Project Description

ELTON JOHN

+ Tate Sheridan

@ Rochford Wines

31/01/20

(LIVE REVIEW)

Reviewer: Simone Tyrrell

Photos – Taylah Walton

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“The most elaborate, high-tech arena show Elton has ever attempted…A parade of mega-hits and one hell of a way to say goodbye.” – Rolling Stone USA

“Each song felt so important. Each moment seemed so significant. And the crowd hung on every word, spoken or sung. It wasn’t just a concert, but rather a chance for these fans to express their thanks to a performer whose music has played such a huge part in the soundtracks of their lives.” – Mercury News, California

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What an interesting day it was in Mebourne on Friday 31st of January!

Elton John was set to do his Farewell Yellow Brick Road show at Rochford Winery in the Yarra Valley, and it was forecast to be a very very hot 43 degrees. (That’s 109.4 Fahrenheit for our overseas friends reading this review!)

All fans were keeping watch of the weather forecast as well as social media sites to listen for any announcements of cancellations. Fortunately, no cancellation messages came, and the show was to go ahead as planned.

The gates opened at 4pm to the winery and eager fans with general admission tickets arrived early despite the heat to secure a good position for the show.

Fans continued to pour into the grounds in a consistent flow from 4pm through to 7pm when Elton was due to appear on stage.

First up though for the support act to warm up an already overheated crowd was a young Australian musician by the name of Tate Sheridan. Tate is a 26-year-old musician hailing from Sydney and is a pianist and singer-song writer. Sheridan’s music is a mix of jazz, pop and soul. During his set he spoke about he felt he was born before his time and that he loves the artists of old and that is how he likes to approach his song writing style.

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There were several songs on the set list that he specifically mentioned who the artist was that inspired him for that song. Before his song “Young Love” he explained that it was inspired by The Rolling Stones and their style, and another song he performed “Alright” he told the crowd how it was inspired by Aretha Franklin and how she was an inspiration for him growing up.

Sheridan is an extremely talented pianist and his vocals are so soulful, and his song lyrics so touching and beautiful. It was clear by his songs and from his musical inspirations that he can play a variety of genres and styles with ease.

Sheridan’s storytelling within his songs are incredibly in depth drawing from life experiences. Sheridan’s song “Two Steps Back” for example was a song he explained to the crowd that he wrote about being a musician and the frustrations within the music industry as well as another song that was written about losing a friend.

Sheridan ended his set with his song “Fade to Black”. Sheridan received resounding applause after each number and despite the heat his set was thoroughly enjoyed.

The crowd then had 45 minutes to wait for Elton to come on stage and many people took advantage to top up with cold drinks from the food vendors on site as well as filling water bottles. The heat did not let up at all and the cool change was not expected in Melbourne until after midnight.

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Finally, the moment had arrived for Elton and his band to come on stage. Elton walked out sporting a large pair of pink glasses with diamond like stones all around the frames and a suit that consisted of a white tailcoat with diamond rhinestones along the collar, and black pants which featured the diamond rhinestones along the outer seams of the pants. When all the band members were walking out on stage every jumped to their feet and started cheering, clapping and screaming. For a moment Elton made everyone forget that they were sweltering away.

When Elton sat down at his piano, the first chord he played for the night was the very distinct 7th chord at the start of “Bennie and the Jets”. Elton just played the chord once and the crowd started cheering. He then played the cord again and paused once again for a few seconds. After teasing the crowd with the cord a few times with a pause each time, he then jumped into the song. Everyone was upstanding for the whole song singing and clapping along.

After “Bennie and the Jets” the crowd was going wild with applause in appreciation for the great man that is Elton John. Elton then jumped straight into his second song “All the Girls Love Alice”. When this song was over, Elton took a moment to greet the cheering crowd and he started off by saying “It is fucking hot!!” He then welcomed everyone to the Farewell Yellow Brick Road Tour and thanked everyone for buying a ticket and coming to the show.

Elton then jumped into the third song of the night “I Guess That’s Why They Call it the Blues”. Elton stayed at the piano for each song that was played. Every song was also played as an extended version showcasing one instrument or another, but mostly Elton’s piano playing.

The two screens on either side of the stage not only provided visuals of Elton and the band on stage throughout the night but other imagery played as well such as artistic portraits of a mirrored Elton John face with many neon colours, imagery of people be it dancing or overlaid portraits and pictures of nature and space.

For the next number, Elton also spoke about Aretha Franklin and how she was an inspiration for him and his long-term friend and song writer Bernie Taupin in their early days. He then told the story about how she had chosen to do one of his songs off his very first album. Elton then played “Border Song”.

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The next song of the night was one of the crowd’s favourites as the band started up “Tiny Dancer” which had the crowd back up on their feet. There were people in the crowd arm and arm, hugging friends and loved ones as they swayed and sung this iconic well know Elton John song. The crowd then stayed on their feet as Elton dove straight into the next number of “Philadelphia Freedom” while imagery on the screens played of people dancing in brightly coloured suits with a 70’s style.

Elton then took a break to talk to the crowd about his relationship with Bernie Taupin which they have had for 53 years this year and how proud he is of that both professionally and personally in an industry that tends to chew you up and spit you out. He said they were lucky that had never happened to them. He then went on to explain their song writing process and how Elton imagines the imagery like a movie whilst the song unfolds. He introduced the next song by saying it ended up being 5 pages long and what was he going to do with it. Elton said he loved the lyric so much that he decided to put it into 3 sections because it told the story of the demise of the Native American Red Indian. He then started singing “Indian Sunset” with no instruments for the first verse before the rest of the band jumped in with their instruments and Elton playing the piano for the rest of the song.

The only shocking thing of the show was the fact Elton still had his jacket on and that it was still 43 degrees!! Everyone around me kept saying “when is he going to take his jacket off, he must be dying up there”, but Elton did not falter at all even with the extreme heat. He did look extremely hot though! And just to prove he wasn’t going to let the heat stop him from performing, imagery then showed up on the screens of flames and sparks and sounds of a rocket ship rumbling. Elton then jumped straight into “Rocket Man” which was another crowd favourite of the night and had everyone back up on their feet once again to sing the lyrics out loud along with Elton on stage.

The next song was another lively number with “Take Me to the Pilot” which featured a very long piano intro. After this song Elton took it down a notch from the lively song and treated the crowd to “Sorry Seems to be the Hardest Word”.

Once this number had finished, Elton took another opportunity to chat to the crowd about his favourite album which is “Captain Fantastic and the Brown Dirt Cowboy”. He said it is his personal favourite as the songs are about his and Bernie’s journey. Elton then said he wanted to play for everyone the most personal song for him off the album and he started to play the song “Someone Saved My Life Tonight”.

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For the next song that Elton played “Levon” and the screens showed the footage on the stage as black and white and mostly stayed on Elton playing the piano.

The following song Elton just played by himself on the piano with no other band members or instruments. “Candle in the Wind”. During this song the vision of Elton on the screens was a close up of him singing and playing at the piano.

At approximately 8.30pm after Elton had been playing for about an hour and a half, what happened next was epic indeed. Straight after “Candle in the Wind”, vision came onto the screens of dark rolling clouds, with rain and lightening and it was coupled with the sound effects of rain, lightening cracks, and thunder. This vision played for about a minute or so and then Elton started playing the piano as the vision ceased. Out of nowhere the winds suddenly picked up and just blew right through the winery and blew across the grounds taking with it peoples chairs, picnic rugs, baskets, hats off heads and anything that wasn’t pinned down! With that epic gale of wind came a torrential downpour of rain. People started screaming and getting up and tried to collect their belongings. On stage was another story. The rain and gale force winds were pushing the rain onto the stage and while Elton played as the rain started bucketing down it was just pouring down onto him and his piano. It was only a matter of 10 seconds or so of playing while this wild weather kicked up that Elton was rushed off the stage and the crew came out and started covering the equipment with tarps. People started to leave the grounds en masse while the wild weather continued while about half just stayed and sat in the downpour waiting to see what would happen and if someone would come and make an announcement or if they were waiting for the rain to pass for the show to go on. Everyone literally looked like they had jumped into a swimming pool fully clothed! It went from 45 degrees down to about 25 degrees in a matter of minutes! People had been sweltering and then everyone was shivering with cold from being drenched to the core! It was incredible!

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Finally, after about 5 or so minutes, someone came on to the stage and announced that Elton and the band would not be coming back on as it had been deemed not safe to do so and that all the instruments on stage including electronics had been wiped out. Piano, keyboards, the lot. Patrons were advised to hang on to their tickets and as Elton is in the country until March that the promoters are going to work on seeing if they can schedule another date for this show for us all to come back to.

It was so uncanny the timing of the gale force winds and torrential rain coming through right on cue after Elton’s vision and sound of a storm running on the screens. Elton may now be dubbed by Melbournians as “Elton the Weather God” as he invoked the rains to come that night and made the heavens open up!

Despite the show finishing approx. 1 hour earlier than the show finish time, the show we did get to see was phenomenal. The musicians, the music arrangements, the sound, vision and lighting and of course the great man himself, Elton John. With his candid stories of his songs and his career, his amazing vocals singing songs that have gone down in history as unforgettable classics, and his incredible talent on the piano is just second to none. What a fabulous way to farewell one of the greatest musicians of our time with this all-encompassing tour celebrating his career. Not only will this show be talked about for a long time to come due to it being an Elton John farewell show, but it will be talked about forever due to how the show unfolded. I am sure the Melbourne show will always be a memorable show for Elton John himself for a long time for how crazy Melbourne’s weather is – from being boiling hot one second and freezing the next!! That’s just how we roll here in Melbourne! I can’t tell you the number of outdoor festivals and shows this actually happens at! I do hope we will see Elton again for another date before he leaves our shores and that our wild weather hasn’t scared him off!

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Check out Taylah Walton’s gallery of this event HERE

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Check out ELTON JOHN below
Website | Facebook  | Instagram  | Twitter 

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REMAINING DATES

DUNEDIN, NZ
Tuesday 4 February 2020 – Forsyth Barr Stadium 
ticketmaster.co.nz

HAWKE’S BAY, NZ
Thursday 6 February 2020 – Mission Estate Winery – SOLD OUT
missionconcert.co.nz 

HAWKE’S BAY, NZ
Saturday 15 February 2020 – Mission Estate Winery – SOLD OUT
*Moved from Saturday 8 February 2020
missionconcert.co.nz
 
AUCKLAND, NZ
Sunday 16 February 2020 – Mt Smart Stadium 
*Moved from Sunday 9 February 2020
ticketmaster.co.nz

AUCKLAND, NZ
Tuesday 18 February 2020 – Mt Smart Stadium
*Moved from Tuesday 11 February 2020
ticketmaster.co.nz 

AUCKLAND, NZ
Thursday 20 February 2020 – Mt Smart Stadium 
ticketmaster.co.nz 

MELBOURNE, VIC
Saturday 22 February 2020 – AAMI Park 
Tate Sheridan Three Piece
ticketek.com.au

COFFS HARBOUR, NSW
Tuesday 25 February 2020 – C.ex Coffs International Stadium
Tate Sheridan Three Piece
ticketek.com.au

COFFS HARBOUR, NSW
Wednesday 26 February 2020 – C.ex Coffs International Stadium
Tate Sheridan Three Piece
ticketek.com.au
 
TOWNSVILLE, QLD
Saturday 29 February 2020 – North Queensland Stadium
Tate Sheridan Solo Performance
ticketmaster.com.au

SUNSHINE COAST, QLD
Tuesday 3 March 2020 – Sunshine Coast Stadium 
Tate Sheridan Solo Performance
ticketek.com.au

SUNSHINE COAST, QLD
Wednesday 4 March 2020 – Sunshine Coast Stadium
Tate Sheridan Solo Performance
ticketek.com.au

SYDNEY, NSW
Saturday 7 March 2020 – Bankwest Stadium 
Tate Sheridan Three Piece
ticketek.com.au

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IMPORTANT INFORMATION:
oznz.eltonjohn.com is the official home of all Elton John Farewell Yellow Brick Road tour information.

Ticketek and Ticketmaster* are they only authorised ticket sellers for Elton John’s Farewell Yellow Brick Road Australia-New Zealand dates. No responsibility is accepted for tickets purchased from unauthorised sellers; these may be refused entry, no exceptions.

*Authorised ticket seller for Mission Estate Winery, Hawke’s Bay is www.missionconcert.co.nz

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ABOUT ELTON JOHN

Elton’s career achievements to date are unsurpassed in their breadth and longevity. Elton is one of the top-selling solo artists of all time, with 38 gold records and 31 platinum and multi-platinum albums, over 50 Top 40 hits, and he has sold more than 300 million records worldwide. He holds the record for the biggest-selling single of all time, “Candle in the Wind 1997,” which sold over 33 million copies. ‘Diamonds’ the Ultimate Greatest Hits album, reached the Top 5 of the UK album charts on its release in November 2017, becoming Elton’s 40th UK Top 40 album in the process, reaching Gold status before the end of the year. This release celebrated 50 years of his songwriting partnership with Bernie Taupin. August 2018 saw Elton named as the most successful male solo artist in Billboard Hot 100 chart history, having logged 67 entries, including nine No.1s and 27 Top 10s.

He has also written the music for stage and screen successes Billy Elliot: The Musical, Elton John and Tim Rice’s Aida, and The Lion King, which was named the highest-grossing stage show or film release in the world. Elton announced the ‘Farewell Yellow Brick Road’ tour at New York’s Gotham Hall in January 2018. Encompassing 5 continents, and over 300 dates, this 3-year-long tour started in September and marks his retirement from touring after more than 50 years on the road. To date, Elton has delivered more than 4,000 performances in more than 80 countries since launching his first tour in 1970. April 2018 saw the release of ‘Revamp’, an album of the world’s biggest musical stars covering some of Elton’s best loved Songs.

Among the many awards and honours bestowed upon him are five GRAMMYs along with a GRAMMY Legend award, a Tony and an Oscar, a Best British Male Artist BRIT Award, induction into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame and the Songwriters Hall of Fame, the Kennedy Center Honor, Legend of Live Award, 13 Ivor Novello Awards and a knighthood from HM Queen Elizabeth II for “services to music and charitable services.”

In 1992, Elton established the Elton John AIDS Foundation, which today is one of the leading non-profit HIV/AIDS organizations and has raised over $400 million to date in the global fight against HIV/AIDS. In January 2018, he received the Crystal Award for this long- standing fight against HIV/AIDS at the World Economic Forum in Davos. At the 2018 International AIDS Conference in Amsterdam, Sir Elton John and Prince Harry, Duke of Sussex, announced the launch of the MenStar Coalition; an over $1.2 billion global partnership, that seeks to engage men in new and innovative ways to break the cycle of HIV transmission and ultimately end the AIDS epidemic by 2030.

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AMNPLIFY – DB