I thought there was a telling moment in the pre-show interview when he was asked if will miss anything about touring and he replied 'nothing'! That pretty much says it all - I don't think he can wait for the tour to end.
to be devil's advocate; I think he's spot on and honest, in that he won't miss touring at all. to me, that means he can't wait to be done with travelling around the world for the 1000th time. Even at his level of travel, hotels etc, it must be exhausting. Done with playing though? I don't think so. I don't see him never doing a show again. He loves music too much. I really hope he does smaller series of shows in major cities, where he focuses on deep cuts. At the level his performing at now, he can easily go another 5-10 years if his health allows him to
This is what I'm thinking as well... it's the same octave/key, he's just replacing the highnotes with lower ones, and his tone is much darker.
Exactly. Rocket Man's a good example. So is Levon. And especially Philadelphia Freedom. He actually altered a number of these all the way back to late 1986, and many have just remained altered ever since. He had his falsetto for a long time, but his ability to effortlessly glide in and out of it slipped away by the late 90s. When I saw him in 1992 he received a request to do Goodbye Yellow Brick Road. He declined, saying he didn't do that song anymore. But by 1997 he found a way to make it work and brought it back. (That's one song where he did in fact lower the key, by a whole step).
Yeah. He clearly still loves performing for people. The part he's tired of is the endless traveling. That's the part of touring he won't miss. After, like two or three years away, I could see him deciding to do a few one off shows or a short residency somewhere as long as he didn't have to travel long distances. We shail see.
The music sounded fine, but I can't believe folks actually thought he sounded in fine voice. Maybe better than he's been in the recent past, but still just a distance, marginally recognizable shadow of his old self. The melodies were just too reworked for my taste and his intonation was a bit all over. But if you want to see Elton in 2022, it's what you're gonna get. However I'm not gonna put a shine on it either. Being on the east coast I fell asleep, but I was glad to see the production team eschewed the use of super quick cuts.
He sounds FAR better than the last two times I saw him live (where backup singers handled all the high parts). But I'd say that he only sounds "better than I expected" not actually "good".
I honestly thought he sounded great! Of course this is 75 year old Elton, he is not going to be able to match the vocal abilities of what a younger Elton could do - but to me he had a great control over his voice during these shows both in pitch and in tonality. Some songs actually really impressed me just in general with the power he could still exude at age 75 (Have Mercy On the Criminal, Levon, Bennie, Your Song, etc) To me this is not "marginally recognizable shadow of his former self" but an older Elton who gracefully knows how to adapt to what his vocal chords are capable of - both in terms of melody choices and vocal projection
Given the abuse he delt to his body with his addictions and all the years of touring , it's a sheer miracle he is alive, let alone performing at this high a level. No one is saying he sounds like he did 40 years ago. But given the circumstances and when compared to how he has sounded in recent years in other shows, last night he sounded at the top of what he is capable now. He sounded great for a 75 year old man who has sung nonstop for nearly 6 decades and spent much of his 20s through his early 40s trying to kill himself with nearly every chemical and vice known to man.
I’m bored with the old rockers in concert now. Elton, McCartney, Stones, Springsteen etc etc They are a shadow of their former selves. I’m happy they still love performing and many people still enjoy seeing them but I prefer to watch older videos of them in their prime. Elton in the 70’s was the best ! Best of luck to him
I was kind of hoping to hear "Empty Garden (Hey Hey Johnny)." As there was often a valedictory feel to the night, I thought it might have fit well.
I don't think he will do Vegas again unless it's a very limited residency. Even then it might be just him on piano or Ray Cooper on percussion. In any case I think the Era of the big extravagant full band rock hit jukebox shows is ending and most of his Las Vegas shows have been just that. I remember him mentioning back before the pandemic maybe doing a deep cuts residency in England once the tour was done, but that's been years ago so maybe he has changed his mind about that too. I think the most likely scenario is that after a couple year break he does another album with Bernie and maybe he does a short residency or a couple one off shows in support of it. Perhaps he also does some TV chat show appearances here or in England where he performs the latest single etc. I don't think he's done with live performances but it will be a little while before we see him on stage again after the tour completely wraps up next year.
He normally only does that song when he's in New York or at Madison Square Garden. I don't recall if he did that song when he was there earlier this year or not. He doesn't do it often as it is because he gets emotional when he plays it . Last night felt mostly like one big celebration and playing that song may have been too much of a downer.
From looking at older vs newer set lists, the 2018 show I attended included Indian Sunset played by just him and Ray as was done on their 1980 (?) tour. It’s since been replaced by Have Mercy On The Criminal.
He shuffled a few other songs too - I Want Love and Believe were switched in and out at one point. He also added Sorry Seems to be the Hardest Word at some point pre-pandemic, and All the Young Girls Love Alice was in early on.
It's possible not all the drums are 100% live thesedays? So keep the cameras at a distance except when permitted.
I think the drums were live. They had three percussion players! It’s just that Nigel wasn’t on a riser so he got a bit obscured. Later in the show there were better angles of him playing. My guess is the director maybe noticed the same thing. Nigel was much more prominent on screen in the latter half than the front half. The perspective changed some.
I notice the filming of the show was directed by Paul Dugdale who also directed the Rolling Stones' Sweet Summer Sun and Havana Moon concert films as well as Paul McCartney's 2018 Cavern Club concert.
