My Evening with Elton John!! Kansas City, MO 6-4-99

By Tom Olivier

Well, you probably don't have any interest in my review now that the set list is already up, but I dont care, I have always wanted to write one of these reviews.

Last time Elton was in Kansas City was 1995, so it has been quite awhile for me. The concert was on Friday June 4th as we know and Thursday night I rented a car and made a seemingly long drive from Wichita, Kansas to Kansas City, Missouri on Friday morning. It was a great time for me. When I got far enough away from Wichita and started picking up radio waves from the Kansas City radio stations I knew I was going to have a blast. "Be my twelveth caller after any Elton John song and you are going to Kemper Arena tonight" the DJ said! "We have a bunch of tickets to give away today." I knew it was gonna be great. When I arrived at the Holiday Inn proudly wearing my Elton John Made in England T shirt that I got back in 1995, the hotel manager said "I see you are here to see Elton John tonight." "Yes, I sure am" I said. When it came time to go to the arena I got there about two and a half hours before the show. At 6:30 the doors opened and in we went. I found my and was very pleased! I was in 110 Row L and got a good view of Elton's face and shoulders and all I had to do was turn to the right and look up at the big screens if I wanted any closeups.

It was now 8:00, Elton time!!!! I could see him walk through the curtains from my seat and my heart was beating so fast I couldn't believe it, finally I get to see my hero again after all this time. He came out wearing the pink plaid suit with rose tinted glasses! I loved it!!! It was a great outfit. He marched up on stage to the Written in the Stars being played instrumentally over the speakers. It couldn't have been better. I was just in awe! I was so glad to see him.

Now for the setlist,

  1. Your Song - Simply beautiful, I love this song so much. He looked out in the audience as he sang "my gift is my song yeah, and this one's for you." Big applause throughout the arena, especially from me. He then said "It's great to be back in the area" which I loved when he said that.
  2. Skyline Pigeon - Very, very rich sounding certainly one of my favorites.
  3. The Greatest Discovery - Elton really put his heart into this one.
  4. Border Song - BLEW ME AWAY!! I remember him doing this one on Conan 96 and Friday nights version was so much better!
  5. Talking Old Soldiers - I nearly cried during this one, this song really strikes a chord with me.
  6. Daniel - This one is good, but I am really tired of it.
  7. Honky Cat - Certainly one of the highlights for me. I really love this song solo.
  8. Rocket Man - This one was fantastic, remains and will always remain a favorite of mine.
  9. Sacrifice - This one was superb sounding. Sounds much better as solo.
  10. Better Off Dead - A great song. You should of heard Elton say "Better off Dead" when he introduced it.
  11. House - Introduced the same way he introduced it back in 1995. A really good song.
  12. I Guess That Is Why They Call It The Blues - Very good as a solo, I think he should not do this one with the band.
  13. Ticking - He introduced this as being written in the 70's and still being very relevant today.
  14. Carla Etude - Very classical sounding and nice
  15. Tonight - Another great Elton tune.
  16. I Dont Wanna Go On With You Like That - Oh my gosh, I loved this one, it sounded really fresh with a new accompaniment in the middle. I wish you all could of heard this it was like Storytellers only more refined and perfected.
  17. The One - This was absolutely great, this one should be solo only. No band should play on this one.
  18. Mona Lisas and Mad Hatters - I really enjoyed this one. It was very full sounding and was ten times better than Barcelona 1992.
  19. Take Me To The Pilot - I loved the intro as per usual. I was really excited to hear this song since I bought the Ritz CD. I wasn't real sure I would like this one because it has way way way to many na na na na na na na na na na na's. But I loved it.
  20. Recover Your Soul - I purely enjoyed this one. Just a thought, I think maybe people would like the big picture better if the production wasn't so bad.
  21. Sorry Seems To Be The Hardest Word - Another great one.
  22. Blue Eyes - This one was nice as a solo, I am kinda surprised he does this one.
  23. Crocodile Rock - Kemper Arena exploded when Elton did this one, he would walk around the stage listening to the audience singing "la, la, la, la, la." A real crowd pleaser, this should be automatically put in at any show.
  24. Don't Let The Sun Go Down On Me - Another crowd pleaser. Many people flicked on their lighters for this one.
  25. Circle of Life - A definite highlight for me, afterall this is the song that got me hooked.
  26. Bennie and the Jets - A real crowd pleaser as well as an Elton pleaser. Very cool piano improvisation here.
  27. The Last Song - "There is room for everyone in this world or at least there should be." Elton got cozy for this song, he changed into a blue warm up/jump suit with regular glasses. He said he enjoyed playing for us and told us to take care of ourselves.

I can't even begin to tell you how much this concert meant to me.

Thanks for reading ( if you got this far )

Tom

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