Well, Elton John is coming to Halifax on Sept. 26 and 27 and judging by the other hot acts that have been here tickets to see the “Rocking’ Knight” will be sold in minutes. In fact, the concert in Regina sold out in 4 minutes.
I saw EJ in 1973 at the Pacific Colisseum in Vancouver. I paid $6 and got a great seat. It was his Goodbye Yellow Brick Road tour and although he was a star amongst the youth no old people would be going to see him. We easily bought tickets at the UBC bookstore.
Elton John was great. The whole stage was black before the concert with just a sustained, synthesized bass note to start off. Then a little circle of colored lights emerged, getting bigger as the the bass not got louder. As the lights came up we saw it was Elton John and the lights were from his huge glasses, which were becoming his trademark at the time. He was caped and when he turned around a large flashing “E” was on the back of the cape. EJ sat down at the piano and began the chops to Elderberry Wine, still one of my favorites. Now 35 years later, who thought we’d be going to see him again.
Back at the Maritime Beatle Event I saw The Blackbyrds from Hungary performing Beatles tunes. They were no better or worse than any of the other bands except they were young. They appeared on stage as youth, with all the energy and newness that comes with a young act. Sinatra was great in his older years, a master of his craft. But in the 1940’s he was a skinny teen idol who drove the crowd nuts. And need I mention Elvis?
The Elton John concert this year will have what the 1973 concert didn’t have - a lot of old people. Now, I’m not saying that we can’t rock and be as loud as we were 35 years ago.
BTW: EJ came on for an encore after a guy dressed in a crocodile outfit started the beginning strains of, you guessed it - Crocodile Rock. Also, EJ moved around the stage like a dance on hgih platform shoes and never slipped once.
Stumble it!