Dearest EJ Fans -
I have been dabbling in this newsgroup for nearly two years now, and it wasn't until after last Friday's concert in Grand Rapids that I really had felt inspired to write something constructive for this little corner of the world to see. Before I go into my splurge about the show and my feelings afterwards, let me first thank the many dozens of you who have contributed to this group on a regular basis. Those of you who are regulars here know who I'm talking about. For someone who doesn't have that great information readily available, it's great to have a place to look at FIRST. Concert info, album updates, gossip, laughs, trivia, memoribilia, you people have it ALL.
I didn't really get hooked on Elton's music until about four or five years ago, sometime around The Lion King movie. But after buying a couple of albums and really discovering the history behind this music, I grew to appreciate it more by the day. A discovery turned into a liking, liking into loving, loving into obsession. I now own about half of the albums, and have been to five (FIVE!) concerts in the last year and a half. Anyway, it wasn't until after Friday night's show that I realized the untouchable enormity of Elton's career, talent, and "entertain-ability".
Most of my favorite EJ tunes are older than I am. You really have to think about that hard and realize just how crazy that seems. And I'm sure that applies to many of you that visit here regularly. The music of "my/our generation" doesn't seem to inspire anymore; it doesn't make people think; people just hear this week's flash in the pan, and then next week another one-hit wonder rolls through. But sitting at this concert, specifically this solo show, it occurs to me that many of these songs have been hits since Nixon or Ford was President. I find it hard to believe that today's "hits" by the Backstreet Boys, or Metallica, or Garth Brooks, or ... well anybody DAMMIT, will still be etched in the psyche of half the world in 2024. And it was probably most amazing to me that the songs that got the biggest response from the audience were some of the oldest: Your Song, Bennie, and Crocodile Rock. I have never seen 13 thousand people get THAT excited since that last EJ show I saw in Grand Rapids. But the fact is that at least one of his songs from every "era" are wildly popular. Even the early 80s has their moments. Skyline Pigeon, damn near 30 years old. I hope I'm still that strong when I'm 30.
The hottest ticket on the concert scene this spring involves one guy and a piano. Absorb that for a second, and continue grinning widely. Name one other musician today. ANYBODY that could enamour an audience of 13 thousand people for nearly three hours with ONLY a piano (or any other instrument) and himself. You're right, there is none. There are a number of great performers who can put on as good a show as EJ, when you include a band of 5-8 people, a million dollar laser show, and enough fireworks to recreate Desert Storm. Yes, I know, EJ has "pretty" lighting at this show, but the focus is on ELTON. Not the band, not the lights, not the dancing girls, but on the man and his music.
Bernie Taupin. When you get a chance to hear some of these songs as they were originally written, you realize that this is very simply some of the greatest music ever written. Every lyric by itself (for the most part, insert your argument here) is a beautiful piece of work. And when you put EJ on the piano behind it, or in front of it, or completely surrounding it, it becomes a living and breathing being. My favorite EJ song is Levon. And I know (and so do you) it's because of that lyric. From the first time I heard that song, I could see Mr. Tostig, young Jesus, balloon animals, and that New York Times headline as clear as a summer day. And there are roughly 69 billion others. Pick an Elton song, read the lyrics by themselves, and begin visualizing. It's very simple. And it's simple because of Bernie. Thank God that thirty-plus years ago, these two British kids hooked up. If you've seen Elton on South Park, you can imagine where this concert would have been. But Cheddar Cheese Girl still would have been top 40.
I took my dad's aunt (my aunt also, I suppose) to this concert. She'd been asking me about EJ's concerts for about a year now, and finally got the chance to attend one. And before, during, and after the show Friday night, she was overwhelmed with the whole experience, as I'm sure many of you were after your first EJ concert. The main part of this point, is that she's 51 years old. And at each of these last few EJ shows I've been to, that's the one thing I notice more than anything: the diversity of the audience. Young and old (and I mean YOUNG and OLD), couples, friends, families with kids, moms and dads, and every type of person you could walk past on the street of a big city any day of the week. And after the show, everybody is happy, everybody is just raving about the show, and everybody is telling everybody else what an incredible night it was. There is not another performer in the world today that attracts and then satisfies an audience like Elton.
Alright, so there's my "blah blah blah" about the whole thing. Even though I knew he was coming back out for that second encore to sing Last Song, I still got excited when he did; I still cried, and I still stood up and applauded until my hands were numb. And then I spent the car ride home thinking "I really need to share this with someone". And who better to share it with then the people who can appreciate it most: EJ Fans. And I'm happy, proud, and honored to be one.
So there ya' go, here I am, officially part of the group. Now I gotta tell everyone, I'm not a wealth of information, I'm not an avid collector of memorabilia, and I'm not an EJ trivia buff; but I love this music with all my heart and soul, and will continue to enjoy Elton past, Elton present, and Elton future. When I sit around the house with friends on New Year's waiting for this whole Y2K thing to "end the world", and we discuss the greatest musician of our time, they can have their Beatles and their Zeppelin, and their Stones, and I'll give them Hendrix, and Joplin, and Clapton, and everything written after about 1980; and I'll take EJ, knowing that I'll be facing the apocalypse a fan of the greatest musician of our time.
I know most of you "sign off" your messages with your favorite EJ lyric, but I like 'em all, so just picture your favorite at the end.
Here's to you, my brothers and sisters in ELTON; and here's a cheer that EJ's Last Song wasn't his last song. -- Peace and Love
Bradley bdbrown7@hotmail.com
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