Well, I was going to post as soon as I got home, but I was too excited and had homework to finish (I'm in college...). Anyway, Elton was spectacular. His interview was much more interesting than the Rosie interview, covering more subjects and such. Goldie Hawn kept butting into the middle of his conversations, but other than that, it was great. Our seats were in the perfect position so that when he sang, and turned his head like he does, he was looking straight at us. So cool. During the commercial breaks, he was hilarious, talking to Goldie, Jay, and the audience, too. I wanted to get a cd cover signed, but there was really no opportunity. When he went to perform the song, the opening sounded weird, and as it turned out, they had to sing the whole song again a second time after the taping of the show had wrapped.
It was cool, because there was like 20 minutes between the time they decided there had been techinical difficulties and when they actually started singing again. So Elton wandered for a bit, and then sat down at the piano and just played. No recognizable songs, just pure piano, whatever was in his head. It was soooooooooo incredibly awesome. Unfortunately, that wasn't recorded. But they had the mikes on, so we all heard it. When he stopped playing, everyone applauded. He had played a little bit of classical (which sounded great!), some blues, and then just some tinkling of the ivories. Somehow it all fit together and sounded beautiful. That made my afternoon/evening right there. He was really gracious during the technical problem, and never seemed upset at all.
The interesting thing was the mix of the audience. Since it's spring break season, there were a lot of college age people, as well as middle aged and senior citizens. We had college students on one side, and senior citizens behind us. It was funny listening to the senior citizens, who obviously hadn't heard much EJ before, complimenting WITS. They really really liked it. Same for the college students. Myself and my two friends were definite fans, but some of the college students were saying "This is cool," and "Wow, he can really play...gotta hear some more!" So I think Elton made a few new fans tonight. And when he listed the people on the Aida album, there were lots of little comments in the audience about "Wow" and "Oooooh, that's neat."
Anyway, thanks for listening to my rambling.... I was so excited. And just having watched it again, and seeing ourselves on tv, made the night again! :) Oh....one more thing. Hearing this version in person, with the orchestra and the choir...... it was so powerful. The second time around, EJ's voice was better. The vibrations from the music and the dramatic drumbeats during the choir segment just resonated and you could really feel it. It was a wonderful experience. Now I'm just hoping he comes back to CA on a West Coast swing with the solo tour!
Erin
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