. The tour was good, but the house was rather like a museum. I certainly wouldn't want to live there! (spooky!)
While a small group of us were being shown around the house (including one of Elton's staff) we heard a helicopter flying overhead and the tour guide just casually said, "That'll be Elton flying in" so a few of us looked out of the huge old windows to the grounds of the Stately Home, but couldn't see the helicopter land. I guess if was on the other side of the building. The tour guide said to the guy from Elton's staff, "Do you have to go now?" but he said not yet, so the guide said, "Well, let me know when you do." and we all carried on with the tour. (I couldn't see the guy's name clearly on his name tag, but it looked like Feraro or something)
Knowing Elton had arrived, I suddenly lost my interest in the antiques, art and history of the 16th Century mansion and wanted to go out and see if Elton was doing a warm-up before the show, since the concert area was open to see from the House, so I told the tour guide that I had to leave and she called down for someone to show me out, so I had a private guided tour of the rest of the house, as we were leaving.
Elton wasn't warming up though, and a security guy said he hadn't seen
him do any warm up, or sound check, but I think someone else did it for
him.
We then went into the concert area, which was all fenced in, up to the
old moat, around the house, and there was plenty of room to enjoy the
hot sun and all the various stalls selling different things, (Mostly
food and drink and some Elton John T shirts)
~There was even a fenced in area with a little group> playing live music,
where you could get champagne and Pimms with some
light snacks. Very classy! I haven't seen that since I used to go to
Celebrity Cricket in my old village of Penn Street, in Buckinghamshire!
My daughter and I layed down on the grass by the lake and enjoyed a
quiet time together, (with a few laughs) We were both in very good spirits.
After a short rest, we mingled with the others who were all relaxing on
the lawns in the grounds, and had some dinner from one of the stalls
selling food.
> The audience were very well dressed, and seemed quite sophisticated. (no riff-raff;-) and I was happy to see so many couples enjoying an evening out together. I wanted to speak to a lot of them, but I'm too shy to just go and chat to strangers. Pity, I'm sure we could have had some good conversations!
I even joked with my daughter that I should do what my friend Christine did, in Paris, once, go around and say I'm with some newspaper or magazine and interview people. If I'd had my steno pad, I would have gone to several people who looked interesting and say, "I'm with Elton John's newsgroup on the internet, and I'm doing a survey, and would like to ask you some questions". (oh well, next time maybe:-)
Anyway, 8:00 arrived and Katy and I took our seats (at the very back!) and Katy wondered what suit he would wear. I said I hoped he'd wear his purple one, but she said she hoped he'd wear white. I said I hope so too, otherwise we won't be able to see him! (I could hardly see the stage from where we were sitting and some people had to be moved because a tree was blocking their view)
Elton suddenly appeared on stage in white, as Katy had hoped, but I
could barely see him. (I'm not used to being so far away from Elton!)
Then, after a few songs I decided to sit on the grass area at the side,
as it was sunny there and closer to Elton.
I saw Bob Halley standing nearby with someone, and I wanted to go and
talk to him again, but I suddenly thought, "Oh no, he reads the
newsgroup, and I have a bad name, so I'd better not" He seemed to
recognise me, but I just looked away.
Oddly enough a steward then asked if I'd like to sit closer, and offered to exchange my tickets for better ones! So I changed my seats from the D section to the B section and then went to get Katy to join me.
The set list was as follows: (as far as I remember)
Your Song
The Greatest Discovery
Someone Saved My Life Tonight
Border Song
Daniel
Harmony
Honky Cat
Rocket Man
Tiny Dancer
Philadelphia Freedom
Empty Garden
Sacrifice,
Nikita,
Sorry Seems to be the Hardest Word,
I Guess that's Why They Call it the Blues,
Ticking,
Carla/Etude,
Tonight,
Burn Down The Mission,
The One,
Blue Eyes,
Crocodile Rock,
Don't Let the Sun Go Down on Me,
Circle of Life,
Bennie and the Jets,
Candle in the Wind
Every song Elton sang was fantastic and it was hard keeping still. It was my first Elton John concert since Dodger Stadium in 1975! Sure was weird hearing Elton sing, Harmony, again, but I didn't like the way he'd changed it. Didn't sound so gentle. (or personal) as when he first sang it to me, at his rehearsals, all those years ago.
Anyway, it's now nearly 3:00 a.m. here in England and I need to sleep now, but I will fill you in on the rest after a good night's sleep.
Just to say that we ended up near the stage for the last three songs, and my daughter said he pointed to us, before he played his last song, which Elton said might be his last that night, as he had stomach cramps all day and if he got up again he may not come back, so he did one last song, Bennie and the Jets and then jetted out of there fast! We watched his helicopter fly over us as we were leaving. (and what a traffic jam! it took people half an hour or more to get out of that place!)
Next time I hope to get even closer!
Brenda
Other Solo Concerts 2000
Hylands Park July 2000
Castle Ashby
Hyde Park
Paris, France April 2001
Bergerac, France July 2001
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