It's time for an anniversary celebration. Not my wedding anniversary, which will be 13 years in November. Not my high school graduation anniversary, which was 21 years this past June. Not even the anniversary of my first personal computer, which was five years in July.
No, the anniversary I'm referring to is the 10th anniversary of my becoming an Elton John fan. On Saturday, September 30, 1989, I attended my very first Elton concert, at the Spectrum in Philadelphia. It was that concert that drew me in and pushed me over the edge. The gobs of Elton music I'd heard on the radio for years were only an introduction to Elton-dom, not the crucial initiation necessary for full devotion.
Those of you who love to be negative about Elton, or to show how "cultured" you are by denigrating his recent work, read no further. You will find no criticisms here, only praise! And this praise is not just heaped on the music Elton composed 25 years ago, but also on the music he composed five years ago. Two years ago. Heck, this year!
But let's start at the beginning. Sort of. I heard a lot of what I'd been missing since 1970 at that September 30, 1989 concert. I knew the big hits, sure, but Funeral For A Friend / Love Lies Bleeding? Nope. Harmony? Nope again. Candle In The Wind? I'd heard the live, 1986 version in early 1988. Thought it was a new song. Heh. Meanwhile, back at the show, I was pining for A Word In Spanish but Elton skipped that one. I was happy to hear Healing Hands, but puzzled at the lethargic response from the audience to this song, given the fact that it was nearing its number 13 peak on the charts about then. Never you mind, though. I immensely enjoyed Elton's performance of this song, anyway.
I'd only just gotten interested in Elton's music the year before. VH1 probably helped. I just loved seeing EJ in the fedora, steadfastly refusing to "go on with you like that." For the first time, I detected a certain snap and sizzle in his persona. I suspected there was more where that came from, which is why I was interested in seeing him live.
At the end of the concert, my husband implored security to assist him in peeling me of the ceiling. I'd been plastered up there by a torrent of melodicism and vivid, vigorous keyboard attacks. Once I was rescued, and I was busy picking bits of paint from my clothing and extricating slivers of steel girder from my newly-permed hair, I reflected on what had just happened to me.
It wasn't hard to figure out. And I realized (to my husband's great relief) that I hadn't actually been stuck on the ceiling. In reality, I'd been walloped by a wizard. Hypnotized by a hero. Energized by an Englishman. Moved by a man. Seared by a songsmith. And, especially, *thrilled* by the *real thing*.
I immediately -- well, the next day -- began a month-long quest for all of Elton's official albums. I bugged more than one perturbed music store clerk for all the Elton vinyl he/she could find for me. First, it was Goodbye Yellow Brick Road and Sleeping With The Past. Then, Tumbleweed Connection, Madman Across The Water and "Blue Moves. I was reluctant to buy the cassettes but, as vinyl was being phased out, I didn't have much choice. I initially heard Captain Fantastic, Breaking Hearts, Ice On Fire and 21 At 33 on tape.
And the music? I loved it all. Oh, I might have been disappointed by a song here or there, but I was generally struck by the perfection of Elton's melodies from both the 1970's and 1980's-- their shape, hue and durability. Listening to his songs was like admiring the facets and flashes of color of a fine jewel. Often, it was like taking in the Great Outdoors all at once!
There was no looking back. All those years of not listening to Elton, erased. They became years of listening to Elton, by reconstruction.
I was thrilled to finally be "with" the albums as they were released through the 1990's, and savor the fine elements I discerned in the new songs. I was just as thrilled to experience the tours as they happened. By the end of this year, decade, century and millennium, I will have seen Elton live 31 times. God willing, I'm looking forward to the next 31!
--Liz Rosenthal
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