Elton John! YAY!

 Above the opening number,  Benny and the Jets

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So here we are..!

On the 17th of January 2023 at Sir Elton John's Farewell Yellow Brick Road concert.

It was at the brand new Allianz stadium in Sydney's Moore Park.

The weather was absolutely glorious, unlike the next night where it rained. So I chose the date very well those several months ago, when I bought the tickets on the day they went on sale.

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A confession.

NSW Health gave me a bonus for my work during the coronavirus crisis, and I spent nearly all of it on 2 tickets to see Elton John in concert. I love this guy, I listen to his music on my playlist nearly every day, and when I heard it was his last tour of Australia,,,,

I said, "Well, we are sooo, going to that Graham!".

 I would sincerely like to say a big thank you to NSW Health, its a lovely monitory reward for all the awful stress I went through during those first covid years. It also puts my and your money back into NSW's economy paying all the staff that run this great venue, and what goes around comes around.

Because of the kind money gift from my big bosses in the government,  I bought the tickets that were the closest to the stage that I could afford.

We were 6 rows from the front!

 Above:- This is a more realistic photo of ourselves, aged in our early 60's, than the glamour portraits we had taken on the cruise. Although, I'm wearing the same blouse, my new favourite. Whoever the guys are behind us, I bet they have lots of photos of the said same blouse, because we have lots of the tall bald bloke who sat in front of us!

Anyway, we ate our very expensive fish & chips, plus even more expensive tiny glasses of wine & beer.

And then, suddenly, there he is!

 No big entrance, he just hobbled on stage like some ordinary old guy who just happened to be wearing a wig and a sequined tuxedo.

What he may have lacked in body,  he made up for in talent, as he was was absolutely amazing,  his voice and piano playing are almost the same. He just can't hit the high notes, but that is to be as he is expected, he is 75.

 Some of these photos are mine and some are Grahams.

I'm not very good at photos with my phone and once it became darker the quality of the photos went a bit grainy. Although, I made have accidentally changed the settings in the dark, who knows? I'm surprised I didn't phone someone by mistake.

 The live vision feed and then putting it up live on the big screens was amazing. I couldn't see the cameras at all. None of this old fashion stuff of camera-people wearing black running around with cameras on their shoulders. 

There must be a huge backstage production crew, just moving the sets must be a major issue. How do they move all this from city to city? I want to see the backstage and how all this works. I wonder if they will do a tour film. I wonder if he's brought the kids to see a bit of Australia.

These next two photos aren't ours but I want to give you some perspective of the stage and the stadium so here are some snips I've taken from you tube with thanks to Paul Knight. He filmed the opening number from further up in the stands.

I can pinpoint the backs of our heads in the above snip!

If you would like to see the whole of Benny and the Jets from the 17th January 2023 here is the link.

 https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=OQZk7QC_efQ

Now, back to our photos, this below is with the large overhead screen, plus the stage screen. 

I think this is Rocket man.

 I have also learnt how to fix your photos. This below is the finale of Rocket Man (I think) which was originally totally washed out and now with a bit of a fiddle with light, colour and clarity is much more presentable!

And bang goes the piano lid as a cue to cheer and applaud!

Saturday Nights all Right for Fighting

 During our recent cruise there was always a parking lot of mobility scooters and walking frames outside the dining room.  The reason I mentioned this was that I wondered if there wasn't something similar in the wings just off the stage!

 

Only kidding!

They are all remarkable for old blokes and have far more stamina than me.

Below is I'm Still Standing.

Then the finale, where we got covered in yellow confetti. 

My handbag was open and it filled up with the stuff.

Then he came out for an encore - which we expected as he hadn't sung Goodbye Yellow Brick Road. 

He'd left it until last.

Then he was transported backstage and was last seen on screen 

wandering off down the Yellow Brick Road...

It was a bit sad, as this is his last tour and the end felt very final.

It was amazing! So glad I did the impulse buy and spent the money on this great experience..