Elton John: Classic Concert Series on YouTube

Following last week's Edinburgh '76, the next in Elton's Classic Concert Series on YouTube is from Sydney 1986 when he performed the first half with his band (whilst wearing a pink wig). He was then joined by the Melbourne Symphony Orchestra in the second half (dressed as Chopin).

The trailer has just been released:

 

Thank you! Looking forward to this one after enjoying the first one so much!

 

I wonder how much of this concert they will be showing, considering it lasts 3 hours.

I had thought they might just focus on the 2nd half with the orchestra but the trailer suggests otherwise.

It will be great to get the whole show. I guess if it is edited it will mirror the VHS release.

 

It's supposed to be the entire 3 hour show.

 

A clip of Bennie and the Jets has been released ahead of this weekends concert:

 

Do these concerts stay up on You Tube once released or do they go away after awhile? If they go away, how long do they stay up for?

 

They only seem to be available for a couple of days.

Last week the Edinburgh concert was uploaded on Friday at 5pm BST. I don't know exactly when it got taken down, but I think it was on Sunday.

This week the concert is being uploaded tomorrow at 5pm BST. Not sure how long it will be available but guessing it will get taken down either Sunday or Monday.

I am hoping this is the equivalent of showing a concert on TV before a physical release!

 

All shows are up for 72 hours according to the press release.

 

Thanks for the heads up. Is this concert the same one as the official Live in Australia CD/Vinyl Release, as this sample clip does not appear to include the Orchestra?

Maybe you should just start a General Elton John YouTube Concert Thread, so we can just follow each week to know what and when all future Concerts will be shown, as opposed to creating a Thread for each Concert. That way we can get alerts each week as a reminder. Just a thought.

 

I understand they recorded a number of the Australian shows for the live album but several of the songs from this televised show ended up on the album. However the televised show included a few songs with the orchestra that were not included on the album - eg Saturday Nights Alright for Fighting.

The album didn't include any of the songs from the first half which did not feature the orchestra. Bennie and the Jets (as posted above) was from the first set. The orchestra only featured on the part of the concert where Elton was dressed as Chopin.

Good suggestion about the thread. I will see if we can change the title of this thread so it can be a more general thread.

 

I always assumed this concert was in Melbourne since it utilized the Melbourne Symphony. So, did not realize it was in Sydney. Was it in a place with better acoustics so they used it and brought in the Melbourne Symphony?

I do love the CD, it sadly after listening to the 1976 Edinburgh Concert last weekend, you can hear the decline in Elton’s Voice by this time 10 years later. I assume partly due to his heavy drug use those years post 1976?

 

Elton's 26-date Australian “Tour de Force” with the 88-piece Melbourne Symphony Orchestra
in late 1986 was the first of its kind for any rock act. While he was planning the setlist for the
orchestral half of the concert, Elton selected songs from his first few albums, many of which he
had not performed live for nearly 15 years, as they featured string and horn arrangements. Well
before the tour began, Elton was told by his doctor that he shouldn't use his voice at all (singing
or speaking) due to nodules on his vocal cords. However, this gave his vocals a raspy quality that
only added to the emotion of the songs. The resulting “Live In Australia…” album stayed on the
Billboard Top 200 for 41 weeks, the second-longest of any Elton album since 1975.

 

The Tour de Force traveled to 5 cities in Australia playing over 26 shows. The finale run was in Sydney. The entire tour was recorded for the album, but according to Gus Dudgeon, producer, most of the material on the album came from the final night in Sydney, Dec 14, 1986 (which was also televised live in Australia and recorded for home video release). The shows were broken into two halves - 1st, the 'popular' portion, with Elton and his large band (including brass) playing hits and rockers. After an intermission, he returned (in Mozart outfit) joined by the 88 piece Melbourne Symphony Orchestra to play the "classical" segment.

The live album only featured music from the second half, and omitted four songs (Cold as Christmas, Slow Rivers, Carla/Etude, and Saturday Night's Alright For Fighting).

 

As you might have spotted, following TheSeldomSeenKids suggestion, this thread has been re-titled to make it more generic and can therefore be used to discuss all of Elton's concerts that are being shown on YouTube over the coming weeks.

 

Thank you. This is one of my favorite concerts of his and I’ve never seen the full version.

 

Very much looking forward to watching this.

 

The whole concert was filmed and broadcast on Aussie tv, and it is brilliant.
It needs to be released on dvd or bluray... I don't mind, but it deserves to be released, and they made the album so they have multis for a good audio mix

 

This will be uploaded in a couple of minutes.

Anyone else watching this as soon as it comes on?

 

Great to see a brass section included in the band.

 

Well clearly based on the running time of less than 110 minutes, this is not the full concert!

2 songs are missing from the first half and I notice a few songs being skipped in the second half. There has also been no between song introductions or speaking to the audience which I assume there is in the unedited concert.

However this is still a fantastic concert and a huge contrast to the stripped down Edinburgh concert.

Once again, I hope for a physical release of the full length concert.

 

was the vhs release the complete gig? I have a vhs rip on a dvd somewhere, but I haven't seen it for ages...

from what I've seen before, it seems they have done some restoration work on the picture quality. Can't really comment on the sound as I listened to only parts of the stream, and on headphones. But seeing as how the original release sounds great, I suppose there's little room for improvement.

I hope they have a release in mind with these - seems odd to put in restoration work only for a 72 hr window on a digital plattform....

 

I believe the concert was released on 2 different VHS tapes and these were edited and did not include all songs performed. Each was approximately an hour long I think.

 

I am watching this Concert now. My first thought is that Tina Tuner looks Mannish.

I liked the Extended Version of 'Rocketman'.

Looks like a Few Songs('Tonight', 'Tiny Dancer' and 'Madman Across the Water') are not part of this Video Version. That is too bad, as I love 'TD' and 'MATW', so if this Concert ever gets a Physical BluRay or DVD, if the Video captured would not make BluRay beneficial, I hope it will include those Songs missing on this YouTube Release. I recall someone mentioning that EJ performed several Concerts in Australia for this Tour, so maybe the CD Version is from a different night? I would have preferred any of the 3 Missing Songs to replace 'Candle in the Wind', but for others-YMMV.

I will try to watch it 2 times this weekend then post a final few thoughts. I am not into these Bombastic Outfits that Elton is wearing, but I am just enjoying the Music, like I do on the CD version of this Tour that I own.

 

The cd version is a compilation of different performances from the tour, although I believe most of the selections came from the televised concert.

Having a scan of different setlists from the Australian tour, it appears there were slight variations to the first half but the second half with the orchestra remained the same from night to night.