Elton John's 60th b-day concert

I've seen a good number of clips from this concert and it sounds/looks phenomenal. It's out on Blu-Ray and I'm told it's supposed to air sometime in April. He played a lot of obscure songs. The best is definitely Ballad of a Well-Known Gun, an Elton song I never thought I'd hear live. I think he sings this better as a baritone than a tenor. Take Me to the Pilot: I'm Still Standing:

Do you like Cher?

Originally Posted by LabelKing

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Do you like Cher?
Actually, I detest Cher. She is terrible.

Elton John is the man. One of my style icons ever since he switched his wardrobe to entirely Yohji Yamamoto. Favorite song of his is still "Benny and the Jets"

Originally Posted by LabelKing

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Do you like Cher?

Originally Posted by Connemara

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Actually, I detest Cher. She is terrible.

He's lying, LabelKing.

Conne, we know you love her and she will be a future avatar.

What do you think of Bette Midler?

Do you like musicals?

How about these hotties?

Originally Posted by Connemara

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Actually, I detest Cher. She is terrible.
Still hit-able.

Originally Posted by rnoldh

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How about these hotties?
Now those are some delightful broads.

I've seen Elton John twice in concert in the last 15-years and to be honest, his voice has really declined from the first concert I saw to the one about three years ago.

The first show was in about 1993 or '94 - a friend got stood up by a date and called to see if I wanted the extra ticket. It was a great show, just Elton with a piano and a percussionist on stage. I didn't really think of myself as a big Elton John fan before that, but I was impressed with his performance as well as the sheer number of hits he had - some of which I had forgotten about.

Because of that, I took my wife to his concert in 2005. This time he performed with a full band, backup singers and the whole stage show. It was still good and he still plays all his hits, however, it was obvious that his voice was no longer in the shape it had been even 11 or 12 years earlier. On practically every song he let his backup singers carry the melody after a certain point or above a certain pitch. I know it's just a symptom of aging, but I was disappointed.

I was even more disappointed in Elton a few months later when we saw Paul McCartney in concert and he did the whole show with just a four piece band, no backup singers and hit his notes all on his own.

Originally Posted by Bradford

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I've seen Elton John twice in concert in the last 15-years and to be honest, his voice has really declined from the first concert I saw to the one about three years ago. The first show was in about 1993 or '94 - a friend got stood up by a date and called to see if I wanted the extra ticket. It was a great show, just Elton with a piano and a percussionist on stage. I didn't really think of myself as a big Elton John fan before that, but I was impressed with his performance as well as the sheer number of hits he had - some of which I had forgotten about. Because of that, I took my wife to his concert in 2005. This time he performed with a full band, backup singers and the whole stage show. It was still good and he still plays all his hits, however, it was obvious that his voice was no longer in the shape it had been even 11 or 12 years earlier. On practically every song he let his backup singers carry the melody after a certain point or above a certain pitch. I know it's just a symptom of aging, but I was disappointed. I was even more disappointed in Elton a few months later when we saw Paul McCartney in concert and he did the whole show with just a four piece band, no backup singers and hit his notes all on his own.
People forget that Elton had serious throat surgery in the late 80's. He initially lost most of his falsetto and since then the voice has declined progressively. I still enjoy his voice/performances.

IMO Elton went downhill after Tumbleweed Connection and ***** Chateau

I finally picked up the DVD and it's quite good. The entire band is energetic and Elton really pounds away on the keys.

He played a ton of gems that haven't been performed in 20-30 yrs. I think there were a couple that he played live for the first time.

Best among the rarities are "Ballad of a Well Known Gun" (as I said before, sounds MUCH better with his lower-register voice), "Madman Across the Water," "Empty Garden," and a killer "Hercules."

EDIT: Also included in the extras are ~15 rare performances from the early '70's on through to 2006. Awesome stuff.

I am going to see him in concert next month. I'm looking forward to it.

While I still have love for Elton, there's something about that youthful falsetto from his older output that I yearn for in his post-1986 work. Earlier today I was listening to "My Father's Gun" from Tumbleweed Connection -- the way that man could write and perform a hook in the 70s was untouchable.