After seeing Elton at Nissan Pavillion in Virginia Saturday night (and writing a quick review of the show here Sunday morning), I went to some friends house to open the football season at a party they were having. As soon as I walked in the door, my friends first question was "How was the show last night?". When I told him it was one of the very best shows I have ever seen Elton do, he looked at his girlfriend and said "Let's go to the show tonight". Since we had been planning to sit outside and listen (we hadn't bothered to buy seats), we now decided to purchase tickets and sit inside if there were still good seats left. (I've never gone to see Elton two consecutive nights but the show was so good I decided to splurge.) We called the ticket office and got surprisingly good seats inside the pavillion. We were pumped up and ready (even though our team lost the game.)
Since I had missed the first few songs the night before (getting into Nissan Pavillion is a nightmare), we made sure we were there in plenty of time. He opened with Circle Of Life just as he had the night before and the show was very much the same. The only song changes were that Roy Rogers was gone and Blue Eyes was in. The energy level was just a high as the previous night (even though Sunday was much more humid) and Elton looked like he was having a great time. Much of the in-between song patter was the same but everyone enjoyed it just the same.
Some hi-lights (again) were:
Grey Seal - Love hearing this song live although the new drummer doesn't use the classic Nigel fills which leaves the song missing something.
Goodbye Yellow Brick Road - With Billy Trudel to hit the high notes for Elton, it's great to hear this song live again.
I Don't Wanna Go On With You Like That - Great piano rocker w/o the awful drum track.
Blues Eyes - Done in a straight 4/4 time signature, it changed the whole feel of the song in a subtle way. Very nice.
Honky Cat - With no lead guitar being played, the song has a whole new feel. Davey's banjo playing is great! Who would have thought we would ever hear Davey's guitar part for this song played on a banjo!?!
Sad Songs - Slower than in concerts past and done as a great, steady rocker.
Levon - The new rocking ending is classic!
Mona Lisas & Mad Hatters - Just Elton, Bob Birch and Davey and John on two mandolins. Great reworking of the song and it sounds great without Part Two attached.
Simple Life - This song ROCKS on this tour and it's a high-light of the show. Then it slides into The One very smoothly. Great!
The Bitch Is Back - It rocks, as always, and features some great, short solo blasts from several members as well as a lot of playfulness on everyone's part.
Lucy In The Sky With Daimonds - Haven't seen Elton play this live since the first time I saw him in 1973/74. What a great surprise
Great Balls Of Fire - You would think this song always belonged to Elton. What a blast!
The arrangements of the songs really strikes me on this tour. All of them seem to be featuring Elton's piano playing much more than in recent tours and the band rarely overpowers what Elton is doing. His fingers were flying and pounding on the piano both nights and he put his heart and soul into the shows. It's the most energetic and playful I have ever seen Elton. He signed dozens of autographs for people in the front rows both nights, shook hands, accepted flowers and gifts and generally had a ball. And Davey and John always look like they are having so much fun. I love to watch them as they play around while delivering the best guitar playing there is.
If there is anyone at Rocket Records with the fans in mind, they should release a live album from this tour. It's been more than 10 years since Elton released Live In Australia and this tour needs to be documented just as that tour did, because they both featured excellent playing and arrangements. Also, since it may be a while before Elton is back in the studo to record, a live album would fill in the time between studio albums nicely. Dave Matthews released a live album off of his last tour and without any promotion it sold over 500,000 copies. And if they need a hit single, release Great Balls Of Fire or Levon from the album. It'll sell!!!
For anyone who doesn't plan to attend this leg of the tour for any reason, change your mind now and get tickets! I'm thinking of driving up to State College, PA when he plays there again in Oct. (I have never traveled for 4 hours to see anyone). The show is great! Don't miss it.
Read MooreMus' review of the previous night's Bristow VAshow.
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