Elton John – Christchurch: January 24, 2023

Elton John took his Farewell Yellow Brick Road Tour to Christchurch last night and we sent Christchurch rocker Adam Hattaway to report on the Rocket Man.

I don’t like stadium shows but I’m gonna try my best to be objective here.

I saw Elton John once before. 2016 in London. I was in my early 20s then and now I’m old (nearly 30). I remember having a great time at the London show although the main memory is of the MDMA kicking in just as ‘Rocket Man’ rose up into that exhilarating chorus. Great timing. Always thought that was pretty COOL….

So how did the old Adam find the 2023 Chch show compared to the young Adam at the slightly less old Elton John London show? Man, I definitely didn’t need any MDMA. or fentanyl or whatever.

Chch, January 24 2023. Mr. John suddenly sprung up onto the stage after an ear splitting introduction. Straight onto the piano and straight into ‘Bennie and The Jets’. That first piano BANG. And then another. Unmistakable. And then we’re in.

It always struck me how much his voice has changed – it doesn’t sound ruined by age, overuse, or substance abuse, although I’m sure it’s definitely true of the first two and possibly the third. The timbre of it is just so DIFFERENT now – it sounds like a totally different man in tone, but his phrasing and delivery is still as special in all its idiosyncrasies as its always been

His voice is powerful. Throughout the show, the vocals are economical in that he holds back a lot of the time but lets rip a good vocal belt every so often in ragged, lionesque bursts. A song that I used to think was pretty lame, ‘I Guess That’s Why They Call It The Blues’, and was converted to the realisation of its brilliance at the London show, was off the chain tonight! That song has to be belted and the man didn’t hold back. This performance was as poignant and powerful as it should be and it brought it all back home for me tonight.

Back to Bennie and The Jets.

He sounds like him! But different. But him.

Beginning with ‘Bennie and the Jets’ could’ve seemed like blowing their load right off the bat, but the gradual excitement that song creates as it grooves along proves itself to be the perfect opener. As the show continued, and so many huge timeless songs are played, even though you already know, you can’t help but marvel at what a catalogue of classics he has.

What a bunch of ANTHEMS.

I’ve heard other people say his voice was nowhere near what it used to be and I remember seeing a video of him breaking down last time he was in NZ (to be fair, he did have pneumonia) unable to power through with a broken voice but that was NOT THE CASE WHATSOEVER TONIGHT.

The band killed it. Their sound was perfectly rooted in 1974, deftly reaching out to either side of that era to encompass all the styles pertinent to the set list but man, that band still rocks hard, without losing it’s swing, swagger or groovy glam stomp, they just GET it.

They have his back. They should do – many of them have played with him since the early 70s and he gives them all the love they deserve in the band introductions later on.

Then he takes it up a notch with ‘Philadelphia Freedom.’

INFECTIOUS GOOD VIBES.

That put-on voice he does at the very start of this song sounds exactly the same as on the original recording. Like Dylan, he knows how to put his voice into good use after it’s changed through the years.

Why do the videos on the big screen look like Adidas ads?

We’re a third of the way through now.

We get a touching little story about offering to sing in Aretha Franklin’s place when she was old and decrepit – Did he really say to Aretha “You’re so Frail?!” Sounds pretty Hollywood.

But he said she went out there and killed it. She’d covered his “Border Song” from his second album. And then he totally killed it.

I do love the first two albums.

He’s lost the high squeak he but still the got power.

In ‘Tiny dancer’, there was finally a noticeable reaction in the audience but overall, it was still a pretty classic lacklustre New Zealand reaction.

I saw someone trying to “shazam” a song and someone else showing photos of her children to a friend. Wow.

I would’ve thought you can’t help but feel something as the song builds up step by step as it climbs to the best chorus ever.

Between dirty rockers and many an anthemic ballad, a song like ‘Levon’ sits right in the middle of his umbrella of sounds.

Good balance.

It really takes off in the end as his fingers lose their shit in a rock n roll freak-out leading up to a James Brownesque slump over the piano at the end.

The big screen showed black and white close ups of Elton during Levon. That was better than what they had on there during the rest of the set.

Then we got two in a row from his masterpiece, ‘Goodbye Yellow Brick Road’ – ‘Candle In The Wind’, then the super exciting opening track, ‘Funeral For A Friend’. What a ride.

You can really cling onto every line of candle in the wind. I was glued.

He casually slunk off at this point for a quick stage rearrangement as the intro to ‘Funeral For A Friend’ begins.

Costume stage! Mine and Morgan’s fav song of the night. Great song, so GLAM, BEST GUITAR ONE.

‘Burn Down The Mission’ – There’s heaps of people buying merch during the obscure song. Reminds me of pub gigs I’ve played.

We could tell they weren’t real flames. Lady Gaga sets her piano on fire for real.

It’s so early. ‘Don’t Let The Sun Go Down On Me’ was timed for the sun to go down which would’ve been cool but in a selfish way, I’m glad it was cloudy.

It would’ve been a little bright if the sun was out. This song was dedicated to David Crosby as he did BVs on the album ‘Blue Moves’.

Different album but all good.

Ok, I kinda had the same experience tonight with my aversion to the song as I did with ‘I Guess That’s Why They Call It The Blues’ at the London show way back.

He is the ballad king.

But I’m pretty drunk right now.

‘The Bitch Is Back’ completes a one two punch from the album ‘Caribou.’

Now that’s one hell of a fun album. He does Stonesy rock n roll so good.

They crack into ‘I’m Still standing’ and so is just about everyone. Dancing even.

Of course, ‘Crocodile Rock’ took that vibe to the next level

The band just powered through. Did what they needed to do.

He lost The words or something weird happened in the last verse but no one cares. They got what they wanted.

It’s so like being at a pub covers gig.

Just in some ways

A lot more glitter though.

Just when you think you can’t take any more pleasure, ‘Saturday Night’s Alright For Fighting’ is a full on rock n roll frenzy. My favourite.

Of course there’s an encore, of course it’s ‘Your Song.’

Actually, no. First it was that remix song thing with Dani Lopez. That was annoying. She was singing on the screen. But he was wearing a pink dressing gown, so that was fun.

In his sweet goodnight speech he said we’d done well since the earthquake –  I guess that’s what he was referencing. We’re strong, we’re resilient.

He did say we always make him feel welcome, he said thanks for making him feel loved all these years. He did look like he was just about actual Crying. Wow

Tonight’s show ended with ‘Goodbye Yellow Brick Road’ which is gonna take a whole lotta something to get that out of my head now. Not that I wanna stop singing it.

The joy of performing is still bursting out of Elton John – he can’t hide it.

That rush that musicians feel when things inexplicably kick into a higher gear was tangible from where I was sitting at many different times tonight, and EJ threw his head back and smiled every time things clicked into gear.

Until the next final farewell NZ show, that feeling which Elton and his super rockin band shared together, gave to his audience and received back from us, is what I’ll carry with me from this show.

What a killer set. They don’t call him The Killer for nothing. No wait, that’s Jerry Lee Lewis.

Adam Hattaway

Here’s the set:

Bennie And The Jets

Philadelphia Freedom

I Guess That’s Why They Call It The Blues

Border Song

Tiny Dancer

Have Mercy On The Criminal

Rocket Man

Take Me To The Pilot

Someone Saved My Life Tonight

Levon

Candle In The Wind

Funeral For A Friend

Burn Down The Mission

Sad Songs

Sorry Seems To Be The Hardest Word

Don’t Let The Sun Go Down On Me

The Bitch Is Back

I’m Still Standing

Crocodile Rock

Saturday Night’s Alright For Fighting

Cold Heart

Your Song

Goodbye Yellow Brick Road