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Last fall when tickets went on sale for Elton John, I was excited by the prospect of seeing him. I had never seen Sir Elton John in concert and I had to admit this was one on my concert ‘bucket list’. Elton John had been to London, Ontario before as his spouse, David Furnish has family in the area. So for a smaller venue we had been graced by his performances before. I asked hubby to pick up some tickets but I was disappointed to be told that he was not able to get tickets…
On Christmas morning, my husband stuff my stocking with Elton John’s new CD The Diving Board. Thinking he was just teasing me, he told me to open it up… right inside was the ticket. Little did I know that my husband had gotten tickets for dinner and a show AND that my sister and her husband would be joining us. I have been waiting for this day to arrive ever since then.
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Lucky for me, Monday night ended up being one of the best evenings we have spent together. The dinner was good (not spectacular) but you do have a choice of appetizer, entree and dessert. I went with the pork tenderloin and as you can see below it was very yummy. The wine was great: “You can never go wrong with Malbec” is what my BIL said and he was right!
The best thing about having dinner right at Budweiser Gardens is that you are not rushing to get to the concert. We just simply crossed the hall and then went to our seats. We may have picked up a cocktail along the way as there is a bar in that section. So you can relax, have a drink, watch the show and if you wanted to you could your heart out. I know some people took full advantage of that perk. The only thing I’m not crazy about it that the stage is at the other end of the area. Although directly in front of you. The performers are always a bit far away. Thanks goodness for jumbo screens.
The concert began with the iconic Funeral for a Friend/Love lies Bleeding. My brother-in-law had gone to see EJ in the mid-70s and he said that he had begun that concert with the same song. Elton followed up with one of my favourites: Benny & the Jets. I still remember sitting in my parents bedroom listening to that song over and over again and trying to memorize the lyrics by heart. I was probably 9 or 10 years old then. I wanted to learn all those songs that my older brothers and sister use to listen to on the stereo. Back they you had vinyl albums with all the lyrics written out in the inside covers. What fun memories I have of that!
The stage was all lit up in red, white and blue for a raucous rendition of Philadelphia Freedom. The American flag in the background and the chandelier were very pretty. The stage was pretty simple with the exception of the large chandelier that went up and down and created different effects depending on how it hung. I noticed there was no female back up singers, something that surprised me. He did have his original drummer, Nigel Olsson, that has been with Elton since 1969 and guitarist, Davey Johnstone that has been with him for 41 years. That is pretty incredible. True Rock Legends if you ask me.
{Note: This great picture was taken by my good friend Wanda Lynne Young know as @BookaliciousCA. She had a side view so her pictures were much closer then mine.}
Right after he played Goodbye Yellow Brick Road. He told us that this year was the 40th anniversary of the release of that iconic album and it would be re-released in April. I love that on the EltonJohn.com website, they have retold the very quirky story of the 1973 press release event for Goodbye Yellow Brick Road. You have to read it is ‘showmanship’ at its best and pretty clever!
I have to admit, we have introduced our children to the bands and songs of our generation from the Beatles to Michael Jackson to New Order to Madonna. We do have Elton John’s Greatest Hits released in 1974 but I think the kids need to have the 40th Anniversary Goodbye Yellow Brick Road album in their collection. What do you think?
I have to say, my only complaint of the whole concert was that it took the sound engineer a few songs to get the hang of the acoustics of Budweiser Gardens. I am not certain they even did a sound check because it seemed that they had set the volume for a larger venue and the instruments overtook Elton’s voice. You could barely hear him sing during Grey Seal. When my husband said that it sounded a bit ‘tinny’ at times and that the bass was just a bit to overpowering, I was relieved to know that he had been bother too. Frankly, I was happy to know that I wasn’t becoming ‘too old’ for concerts.
Once those adjustments were finally made, great ballads like, Someone Save my Life Tonight, All the Girls Love Alice and Don’t Let the Sun go Down on Me were priceless. I had to close my eyes so I could bring myself back to my youth when those songs played key roles in my young life.
The crowd was a pretty solid middle-aged. There was quite a few ‘grandparents’ in the crowd. When I thought about it, many of them would have been in their 20s or 30s when Elton john was popular in the 70s so I should not have been surprised one bit. Don’t let that fact dissuade you from going. The show was sold out and the crowd was dancing to The B**ch is Back and Saturday Night’s Alright for Fighting. The latter was the closing of the almost three hour concert.
I have to say, I love the encore which began with his first big hit, Your Song, recorded in March 1970 (yes, folks that’s 44 years ago)… It was magical to hear just Elton John and his piano. He ended the concert on a high with Crocodile Rock. Not one person was in their seat for that.
Music can transport you back to days, times and events that are so important. For me, Goodbye Yellow Brick Road and Madman Across the Water were woven into my life in Montreal. Those songs remind me of growing up set the stage for many memories with my sister and her husband.
This is not a sponsored post. I did not receive any compensation for this review. All opinions are my own. Thanks to Wanda Lynne Young for her photos.
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Margarita Ibbott is a travel and lifestyle blogger. She blogs about travel in Canada, the United States and Europe giving practical advice through restaurant, hotel and attraction reviews. She writes for DownshiftingPRO.com and other online media outlets.
Lucky girl ! Elton John is one of my faves. So happy you enjoyed the show ! (Jan Dempsey)
I am glad you enjoyed the concert and a lovely evening with your husband. I love this post. It’s so detailed and flattering. I didn’t know half of this information about Elton John.