Today is another great day to be an Elton fan. Some days ago a friend of mine received two brand new shows, both from 1986, and a couple of days ago we received two brand new shows from March 1999. The shows in question are Grand Rapids and Pensacola. This show is from Pensacola, the 13th of March. The show is in awesome quality and is 100 % complete. Now onto the show:
Since this show is from the start of the tour it has this huge setlist which I really like. These shows have some more obscure songs (like the later shows also have) like Written In The Stars, Friends, and Recover Your Soul. What is mutual between the early and late shows is that they always open with Your Song which from this show is a great performance. Elton’s voice on this show seems very powerful (and at spots a bit rough) and this is also present on the first song from the show. Skyline Pigeon is fresh and tight, but does not rank among the best performances (the best performances of the song comes from this tour). Nice performances of The Greatest Discovery and Border Song and a superb version of Talking Old Soldiers with awesome phrasings throughout the song. Daniel is OK, but with a wrong chord and a couple of wrong notes during the song (mind you: this is very detailed), otherwise it is great.
One of the main reasons about my unconditional love to this tour is Elton John’s way of playing the piano. He is a genius when it comes to fill-ins and Honky Cat shows this very good! Elton’s playing is so tight and smooth and sometimes you wonder how the hell he plays it – the up-tempo songs shows this (trust me: Bennie And The Jets will show!). Come Down In Time is rather conservative compared to other versions from this tour and Sacrifice seems to please the audience after the lack of this particular song in America! Though Elton sings it good he flubs one of the first lines and there is, in my opinion, too much echo machine on during the choruses. Better Off Dead is a great performance which I actually like. I Guess That’s Why They Call It Blues has a great ending and a falsetto in the end and Ticking (which I love) seems a bit unstable as Elton messes up with a bit of the lines and his timing is not exactly perfect. Carla/Etude/Tonight makes one of the musical highlights of the evening while many people are chatting!
I Don’t Wanna Go On With You Like That is another one of my favorites from the beginning of the tour! This version, however, has a lot of growl which I don’t like (I prefer the versions where Elton’s voice is cleaner). Nevertheless, the piano playing is just above phenomenal and this version has some of the best improvisations I have heard! I think Elton signs autographs after the song, but I am not sure – in any case there is a big break between the next song, which is The One which don’t reach Chicago 1999 standards at all (he even makes angry birds on this one at spots you won’t expect them!). It does have some nice moments regarding the style-of-playing though. Written In The Stars is not exactly my favorite performance of the song nor is Mona Lisas & Mad Hatters which both are great, but unstable due to Elton’s varying vocal.
Take Me To The Pilot has another of Elton’s great intros in which I am in so much love and the same thing about Friends (Iowa City is better than this!). Recover Your Soul is a mixed pleasure. Elton sings it quite good, but when he reaches the higher notes his voice does not have this powerfulness as in the lower notes and you keep thinking whether he can reach the high notes or if he can sustain them. Sorry Seems To Be The Hardest Word is decent enough and Blue Eyes is great (lower range song!). Levon is another song from this show where Elton does different phrasings and makes it more conservative, yet the piano playing is the greatest you can imagine! Crocodile Rock is decent, but listen to Madison Square Garden 1999 to hear what it should sound like. Don’t Let The Sun Go Down On Me is alright with ‘normal’ phrasing and the same thing about Circle Of Life though his timing at spots is bothering. Bennie And The Jets is in my top 10 list of the best solo versions ever! Though it might not have the top vocals it is one of the best piano versions I have heard. Really nice fill-ins and very smooth playing! Finally, The Last Song, suitable for its position in the set, is also a decent performance.
NOTE 1 – There’s a person between Friends and Recover Your Soul who wants to hear Rocket Man very much!
- Emil, EltonJohnGigs