An Audience With Elton John

London Weekend Television Special

Eye-witness report by Brian Jacobs

I've just got back from attending a recording of An Audience with Elton John for London Weekend Television. I felt very privileged at being in the audience. The format of the show is that the audience consists of a number of celebrities and they ask Elton questions. Interspersed with the questions, Elton played live, with the backing of the Elton John Band.

In the audience were Cher, George Martin, the Spice Girls and Sting, together with many sports stars and people from the world of entertainment.

The rundown of the songs was as follows (although this may change in the editing of the show):

1. I'm Still Standing
2. Don't Go Breaking My Heart
   • Elton dueted this with The Spice Girls. In fact Elton drew the attention of those present that Kiki Dee was in the audience, at which cue Kiki stood up to receive applause.
3. Something About The Way You Look Tonight
4. Abide With Me
   • this is to be featured on an album for the Rainforest for which Sting asked celebrities to select songs associated with their childhood.The album is called Carnival. This hymn is one which Elton recollected with fondness from his childhood. He sang this accompanied by a brass band, a pianist, and the Kingdom Choir.
5. Saturday Night's Alright for Fighting
6. The River Can Bend
   • from THE BIG PICTURE
7. I Believe / Song For Guy
   • Performed by Elton and The Pet Shop Boys - the two songs were fused into one.
8. Can you Feel The Love Tonight?
9. Come Down in Time
   • a duet sung with Sting
10. Your Song
    • Elton then finished with a very moving Your Song, and received a well deserved standing ovation.

One of the questions asked of Elton was whether he would in the future play Candle in The Wind. Elton said that he would not play the 1997 version live, because he felt to do so could be considered to be in bad taste and he did not want to cash in on it. He said that he felt that he would also abstain from playing the original version of the song for the forseeable future, as the two versions are so interlinked.

It was a thoroughly enjoyable evening. The programme will air on British ITV on Saturday 27 September 1997.

Brian Jacobs
London, England