From the West Coast to the North East! (Elton John - Live)

Member Name: alirigby

Product:	Elton John - Live
Date:	08/07/02 (137 review reads)
Rating:

Advantages: Fantastic Performer, Great music

Disadvantages: Quite a long concert

Not one for crowded, busy places I haven’t been to a concert for years, however when my fiancé told a few months back that he’d got us Elton John tickets I was really pleased and decided to brace the crowds not expecting a rowdy bunch to be there!
Being in our mid twenties, we were subjected to weeks of ridicule and teasing from our peers regarding the event; luckily we don’t give 2 jots what people think/say, but did have to smile when we realised that we were probably the youngest couple in the whole arena on the night!

The Venue:
We saw Elton on Friday night at the Telewest Arena in Newcastle-upon-Tyne; the tickets cost £35.00 each. As with all these events it was pandemonium when we arrived and everyone was flooding the corridors to get to their seats (and the inevitable queue for the Ladies stretched as far as the eye could see!), however once we made it to our row, I was fine and didn’t feel crowded at all.
We had a good view of the stage from our seats (although Elton still looked the size of a pea) which were at the side of the arena. Because we were seated sideways on, we had to turn our heads left for the duration of the performance; this has left me with a very stiff neck and looking left for the past couple of days!

The Music:
Anyway the concert started promptly at 8 and Elton came on stage and began the evening with a very loud, energetic piece of music with his band to hype everyone up!
He sang a mixture of his older well-known songs as well as some songs from his new album ‘Songs from the West Coast.
The songs he performed were:
Bennie and the Jets, Crocodile Rock, Rocket Man, Daniel, I Want Love, Original Sin, Your Song, I Guess That’s Why They Call It The Blues, I’m Still Standing and others which I didn’t know (only a couple) or can’t recall.
‘Rocket Man’ was brilliant and really stands out in my mind, it seemed to last forever and
I was glad that it did! What I liked about the whole performance was that he sounded just the same as he does on CD, because he can sing! I’ve been disappointed before when I’ve seen people live and they don’t sound as good in reality. It felt a real privilege to be able to listen to him singing live, songs that have been so familiar to me for so long.

The Performance:
For a 55 year old man his energy and enthusiasm was impressive to say the least, he sang for well over 2 hours, admittedly he wasn’t up and jumping around, but the power and emotion in his voice made it evident that he was giving it his all. He introduced some of his songs and explained what they were written about and made a couple of provocative comments about the paparazzi (which were taken with the humour in which they were delivered!). His acknowledgement of ‘The Toon’ and Bobby Robson’s knighthood went down extremely well with the (predominantly) Geordie audience!

Overall:
I really enjoyed the evening despite my numb bum at the end! Elton was everything I had hoped him to be and more and I would recommend seeing him play live if you like his music and get the opportunity to do so.

Summary: