Finally got to see Elton last night after he had to cancel his show at the Nissan Pavillion in Virginia last May due to illness. It was worth the wait!! Elton's voice sounded stronger than I've ever heard (I haven't missed a concert in the Washington, D.C. area of his since 1973) and the band was very strong. Musically, other than the solo tour with Ray Cooper, there were more changes in the song arrangements than I have ever heard at an Elton show. (One thing I have always enjoyed about seeing Joe Jackson in concert is that he changes his songs drastically from the record arrangements when he appears live.) A few examples of the new arrangements are:
On Honky Cat, the only guitar being played was Bob Birch's bass. John played the Sax and Davey played the Banjo. Hearing his guitar part played on the Banjo was great.
Levon ended with a ROCKING instrumental passage that was amazing!
Recover Your Soul played only on the piano was very nice.
Finally, the annoying drum track that always starts off I Don't Wanna Go On With You Like That was replaced by a synth intro and the song turned into a piano rocker that was better than ever.
Gone were some of the concert staples that I have tired of hearing (Burn Down The Misson) and few songs from the 80's and 90's were included. What I was most surprised about was the album tracks from the 70's that Elton played (Teenage Idol, Roy Rogers, Mona Lisa's & Mad Hatters w/o Part II) and he played Lucy In The Sky With Diamonds for the first time that I have seen since 1973. Between the musical arrangements and the song selection, this has to be one of the very best shows that I have ever seen Elton do. The sound quality was excellent (sitting next to the sound board helped) and the band and Elton looked like they were having a great time. In fact, it's the most relaxed and fun I have seen Elton look, ever.
Unfortunately, I am not impressed with the new drummer yet (maybe I just need to get used to him) and Billy Trudel's singing was very good but his dancing a bit annoying. And, for the first time, I didn't find Guy's synthesizers 'getting in the way' of the music. They were not overbearing and only noticible when needed. The lights and staging was great and Elton has his grand piano right at stage left, where it belongs. The camera work being done for the big screens was very good and brought everyone one's expressions out for the audience to see. Other than the fiasco that is getting in and out of Nissan Pavillion (they have one, two-lane road to get 25,000 ticket holders in and out), this was a great show and an excellent evening. I'm glad we got to see Elton after he has had a month off rather than seeing him while ill back in May. He is playing in Columbia, Md. tonight. Since I don't have tickets and it's only about 10 minutes from my house, I am going to take a chair and sit in the park outside the pavillion tonight and listen all over again. It'll be worth it!!!
Read MooreMus' review of the next night's Columbia MD show.
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