After about ten years (the Jump Up tour), I attended another Elton John concert. After that 1982 show (my second Elton concert), my wife declared the evening boring and too loud... and I concurred. As a result, we have not seen him since.
On Tuesday night (August 18th), a friend called: "We have an extra pair of tickets for Elton John, I know you're a big fan. Would you like to go?"
I couldn't resist. In spite of the venue (the "Ex" Grandstand), I was excited about seeing the man once more. Since the 1982 tour, Elton had recorded some of his best work (in my opinion). Too Low For Zero and Sleeping With The Past were as good as his earlier albums. The songs I'm Still Standing, One More Arrow, Sad Songs, In Neon, Nikita, A Word In Spanish, Mona Lisas And Mad Hatters (Part Two), Since God Invented Girls, Healing Hands, Sacrifice, The One and The Last Song are top rated numbers in my book.
So, we would go to another Elton John show.
The concert was sold out, 55,000 people according to the papers. Every seat in the "house" was $25. The "Ex" is the annual 2 1/2 week "Canadian National Exhibition" held in Toronto each year. The "Grandstand" shows are evening performances in the former football stadium / ballpark. The stage is set up at one end of the field, with seating on the ground, along both sides and at the far end. Behind the stage are the Midway roller coasters and ferris wheels.
Before the show, we made our mandatory stop for a programme and T-shirt. Barbara reported the prices in Cleveland, I've shown those in brackets after the prices asked in Toronto. Programme, this is the videotape I mentioned in an earlier message - $22 ($23). T-shirts (4 designs) - $30 ($18)... outrageous! I passed. Baseball cap - $20. Poster - $10 ($5). The video was reasonable, the rest of the items were way out of line.
The tickets said "No cameras or recording equipment", but there was only a cursory search of our bags. We didn't even have to open them.
Our seats were on the "floor". Folding chairs in row sixteen... of the third section of seats away from the stage. This put us approximately 100 rows back, at exactly the same level as the people in front of us.
The stage was too low to see the band from a sitting position. But there were video screens. Trouble was, they too were too low. I could watch the video screen from between the heads in front of me, but my wife was not so lucky.
You can guess how good the show was... we both enjoyed it, in spite of the appalling setup. I can only imagine how exciting the show would have been from a better vantage point.
Elton was in terrific voice, no sign of the cold Barbara mentioned. He appeared first in a tailored blue suit, with a yellow striped vest. After The Last Song he vanished briefly to change into a red jacket. For the encores he wore a mostly white outfit. No hats. Nice "moptop" new hair.
The entire show, except for The Show Must Go On, Elton played his Roland keyboard. No grand piano anywhere in sight. A shame. The small booklet that came with the video program lists two keyboard players, but I only noticed one setup from where I was. It was *very* hard to tell what was happening on stage.
Throughout the show, very little was said by Elton. What he said was mostly drowned out by the ambient noise or muffled by the sound system. When he sang, his voice was mostly clear and the words could be understood.
Here's what he played during the 25 song set...
Lots of smiling faces after the show finished, even in the mob scene trying to leave the stadium. An extremely satisfying evening!
I was glad to see songs like Daniel, Burn Down The Mission and All The Young Girls Love Alice, but I would have liked to hear Nikita, Healing Hands and Sacrifice. Still, the man could probably play for hours and still miss some favourites.
Here's a look at the distribution of the songs played at last night's Toronto show. 5 from 1973 and 5 from 1992. Exactly half of the 26 songs are from before 1975's Captain Fantastic album.
Don't Let The Sun Go Down On Me 1974 Caribou I'm Still Standing 1983 Too Low For Zero I Guess That's Why They Call It The Blues 1983 Too Low For Zero Philadelphia Freedom 1975 (single) GH II Burn Down The Mission 1970 Tumbleweed Connection Tiny Dancer 1971 Madman Across The Water Simple Life 1992 The One The One 1992 The One I Don't Wanna Go On With You Like That 1988 Reg Strikes Back Blue Eyes 1982 Jump Up Mona Lisas And Mad Hatters / 1972 Honky Chateau Mona Lisas And Mad Hatters (Part Two) 1988 Reg Strikes Back Sorry Seems To Be the Hardest Word 1976 Blue Moves Daniel 1973 Don't Shoot Me... The Last Song 1992 The One Funeral For A Friend/Love Lies Bleeding 1973 Goodbye Yellow Brick Road When A Woman Doesn't Want You 1992 The One Whitewash County 1992 The One Rocket Man 1972 Honky Chateau All The Young Girls Love Alice 1973 Goodbye Yellow Brick Road Sad Songs (Say So Much) 1984 Breaking Hearts The Show Must Go On (Queen cover) Saturday Night's Alright (For Fighting) 1973 Goodbye Yellow Brick Road The Bitch Is Back 1974 Caribou Candle in the Wind 1973 Goodbye Yellow Brick Road Your Song 1970 Elton John Elton's albums (not including live and collections) Songs played EMPTY SKY 0 ELTON JOHN 1 TUMBLEWEED CONNECTION 1 FRIENDS 0 MADMAN ACROSS THE WATER 1 HONKY CHATEAU 2 DON'T SHOOT ME I'M ONLY THE PIANO PLAYER 1 GOODBYE YELLOW BRICK ROAD 4 CARIBOU 2 CAPTAIN FANTASTIC AND THE BROWN DIRT COWBOY 0 ROCK OF THE WESTIES 0 BLUE MOVES 1 A SINGLE MAN 0 VICTIM OF LOVE 0 21 AT 33 0 THE FOX 0 JUMP UP 1 TOO LOW FOR ZERO 2 BREAKING HEARTS 1 ICE ON FIRE 0 LEATHER JACKETS 0 REG STRIKES BACK 2 SLEEPING WITH THE PAST 0 THE ONE 5 single 1 cover 1
--
.../Paul Maclauchlan
Moore Corporation Limited, Toronto, Ontario (416) 364-2600
paul@moore.com -or- {...!uunet.ca,...!telly}!moore!paul
"When you look up through the wire...do you count the stars at night?"/EJ&BT'85 Return to the concert details.