An Evening with Sir Elton John

At 8 PM on the evening of Tuesday, September 11, Mike and I joined several thousand close friends at the Coliseum for a sold-out show by none other than Sir Elton John.  The concert was awesome.  At 65 years old, the man still knows how to rock it out, sitting down to that piano and playing it within an inch of its life for over 2 1/2 hours without even breaking a sweat.  I swear, Elton John finds performance just as natural as breathing.  

 Our seats in Section AG were really neat - it was even better than having a backstage pass because there were no seats in front of us, and we had a birds' eye view of everything going on behind the scenes.  We even caught the two cellists taking photos of each other with Elton in the background.  It was the first concert of this tour in the US, so perhaps they were just as startstruck as we were.

I was thrilled to see these two guys perform live, as I discovered them via Pandora months ago and have considered downloading several of their songs.  It was a happy surprise to see them come onstage. After a prelude by the Two Cellists of Smooth Criminal, With or Without You, and Highway to Hell, we watched Elton enter the Coliseum behind the stage, sit at his piano, and start his setlist.

 The photo just doesn't do our seats justice.  We could see Elton's facial expressions as he sang - he tends to raise his eyebrows whenever he opens his mouth really big.  We could even see the backup dancers' shoes.

• 1. Saturday Night's Alright for Fighting 
  2. Bennie and the Jets 
  3. Holiday Inn 
  4. Grey Seal 
  5. Levon 
  6. Tiny Dancer 
  7. Mona Lisas and Mad Hatters (This was in tribute to 9/11.)
  8. Philadelphia Freedom 
  9. Candle in the Wind (Mike cuddled up to me during this one.)
  10. Goodbye Yellow Brick Road 
  11. Rocket Man 
  12. Hey Ahab 
  13. I Guess That's Why They Call It the Blues 
  14. Funeral for a Friend/Love Lies Bleeding 
  15. Sad Songs (Say So Much) 
  16. Daniel 
  17. Nikita 
      (solo)
  18. Sorry Seems to Be the Hardest Word 
      (solo)
  19. Don't Let the Sun Go Down on Me 
  20. I'm Still Standing 
  21. The Bitch Is Back 
  22. Crocodile Rock (Elton started this one off with a finger-pop in his mouth, and he made us sing the "lalalaaaaas".)
  23. Encore:
  23. Your Song 

 It was an awful lot of fun, and I'm so glad Mike and I were able to go.  I saw him and his piano - no band - in 1999 and scored his autograph, so this time I was more than happy to watch the crowd from a little more of a distance.