For Southern Californians this has been a special year getting the chance to see Elton and the band on two separate occasions, exactly six months apart. Perhaps he's making up for the fact that the Face-to-Face Tour has never visited L.A. or Orange County, but whatever the reason Elton followed up his February 20 and 21 shows at the Forum with two nights at the Arrowhead Pond of Anaheim. "The Pond" is a five-year-old 18,000 seat arena and this was Elton's second appearance there, the first being with Ray Cooper in September 1994 just prior to the now famous four-night Greek Theater stand. The Pond is not the best building acoustically, and it most certainly is not the Forum in terms of concert atmosphere, but it is better than the Hollywood Bowl (beautiful place, just not for a rock concert).
I attended both nights in Anaheim and will focus on Saturday's show, large ly because Elton appeared to be having a minor version of one of his "little moments" Friday. From the second he stepped on the stage Friday in a navy blue Versace suit (it made him look?uh?huge), I knew by the look on his face and the dark blue tinted glasses he was hiding behind that he was not in the best of moods. And even though most people in the arena probably didn't notice, Elton did seem a bit rushed and not nearly as enthused as he was in February or on Saturday night here. This is the second time he has been very grouchy on a Friday in Southern California and then very upbeat the following show on a Saturday. The last time being his two-show stand at the Hollywood Bowl in 1995 when he told the crowd that the Bowl was an old dump with terrible sound (and other not very nice things!).
The set list Friday was the same as the Northern California shows, and included Something About the Way You Look Tonight and Teenage Idol. The latter was a fun addition, but Idol's late placement in the set seemed very out of place and spoiled it a bit.
Saturday night, Elton came out on stage and it was immediately apparent that he was in a great mood, smiling and clenching his fist during the show (something he never did once Friday). He was wearing a great looking (and fitting!) light green suit with the Versace logo on the back in silver sequins. His glasses were purple (I think), and the lenses were much lighter so his eyes were visible. Elton seemed to take just a little more time going through the set, playing for 2 hours and 40 minutes (about the same length as Friday), but this time he eliminated Teenage Idol and switched Bennie to the last song of the main set, and moved Saturday Night's Alright to the final encore. It appeared he made the set list changes during the show. Just prior to the band introduction (a much more animated presentation of the band Saturday than Friday) he walked over to Davey and spoke to him for a moment.
My seats in February at the Forum were in the front row both nights (thanks to the cool ticket guy one night, and a Ticketmaster fluke the second night). For the Anaheim shows I was in row 11 one night and the 22ND ROW Saturday night. :-) Frankly, I missed getting to stand up front the whole show, but there was a plenty of standing and the crowd was into it on the floor (I still can't believe the woman who kicked me and pored beer on my seat because I would not sit down so she could see the video screen while the whole place was standing during The Bitch is Back do these people think they are coming to see Johnny Mathis???). Anyway, I welcomed sitting in the middle of the floor to see the light show (brilliant!!), the whole stage (love the "film reels" up high and the lighting effects on them), the video screens (also great, especially the camera work), and to actually hear the music (one minor problem with the front row - it's hard to hear very well with the arena speakers and band "cans" bleeding together!).
I also enjoyed getting to watch new drummer Jack Bruno and the rest of the band at work, because when you are all the way up front, Elton and Davey tend to be the focus. First, I have to say that Billy Trudel and John Mahon have really loosened up since the February shows and are adding a lot to the band. Mahon is not Ray Cooper, but he is making huge progress and is adding lots of great little touches to the music. Guy Babylon and Bob Birch were solid as always, and John Jorgenson's work is exceptional, especially on the saxophone which he seems to be playing much better than ever. Davey was well, Davey. As for Jack Bruno, I really don't want to make any judgement yet because he has been playing Elton's songs for such a short time. Those of you who see the tour in the near future will get a big laugh out of Bruno's picture in the new program - it appears to have been taken at least ten years ago! Incidentally, some very subtle photo doctoring was evident in the new program, as the same band pictures as the earlier program were used with Charlie Morgan just digitally deleted. All in all, Bruno seems very capable, but hesitant and reserved at the moment. He was watching Elton 80-90% of the time for signals, and I really missed many of the things I had grown used to hearing from Charlie Morgan on several songs.
Before I go through the set, there is one interesting thing in the tour program (besides the full schedule) that I do not believe has been mentioned here. First, is that the ad for The Big Picture only lists SATWYLT and Recover Your Soul as singles, so it looks like If the River Can Bend is not going to be released in the US. It's too bad, because the European single version was one of the few times I felt that Chris Thomas improved a song with his single edit, the only other being Simple Life. The way he butchered the Recover Your Soul edit amazes me to this day.
Also, the merchandise has vastly improved on this leg of the tour. There is a tiny stuffed lion and stuffed bear wearing t-shirts with the album cover, a great TBPicture mug, the previously mentioned TBP mouse pad, and finally, a really cool cream colored shirt with the Goodbye Yellow Brick Road album cover on the front and one of the art pieces from inside the album on the back of the shirt. Perhaps this "upgrade" is a result of Elton's new management, even though the merchandise is from Polygram? Perhaps this new management will also give us some recent live material to purchase, too? :-) Well, let's hope, because the new merchandise was excellent and a very big improvement. They were also selling CD's: TBPicture, a Warpipes album and Davey and John J's new album.
All in all, Elton's Saturday performance was equal to his phenomenal shows at the Forum. The sound was very good Saturday and the band was having a great time both nights. Here are some thoughts on the set list:
CIRCLE OF LIFE - Probably the worst opening song since Don't Let the Sun Go Down on Me. A real dud and I never heard any of the "chants" that had been reported in earlier shows. Starting with Circle was sort of like beginning an album off with a song like Long Way From Happiness?oops, that was done. Sorry Chris Thomas.
GREY SEAL - !!
GOODBYE YELLOW BRICK ROAD
HONKY CAT - So much better live, I love singing along.
TINY DANCER - Wonderful, though they can't seem to decide whether to turn this one loose at the end or not. This was where Charlie Morgan was really missed.
LEVON - The old Rocket Man jam from the 95 tour seems to have been moved to the end of this. My all-time favorite.
I GUESS THAT'S WHY THEY CALL IT THE BLUES - great song and crowd favorite, but I think it's in dire need of a break, ready to join Take Me To The Pilot and The Last Song on the bench.
I DON'T WANNA GO ON WITH YOU LIKE THAT - "Play that piano boy."
DON'T LET THE SUN GO DOWN ON ME - works well in the middle of the set. It has been performed every time I have ever seen Elton, but I never tire of it.
DANIEL - Elton gave this a nice intro, clarifying that it is about "two brothers, etc?"
ROCKET MAN - I felt myself missing the elongated jam session from the Made In England tour. Saturday, Elton announced he had a big surprise and preceded to invite actor Jim Carrey out on stage to sing the song as a duet. Carrey was wearing one of Elton's red leather Versace jackets, and in his part of the duet Carrey opened the second verse with the fourth verse! From that point on Elton had that forced grin on his face like, "why did I do this!?" But the crowd loved Carrey and it was great fun.
ROY ROGERS - Elton gave this a great introduction and Mahon plays a neat little horse hoof sound at the end, which I probably liked more than anything else because I was expecting some sort of recorded sound from Guy Babylon's synthesizer. Having finally heard this live makes the album version seem very special now.
CROCODILE ROCK - my first time hearing this live as a rocker. Love the lights on the crowd, Billy Trudel handles the high la-la-la-la wonderfully.
YOUR SONG - worked fine mid-set, but would rather hear something else solo like Come Down In Time, Believe, The Greatest Discovery, Skyline Pigeon, The One, or Love's Got A Lot To Answer For.
RECOVER YOUR SOUL - Phenomenal rendition. If you don't care for this song, the "unplugged" version may change your mind. Reminds you that Elton should be playing a couple more songs off of TBP.
MONA LISAS AND MAD HATTERS - Elton really put a lot into his vocals during Saturday nights show. Crowd seemed bored, I was blown away. Davey and John J are great here too. Wish I could hear this in New York at the Garden!
PHILADELPHIA FREEDOM - Cool red, white and blue light show.
SIMPLE LIFE - should be opening the show with this, Bob Birch's bass seemed to drown out Elton too much both nights, but boy is this rocking these days! In the car ride home we listened to a 1993 live version from Don Henley's benefit show that I thought really rocked, and it sounds slow now!
THE ONE - Davey's guitar work at the end is getting carried away. Elton is doing some great stuff on the piano that can barely be heard.
SAD SONGS - so much better live!
SOMETHING ABOUT THE WAY YOU LOOK TONIGHT - getting better live.
THE BITCH IS BACK - Had everyone on their feet.
BENNIE AND THE JETS - Also worked well as the second encore Friday.
LUCY IN THE SKY WITH DIAMONDS
GREAT BALLS OF FIRE - Two great encore songs, fun for the whole crowd!
SATURDAY NIGHTS ALRIGHT - I presume this was chosen to close the set by Elton because it was Saturday night. Either Bennie or this works well at the end, much more fun than closing with a ballad.
[]For those of you getting to see shows this fall, you will have so much fun. I have a feeling Elton is going to continue to tinker with the set list for a while, which is great and hopefully keeps things somewhat fresh for him and the band. I look forward to reading your reports!
Geoff
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