This is the third time I have seen Sir Elton John.  I saw him in 1980 and in 2005.  He can still sing great and of course, tickle the ivory's.  This was a good as it gets.  At first, I did not think he was going to do very many of his songs opting for more songs with him and Leon.  That was not the case.  The songs they did together are very good.

My wife and I were on the floor, Section 105, row 14, end of row seats towards the middle of the stage.  Several of my friends had floor seats like Tina Clements Brown and Lorri Crossno Nevil but I did not see any of them.  This is a great venue to see a concert because it is a very small auditorium.  I think it only has seats for 10,000-13,000.  When it was the Tarrant County Convention Center in the 1970s, I saw my first two concerts here - Paul McCartney's "Wings Over America" in 1976 and Electric Light Orchestra's [ELO] "Out of the Blue" tour.

Before the concert and at 5 PM, my wife and I met Rick and Tamara Dirkse and their daughter Renee, and Mike and Glenda Reid at the Harbor for dinner at Luna De Noche.  Mike was not going to the concert.  I believe I had met her before but it was good to talk to Renee.  At less than half my age, she's a huge fan of EJ.

We all got to the concert fairly early.  We met a girl in front of us named Ashley Brazzel who was very excited to be there.  She brought three Elton John albums and one Leon Russell album.  Elton signed all three of her albums.  I should have brought an album as I would have gotten it signed.

There were a couple of mullets sitting next to us who kept getting up to go get beer.  Our tickets were $177 each and I do not know why people get up constantly to go get beer.  I am there for the music. I am also not sure why a girl would be with a guy like that.  They were almost drunk enough to get thrown out.

In 1971, I was an 11-year old drummer and therefore, Elton's drummer Nigel Olsson was a big influence on me.  I love the way he bangs the drums on songs like Don't Let The Sun God Down On Me and Someone Saved My Life Tonight.  Original band member Davey Johnson was also on guitar.  One of his guitars had Captain Fantastic artwork on it.  The other original member and bass player Dee Murray died in 1992.

From Wikipedia:

"Murray and Olsson first appeared on disc with John on the 1970 album Tumbleweed Connection, though they were first featured on the live album 17-11-70. They were key members of John's backing band, including the milestone album, Goodbye Yellow Brick Road. In 1975, after recording Captain Fantastic and the Brown Dirt Cowboy, Murray and Olsson were released from the band because John wanted to achieve a different sound. 

Elton John introduced the band members including the backup signers Tanya Balam, Lisa Stone, Tata Vega and Jean Witherspoon. I had heard of Tata of course and Dottie had heard of Lisa Stone.  They performed one more song and then EJ introduced Leon, because he had forgotten to do so.

When their new CD recording sessions were wrapped up, Leon came into the studio and told Elton he wrote a song in his hotel room the night before and the song was about and for EJ and EJ's U.S. manager, who is also a manager of Leon.  Elton said no one had ever written a song about him and he was quiet touched.  That song is In the Hands of Angels.

I am ready to see Elton John again and I need to purchase their new CD.

PLAY LIST