I was lucky enough to attend the show in the Delta Center in Salt Lake City because of the kindness of a fellow 'Rower, Michael Walker and his friend Julie.
I don't want to repeat what he has said about the show, as he covers the feelings and general atmosphere of the show. I do want to add a set list for those of you interested in the changes made for the fourth part of this tour and some additional comments.
I was fortunate enough to be on the floor, about half way back from the stage perfectly lined up with Elton. The view was faultless!
I was impressed with the 'perfection' of the show. Elton's mood was very positive and extremely energetic! Even when the sound system 'squawked' one time, he continued on without skipping a beat. (I actually didn't catch the time Davey's guitar cut out as mentioned by Michael.) Contrast this to the 1995 MIE concert in The Delta Center, when the sound system 'squawked,' things went down hill from there.
Elton was dressed in what I can best describe as a glorified suit coat. Kind of a plaid pattern that actually looked somewhat like one of my Father's suits. Elton's suit had some sort of sparkly things on the bottom of it that really glistened in the lights. The neat thing about this jacket was that it would perfectly change colors with the stage lighting. It was almost like Elton had several different jackets on. He only changed once, for the last encore, into a jogging type of jacket with short pants.
I had attempted to get an autograph during the show, but as Michael has said, security was very tight. I was not allowed to go up to the stage --- even after approaching from both sides. (If any of you have secrets of getting an autograph,...[])
I was highly amazed with the tightness of the band, especially with the new drummer, Bruno. He didn't miss a beat! Davey was very fun and actually quite interactive with the audience. John Jorgenson was the same way. I don't know what the thing was, but several of the band changed from standard dark glasses to yellow glasses for Lucy In The Sky. The band really seemed to be having a lot of fun. Davey and John threw a lot of guitar picks into the floor audience.
For those of you lucky enough to catch an earlier Big Picture concert and to hear We All Fall In Love Sometime / Curtains, you would have noticed the syncopated duel between Elton and the band at the end of Curtains. The band repeats the 'Ahs' at the end in regular timing while Elton speeds up his piano playing to three or four times this speed. It is simply amazing to witness! In last night's concert they did this with Philadelphia Freedom. Quite an amazing musical feat!
Circle of Life as an opener was quite emotional. With scenes from The Lion King on the big screens, and Elton's amazing voice.
Elton brought the whole Delta Center to their feet with Crocodile Rock. One guy was really dancing up a storm close to where I was sitting. Elton noticed this and gave a significant gesture to him when the song ended.
Typically Elton doesn't talk too much between songs. The exception here was the introduction to Roy Rogers. He talked quite extensively of watching his movies for 15 years and how his Mom really enjoyed the movies also. He also commented about watching him on TV on Sunday mornings. The rendition of the song was very fitting as a remembrance to Roy.
In summary, the concert was fantastic! Everything fell into place perfectly! I was also happy to see him add Bennie and Something About The Way You Look Tonight to the set, as compared to the Dallas show the previous Saturday.
As Michael has stated, we would really like to make it to one more show. If any of you are lucky enough to score some great tickets and wouldn't mind sharing them with us, it would be greatly appreciated!
---THE SET LIST FOLLOWS -----
Circle of Life/Grey Seal/Goodbye Yellow Brick Road/Honky Cat Tiny Dancer/Levon/I Guess That's Why They Call It The Blues I Don't Wanna Go On With You Like That/Don't Let The Sun Go Down On Me Daniel/Rocket Man/Roy Rogers/Crocodile Rock/Your Song/Recover Your Soul Philadelphia Freedom/Simple Life/The One/Sad Songs Something About The Way You Look Tonight/Bennie And The Jets The Bitch Is Back/Saturday Night's Alright For Fighting Encore 1 Lucy In the Sky.../Great Balls Of Fire Encore 2 Can You Feel The Love Tonight
Since I didn't write the songs down during the show, and most of this if from memory, I would appreciate any corrections from those of you that attended the show.
Lastly, one amazing show!
Kevin kburnett@novell.com
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