This is more or less a copy of the report on my homepage, so to see the pictures I refer to, please check out http://members.xoom.com/TheNorth.
OK, here we go...
I left Stockholm, my hometown, by bus on Thursday at noon and arrived in Gothenburg about seven hours later. The trip was boring (seven hours) and uncomfortable (not enough space for my legs) and as it was the hottest day for weeks in Sweden, of course the air condition on the bus wasn't working at all. When I arrived to Gothenburg I spent the rest of the evening walking around downtown, checking out the arena where the concert was going to be, Nya Ullevi, the hotels in town and some restaurants.
I spent the Friday seeing a cousin of mine living in Gbg and doing some shopping. In the evening I had dinner together with a couple of 22nd-Rowers downtown. We were six persons altogether, we should have been seven. The last one called us and said he couldn't make it because his flight from Helsinki had been delayed. Yeah, by the way, The Elton John Band was on the same plane... Anyway, we had a great time, and decided to get together again on Saturday a couple of hours before the concert.
I had nothing else planned for Saturday, so I decided to go to the hotel where I knew John Jorgenson was staying and see if I could get a glimpse of some of the guys. At this time I had no idea that Elton was staying in the same hotel. I arrived at the hotel about 10.30 am and made myself comfortable in the lobby. After about an hour and a half I saw Davey Johnstone coming out from one of the elevators. Of course I got his autograph and he even let me have a picture of him and me.
Shortly after that John Jorgenson arrived, obviously to
give an interview to a swedish guitar magazine. He first asked me if I was the
reporter. I said no, but explained who I was, and yes, he remembered my name
from my e-mails to him! I got his autograph and he let me have a picture of us
together
. After a short while he came back and gave me a
Hellecasters promo album called 7 Axes To Sample and
of course he signed that for me as well! Later I also managed to get
autograph's from Bob Birch and Billy Trudel,
all on the cover of the special Valentine digipack edition of Love
Songs.
Time was eventuallty running out and I started planning to leave the hotel for the restaurant where I was going to meet the other fans. Suddenly things started to happen in the lobby. Security people was running in and out, loads of luggage was taken outside by hotel staff and finally a big black Mercedes was driven up to the entrance. This went on for maybe half an hour, then everything went back to normal and suddenly the Mercedes was gone.
The two other guys I had been hanging around with for the last couple of hours, more or less professionals when it comes to autograph collecting, knew that there was a small side door of the hotel. We left everything but pens and records and ran out the entrance and round the corner of the building and there it was again, the Mercedes, just outside a small glass door.
We waited there for about five minutes. Then the door opened, and there he was: Elton John himself!!! His bodyguards told us to back off, that we were not allowed to take any photographs, and that we wouldn't get any autographs. He wasn't very talkative, in fact he didn't talk at all, but he was kind enough give us some autographs anyway. I didn't take any photos, though. I didn't want to push my luck... Anyhow, some of the other guys got some pictures, and hopefully I will be able to post some of them here in the future.
As we all know by now, Billy Joel had
to cancel most of his Face to Face performances, but Elton
John worked both of them and gave us a fabulous concert, even though
it was raining almost all the time. Unfortunately I was a little bit to far
from the stage to get any real good pics. Hopefully some of my friends with
better seats got some better pictures. If I can get copies and they'll let me,
I'll post them here ASAP.
The concert started off with Funeral For A Friend/Love Lies Bleeding at about 8.30 pm, and during the first slow part of the song the band members slowly entered the stage one by one. I think the audience felt quite warmed up after this opening. Elton went on playing Grey Seal, which is an unfamiliar song for most people in Sweden, and Goodbye Yellow Brick Road, which is I think everyone knows. As far as I could tell it was Billy Trudel who hit the high notes, and think the arrangement is very successful.
Introducing Honky Cat
Elton asks the audience to help him out at the end of the
song. Some of us (like myself) did, while most people didn't what and when to
sing. Honky Cat was followed by Can You Feel The Love
Tonight. A local Gothenburg newspaper claimed it was Circle Of
Life, but I promise you, I can tell the difference. I think I would
survive without the Lion King video clips though... and I Guess That's Why
They Call It The Blues goes on like we are used to hear them. I just can't
understand why Tiny Dancer isn't more known than it is here.
Unfortunately it had already been raining for hours, and it didn't look like it was going to stop for the next couple of hours either. The concert was, except the rain, so far is what I had expected. It wasn't actually until now things started happening. Elton started to improvise Singin' In The Rain, the band followed him, and of course everyone started singing along with them.
If The River Can Bend has
obviously been released as a single here in Sweden, but it doesn't get a lot of
airplay. I, for example, haven't yet heard it on the radio at all yet. Still,
when Bob Birch launched the first notes of its bass intro in
the rain, suddenly everyone was on their feet. I definitely say this was one of
the best songs of the whole concert. It took almost ten songs, but finally they
got everyone warm!
After this Elton keeps the high pace for a while with I Don't Wanna Go On With You Like That and then he slows down a bit to please the ballad-loving part of the crowd with Don't Let The Sun Go Down On Me, Daniel, Rocket Man and Sacrifice. Then he announces a song that he says he hasn't played live for twenty years. Crocodile Rock, that is. Again a successful arrangement where Elton doesn't have to hit the high notes. Everyone knows this one, and of course no one sits down. After that he plays on of my live favourites, Sad Songs. It is really _so_ much better live.
The again Elton goes
back to ballads, now playing Mona Lisas And Mad Hatters (Part 1),
which like Grey Seal is pretty much completely unknown here in Sweden,
followed by Sorry Seems To Be The Hardest Word. After this
Elton doesn't really slow down anymore until the last encore,
maybe with the exception of a few mid-tempo songs.
Via Philadelphia Freedom the band takes us to a slightly extended heavy intro of Simple Life, while Elton is walking along the edge of the stage writing autographs to the lucky people in the very front of the audience. Simple Life is, as always of course, followed by The One (which I call a mid-tempo ballad). Take Me To The Pilot and Something About The Way You Look Tonight" is followed by Billy Joel's Uptown Girl. Elton introduces it as a difficult song to sing, because it's just word after word after word. Still he makes it lots better than any version I've heard Billy himself do. This was another one of the very highlights of the show, a great rocker!
He finishes off the first set with
Bennie And The Jets and Saturday Night's Alright For
Fighting. Bennie... is performed the classical way with
Elton playing while lying under the piano and ending up lying
on top of it. Of course the whole crowd is on its feet and of course stays so
during Saturday Night's Alright For Fighting.
The audience knew Elton would be back on stage, "They
always do...", but I think few could have guessed he would start the first
encore with Lucy In The Sky With Diamonds". Still, most people seemed
to know most of the lyrics. The Bitch Is Back builds up even more
party feeling and the real surprise for most people I guess was Jerry
Lee Lewis' good old Great Balls Of Fire". After that
Elton thanks us and leaves the stage again. He comes back to
play what I think will be Your Song, but instead he skips that and
introduces Billy Joel's Piano Man. Which indeed is a
good song to definitely finish off with.
Finally this seems to be a good picture to finish off with, sorry
about the bad quality, but the picture is scanned from a local Gothenburg
newspaper. This is Elton when he leaves his hotel in
Gothenburg, probably for the arena. And, yes, it is my head that is partially
hidden in the very top right corner of the picture...
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