Elton John - Perth, 30th November 2019
Words: Todd Lockley
All the glitz and glamour, eye shadow and bedazzled faces of a city in the grips of a Pride parade onslaught greeted and interlocked the part time fans jostling about the outskirts of HBF Park awaiting the touchdown of Sir Rocketman himself, Elton John, in the first show of his 40 date Aus/NZ Farewell Yellow Brick Road tour.
As half seven hit, the lights dimmed and Sir Elton and his band of merry men wandered on stage, took their positions and for the first of many, many times, commenced a long and drawn out beginning of the never ending rendition of classic Benny And The Jets. The most pleasing early highlight was the energy and genuine pleasure John seemed to be having, gracing Perth with his effervescent presence.
After All The Girls Love Alice, Elton addressed the Perth faithful for the first of many intermittent chats "Good evening Perth! Welcome to the Farewell Yellow Brick Road Tour. I hope the songs you wanna hear get played!". With that a jazzed up interpretation of the absolute ball tearer I Guess That's Why They Call It The Blues followed, the tweaking of the melody made it seem a little insignificant unfortunately.
The hits were sprinkled vastly with Philadelphia Freedom being book ended by downers Border Song and Indian Sunset - the latter seeming to drag on and on, a continuing occurrence throughout the evening. We came to see Elton, not some guy banging the bongos in an elongated self-indulgent yawn fest.
Tiny Dancer was lovely, with the double slide guitar in full effect and the visuals beaming sun glass loving light over the near capacity crowd. The big screens exploded with a rocket erupting from the earth into a dizzying haze as Rocket Man set sail across the night sky - it was bitter sweet as the a huge lull in the evening commenced afterwards.
Candle In The Wind awoke the audience for a brief moment before the lull commenced again, with Daniel and Burn Down The Mission lending to toilet breaks and beer refills. From there Elton switched sides of the stage, so he didn't have his back to one side for the entirety of the night - a simple but nice gesture.
I Want Love didn't have the uplifting sincere cynicism portrayed on record but set highlight Don't Let The Sun Go Down On Me was the perfect first main meal after an entree that stuttered and staggered it's way to this point in the night. The hits were finally here and they came thick and fast. Crocodile Rock, I'm Still Standing and the apt closer to the main set Saturday Nights Alright For Fighting had the more adventurous people rising from their chairs to boogie a little.
The opening lines of Your Song raised the biggest cheer of the evening before tour title song Goodbye Yellow Brick Road ended the evening on a sombre yet high note - even though Elton couldn't quite hit that note anymore. Sure, it was a good show, but it was nowhere near great and those who think it's the best show this year should probably attend more shows more often.
As half seven hit, the lights dimmed and Sir Elton and his band of merry men wandered on stage, took their positions and for the first of many, many times, commenced a long and drawn out beginning of the never ending rendition of classic Benny And The Jets. The most pleasing early highlight was the energy and genuine pleasure John seemed to be having, gracing Perth with his effervescent presence.
After All The Girls Love Alice, Elton addressed the Perth faithful for the first of many intermittent chats "Good evening Perth! Welcome to the Farewell Yellow Brick Road Tour. I hope the songs you wanna hear get played!". With that a jazzed up interpretation of the absolute ball tearer I Guess That's Why They Call It The Blues followed, the tweaking of the melody made it seem a little insignificant unfortunately.
The hits were sprinkled vastly with Philadelphia Freedom being book ended by downers Border Song and Indian Sunset - the latter seeming to drag on and on, a continuing occurrence throughout the evening. We came to see Elton, not some guy banging the bongos in an elongated self-indulgent yawn fest.
Tiny Dancer was lovely, with the double slide guitar in full effect and the visuals beaming sun glass loving light over the near capacity crowd. The big screens exploded with a rocket erupting from the earth into a dizzying haze as Rocket Man set sail across the night sky - it was bitter sweet as the a huge lull in the evening commenced afterwards.
Candle In The Wind awoke the audience for a brief moment before the lull commenced again, with Daniel and Burn Down The Mission lending to toilet breaks and beer refills. From there Elton switched sides of the stage, so he didn't have his back to one side for the entirety of the night - a simple but nice gesture.
I Want Love didn't have the uplifting sincere cynicism portrayed on record but set highlight Don't Let The Sun Go Down On Me was the perfect first main meal after an entree that stuttered and staggered it's way to this point in the night. The hits were finally here and they came thick and fast. Crocodile Rock, I'm Still Standing and the apt closer to the main set Saturday Nights Alright For Fighting had the more adventurous people rising from their chairs to boogie a little.
The opening lines of Your Song raised the biggest cheer of the evening before tour title song Goodbye Yellow Brick Road ended the evening on a sombre yet high note - even though Elton couldn't quite hit that note anymore. Sure, it was a good show, but it was nowhere near great and those who think it's the best show this year should probably attend more shows more often.
