I hope everyone is enjoying EltonJohnGigs’ upload of New York 1986! I know I am! And to continue with the Madison Square Garden theme, I am going to upload the next show that Elton did at the world famous venue in 1988! The show is mostly complete (no band introduction), in decent quality (some clipping throughout mainly during Tiny Dancer) and is the most unique show on the entire tour as the longest set list is performed plus we have some new additions to the show! And the best news of all, Elton is in fantastic voice plus his band is brilliant! This show was requested by tss_killer08 who's birthday it is so happy birthday TSS!

Prime examples of this excellent show include Sixty Years On which is how the song should've sounded vocally in Australia 1986, I Need You To Turn To which sounds very nice, The King Must Die which a highlight of the tour, Burn Down The Mission as Elton sings a very clean middle section, Have Mercy On The Criminal which works extremely well with Elton's more mature voice, The Ballad Of Danny Bailey where Elton does an amusing speech before it and does one of the best versions of the song! Other songs of note include I Guess That's Why They Call It The Blues as it sounds brilliant on this particular tour (some of my all-time favorite versions come from this era!), Philadelphia Freedom with Elton sounding like 1984 in spots plus nothing like the last version he performed at MSG, The Bitch Is Back with high energy from the band, Sad Songs (Say So Much) with the wonderful extended intro (some people believe this tour to have the best versions of the song!), Mona Lisas And Mad Hatters Parts 1 And 2 which has a nice, unique introduction plus the song works fantastically with the audience as the song is about New York City and Daniel which has excellent keyboard work!

A new paragraph is needed as the last part of the show takes an unusual but great twist as Elton performs Rocket Man which wasn't planned as before he plays it you can hear Jonathan Moffett begin the count in for I Don't Wanna Go On With You Like That and also at the end where he talks about not meaning to play it! The version is fantastic as well with some falsetto, I Don't Wanna is also brilliant plus one of the 'elite' versions, Candle In The Wind which is one of the best 1988 versions, Saturday Night's Alright For Fighting with the awesome synth intro plus Elton sings a great conservative version! Also at this show, Elton performs Empty Garden for the first time since 1982 and due to his 'new' voice; he drops the song two keys but plays it very well! Also performed is Lucy In The Sky With Diamonds which was probably brought into the set around October 9th as it was John Lennon's birthday plus it's a great version, Your Song is superb with Elton declaring his love for New York and I'm Still Standing which does feature angry birds however it's still a nice version! So if you want an excellent 1988 show to listen to with Elton sounding amazing then this is your show! Enjoy!

- Adam, Elton Bootlegs