And now I have decided to upload a show from a year that I personally love! The first Chicago show from 1988! The first show comes in excellent quality and as a radio broadcast but some of it has stuff spliced from the other stuff! This is the complete version (EltonJohnGigs has uploaded the most common source, check his channel out! It's awesome! Plus it's his birthday so this show is dedicated to him! Happy birthday!)

Between the last concert in 1986 and the first full show he did post-surgery (Miami 1988 which will be uploaded in the coming weeks when I get it!) Elton had to rest for a year to gain strength back in his voice and the first real test was this US tour during the autumn of 1988. Having recorded an album and having released a live album, he was effectively promoting two albums on one tour hence the unusual looking setlist (not a bad thing though!) where he mixes old songs with new songs which is awesome such as The Ballad Of Danny Bailey! Also, Elton had changed his stage set-up, instead of using the beloved Steinway, he started to use the Roland keyboard which did work on some songs. However, on others it had a less desired effect and he also changed his band considerably with only two members staying on from the 1986 band (ironically the same from his 1984 band!) 

Elton's voice is very interesting on this tour as he still has the growl that he had in late 1986 yet has a matured sound to it which makes him sound like 1984 and 1985 and is still able to hit clean falsetto notes (although he rarely goes for them)! His voice would also settle down more as the tour progressed as on this show, Elton is particularly unstable early on but does improve as the show goes on so this show isn't the best for his voice (Los Angeles/New York shows are better) but that doesn't mean this show doesn't have its standout moments! 

We have an excellent performance of Sixty Years On where Elton doesn't growl too much, I Need You To Turn To where he sounds pretty rough, The King Must Die where he sounds worse than Australia in spots with the same comment applying for Burn Down The Mission, Sorry Seems To Be The Hardest Word with falsetto, Tiny Dancer which is one of my personal favorite performances of the song with nice instrumentation plus Elton's vocals are quite soft, I Guess That's Why They Call It The Blues which is fine, Philadelphia Freedom with some unstableness but still sounds alright, Nikita with awesome harmonies at the end of the song, Sad Songs (Say So Much) which is one of the best versions ever with a shorter intro which I prefer plus the song sounds great, Daniel with some creative vocal parts from Elton, I Don't Wanna Go On With You Like That with an excellent solo, Candle In The Wind which is much better than the second night, Saturday Night's Alright For Fighting with high energy, Your Song with some nice phrasing and this concert has one of the funniest renditions of I'm Still Standing as Elton goofs the song up badly! Enjoy the show!

- Adam, Elton Bootlegs