Colisee
Quebec City
November 8, 1997
8pm
First of all, my car tape player wasn't working, so I was listening to the radio while driving to the Colisee. I switched stations and there was a good song. Then the DJ said that all the people going to the Elton John concert should go to the Olco gas station just beside the Colisee, where they were giving away Candle In The Wind key chains that had a red light on them. I was lucky to hear that. The radio station wanted us to light the key chains in the dark before the first encore to ask EJ to play CITW. And we did. It was nice to see all those little red dots in the dark. Of course, Elton said he wouldn't play the song. He said that his life had been very sad lately and played Sand And Water instead.
I wasn't sure where my seat would be but soon found out I was in the eight row! I knew I was on the floor, but figured that I would be in the back. Wrong!!! I was on the right side though, but I had a very good view of the other musicians. I had a good view of Elton from the shoulders up too. He was wearing a royal blue suit with a black teeshirt underneath. I didn't even notice the glasses, come to think of it. I'm stuck with the image of the blue rimmed glasses he's wearing in the tour program. Really nice tour program, BTW. There was a big commotion just minutes before the show was to begin with people craning their necks to try to see who had just arrived. I thought maybe it was Jacques Villeneuve, other people were saying it was Celine Dion, but it turned out that it was Claudia Schiffer. She was in Quebec City to do some promotion for a shopping mall.
The show began with Simple Life and The One (I put a tentative set list at the end; it is probably out of order and it is possible that I forgot one or two songs, because I didn't write the songs down during the concert). He once again impressed us with his speaking French throughout the show. One person, at one point, gave him flowers just in front of me, as he had come our way on the stage. He seemed very happy to be there and looks like he was having a ball playing for us.
During the encore of The Bitch Is Back (I think), he was getting up and gesturing with his finger to come on. Well, one guy took him at his word and got on the stage. He seemed to be pushed, catapulted, even, on the stage. :-) Elton had just sat back down at the piano. The guy extended his hand and Elton, looking a bit surprised, slapped the guy's hand. The guy then turned around with his arms in the air in a sign of victory and got back down on the floor. During the same song, or after the song, I think, a girl came onto the stage, but the bouncers, now alert, turned her around. Elton said to the bouncers to go easy on her, and looked as she was being not too gently put back down on the floor. He then turned to go the piano, but changed his mind, came to the edge of the stage, knelt down and kissed the girl! The crowd cheered and whistled! Needless to say, it was a high point of the show.
Another one was Made In England. I liked this song on the CD, and even though he played it in 1995, I found that this time around it was just incredible. I don't know if it was because I was more in the mood for it, but I really liked this version. It was very energetic, rocking, almost a hard rock version! Who said Elton couldn't rock anymore?
He played Grey Seal, too! Wow! It was as satisfying to hear that one as it was when he played Harmony in 1989. They did an incredibly rocking rendition of the last part of the song, when all the instruments go crazy. Wow. At the first notes of Take Me To The Pilot, I was sure that it was that song. Experience, you know... ;-)) The girl beside me asked what song it was and I told her. After the extended great incredible gorgeous solo that of course didn't look like the song at all, when he began singing the song itself, the husband of the girl beside me asked me how I could have known it was that song. The girl answered that it was because I knew all his albums (we had talked before the show, or it may be because she saw me singing all the words to all the songs... ;-), but he said that he KNEW the song and never would have guessed it was that one! Hehe! :-)))
He played Goodbye Yellow Brick Road! He didn't seem to have difficulty to reach the higher notes, too. Of course, he wasn't going as high as on the album, but it sounded great. During one song (Honky Cat?) the percussionnist came to the front and knelt before Davey's guitar and started hitting it with sticks to get a very characteristic sound. He was playing his part, then was hitting the people near the stage on the head with his sticks, then was playing on Davey's guitar again. It must have been smooth sticks! Davey was laughing as if it was the first time that he saw John Mahon do that. It was probably not. :-)
He introduced The Last Song by saying, in French: "Cette chanson est pour tous les hommes, tous les femmes, tous les garcons qui vivent avec le Sida." (This song is for all men, women and boys living with AIDS). After the song, he said, also in French: "La derniere chanson!", which is the translation of the title of the song, but it sounded weird to hear it in French.
After I Don't Wanna Go On With You Like That, he stood up to greet the crowd, but he must have hit his leg or something, because he sat back down and winced in pain for about two minutes, doubled up with pain. I could read his lips saying Ouch a couple of times. Bob Birch even went over to ask him if he was okay. But he said thank you in the mike with a little laugh and proceded with the next song as if nothing had happened.
The beginning of Believe was a little different, with Elton counting 1, 2, 1, 2, 3, 4, and I even thought (or wished) it was Too Low For Zero. The counting was very much the same, sound wise, and there was a little beat that reminded me of that song, too. It was a very good rendition of Believe.
He played three songs from The Big Picture, mentioning each time that it was from that album: If The River Can Bend, Love's Got A Lot To Answer For, and, of course, Something About The Way You Look Tonight. The girl beside me said it was her favorite. BTW, the couple beside me were from Saint John, New Brunswick, and the couple beside them were also from the same city and furthermore was living two streets away from them. They didn't know each other; the couple beside me obtained their tickets through a promoter (I'm not sure what she meant, and she added that she didn't even know where their tickets would be in the house), so it might have been the same with the other couple, otherwise, it would be a heck of a coincidence.
When I got out after the show, there was a "big fat yellow moon" looking at me...
He didn't play Funeral For A Friend (what a shocker... ;-)) or Live Like Horses, but the set list was very nice nonetheless (as if it wouldn't have been). I'm only stating the obvious. :-)
Here are the songs I remember him playing, most probably out of order, except for the first three and the last three):
Simple Life The One Grey Seal I Don't Wanna Go On With You Like That Don't Let The Sun Go Down On Me Goodbye Yellow Brick Road Honky Cat Can You Feel the Love Tonight Tiny Dancer If The River Can Bend Sorry Seems To Be The Hardest Word The Last Song Daniel Love's Got A Lot To Answer For Take Me To The Pilot Something About the Way You Look Tonight Made In England Believe Someone Saved My Life Tonight Philadelphia Freedom Bennie and the Jets Saturday Night's Alright For Fighting First Encore Sand and Water The Bitch is Back Last Encore Your Song
Wow. I'm still shaking.
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