When I heard Elton John was coming to the KFC Yum! Center on April 15th, I finally had the opportunity to make good on a promise to myself. I had missed him the time he was at The Louisville Palace with Billy Joel and always regretted that. I have always thought of Elton John as rock-n-roll royalty, one of those artists who lords above so many others with hit after hit and remaining relative through several decades. And of course he is royalty - he's Sir Elton John- literally! I couldn't have dreamed for a better show from him since it was his Greatest Hits tour, that is unless I could travel back in time to the 70's when he wore outrageous costumes and the music was brand new. This show was purely about the music. There was no spectacle other than seeing him on stage at his piano with a fantastic band behind him comprised of a keyboardist, bass, drums, percussionist and 4 amazing back up singers who almost stole the show for me. He did play the hits and was generous with each one. I loved that. Everybody, all 20,000 or so attendees, sang along. He did a few songs from his latest album with Leon Russell called The Union. The energy dropped a little during those songs because people aren't as familiar with them yet. That is unless they are regular listeners to WFPK which played the heck out of it. But then he was back into "Rocket Man" and "Goodbye Yellow Brick Road" in no time and the joyous energy of the evening quickly resumed to its previous level. In my opinion, he is the consummate musician and performer giving his audience what they wanted in a set list that spanned his most beloved albums from Madman Across The Water to Honky Chateau to Goodbye Yellow Brick Road and more. "Tiny Dancer", "Daniel" and "Take Me To The Pilot" were personally favorite performances for me. He didn't talk much during the show but stood up and waved to all sides of the arena every couple of songs. People went nuts everytime he did that. He is indeed well loved!
(photo courtesy of Jessica Higgins Photography)
