It was certainly a fitting retrospective of an amazingly successful career. The concert began with “Benie and the Jets” and ended to no one’s surprise with “Goodbye Yellow Brick Road.” In between, he treated the crowd with tunes we’ve all come to love, including two songs from my personal favorite album Madman Across the Water: “Tiny Dancer” and “Levon.”
Elton’s music has become so ingrained into our culture that he didn’t even have to ask the crowd to sing the la la la la la part on “Crocodile Rock.” The band just stopped playing and the audience took it from there.
The Englishman took a few opportunities between songs to speak about how much he appreciated how welcoming America had always been to him and noted that it was fans in the U.S. who helped to launch his career. He recalled how thrilled he and his lyricist Bernie Taulpin had been when the song writers learned that Aretha Franklin, the Queen of Soul, as going to record one of their compositions. Then he played “Holy Moses.” Later he spoke of how fulfilling it was to have a current hit on the charts, a collaboration with pop star Duo Lipa. He sang along with the video of “Cold Heart,” which borrows lyrics from his classic hit “Rocket Man,” and followed that with first hit from the early 70s “Your Song.”
As amazing as is his longevity in the music business is the fact that several of the musicians he has been touring and recording with for decades are still with him and are performing at their peak. The long-timers include Nigel Olsson on drums, Davey Johnstone on guitar, and percussionist Ray Cooper.
The only minor complaint I had about the show was that sometimes the video screen images of colorful dancers distracted from the music, other times it complimented the tunes. I like to see close-ups of the band.
He seamlessly worked three costume changes into short pauses in the show that had no intermission to interrupt the flow. Most of the time the Yamaha grand piano stayed on the left side of the stage facing the band, but it occasionally traveled across the stage as Elton played. Ever the showman, he stood and welcomed the audience applause after just about every song.
While Elton has played in thousands of venues throughout the world he could still recall his first time performing in Greensboro, N.C. five decades ago. It was memorable because someone reportedly threw a hash pipe from the audience, striking him in the temple and causing a bloody wound. After a short break for medical attention he came back to finish the show.
And as the song says, he’s still standing.