Sorry for the late report, but I've been trying to catch up on the work I missed to attend this concert.
Elton came out at less than 10 minutes after 8:00. He wore a royal blue suit (w/matching glasses) and a black tee shirt (foreshadowing the Braves ghastly performance that evening). His show was slightly different than I have seen in other posts. The set, with my comments, was as follows:
1. Simple Life 2. The One 3. Grey Seal 4. Goodbye YBR 5. Honky Cat -- Davey played the banjo, but I never heard a peep out of it 6. Can You Feel TLT 7. Tiny Dancer -- John Jorgenson played steel guitar 8. I Guess That's Why TCITB 9. If the River Can Bend -- Sounded great in concert 10. I Don't Wanna Go On WYLT 11. Don't Let the Sun GDOM -- The crowd really popped for this one! 12. The Last Song -- Elton referred to this as the "unplugged" portion of the concert, but Guy was playing electric keyboard in the background 13. Daniel -- Again, "unplugged", but this time Elton played electric piano w/o accompaniment 14. Love's Got a LTAF -- The band returned for this 15. Take Me to the Pilot -- Elton had a nice extended piano intro. for this 16. Something About TWYLT 17. Made in England -- Following this, Elton introduced the band: Charlie Morgan on drums, Guy Babylon on keyboard and vocals, Davey Johnstone on guitar, banjo, and vocals, John Jorgenson on guitar, steel guitar, saxophone, and vocals (he might have even waxed Elton's car during the breaks), Bob Birch on bass and vocals, John Mahon on percussion and vocals, and Billy Trudell on vocals 18. Believe 19. Someone Saved MLT 20. Philadelphia Freedom 21. Levon -- After what Livan Hernandez (and Eric Gregg) did to the Braves just two nights before, I'm surprised he didn't dump this song ;-) 22. Bennie & the Jets 23. Saturday Night's ARFF -- Finally, a break for everybody. FIRST ENCORE 24. We All Fall in Love Sometimes/Curtains -- Elton called this a tribute to his 30-year songwriting partnership with Bernie 25. Bitch Is Back -- Break No. 2 SECOND ENCORE 26. I'm Still Standing 27. Sand and Water -- Either my ears were shot, or the sound (which had been only so-so through much of the concert) wasn't great, but I could make out very few lyrics 28. Your Song
Since this was my 10th Elton show (including a couple with Billy Joel), it would be hard to put this at the top. The first time I saw him (in Tampa, November 1984, on the last show of what EJ said would be his last tour ever) was such a treat! But still, a solid show with a few nice treats that I had not heard before. I do wish Elton (or Davey) would drag outRay Cooper to add some more "oomph!" to the shows, though.
As requested by Michael Walker in his 9 October post, the following items were available in North Charleston, SC, at the 14 October show:
I believe (but I'm not positive) that the sizes that were available for the shirts were all medium, large, and Xlarge.
All told, a total of $215 for the set. One spot in the entire place accepted Visa/Mastercard and perhaps American Express -- and there was a line. I'd recommend carrying cash. And a large bag.
Return to the concert details.