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Elton John started farewell New York Thursday night at Madison Square Garden, starting a two-night night. It was his first local tour of his three-year tour of the world, Farewell Yellow Brick Road, with a show that lasts more than two and a half hours and that does not even have room for all its success.
Although the last song of the series, "Believe", was released in 1995, some fans were born since and composed his catalog, which had conquered American pop radio in the early 1970s and which had never completely disappeared . Last month, Young Thug released "High," which is built (with John's enthusiastic permission) on "Rocket Man," from 1972.
At 71, John has long since retired from the road. He's on tour, he says on stage since 1969. He has accumulated hundreds of millions of sales and rewards that go with it, and has also recorded successful musicals ("The Lion King," "Billy Elliot" ). . Over the years, he has been passionate about the crowd. Thursday night, his most controversial speech focused on the contribution of pharmaceutical companies "greedy" to AIDS.
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He no longer jumps on his piano and does not hit his legs by typing the keyboard as he did before, as shown in a video montage covering his entire career, while he was singing his pride more and more appropriate about perseverance. m Still Standing. "Still, he remained vigorous, still splashing his two chords and singing with enthusiasm. The musicians who accompany him since the 1970s – Nigel Olsson on drums; Ray Cooper on percussion; and his bandmaster, Davey Johnstone, on guitar – easily perform their long-standing roles.
Familiar as they are now, John's hits are eccentric by heart. Although he is English, he chose to be deeply rooted in American music – gospel, boogie-woogie, blues, country, rock 'n' roll – just as much as in the traditions of hymns and music halls. from England. The lyrics, largely written by Bernie Taupin and set to music by John, can be as oblique as "Levon" or as brutal as "The Bitch Is Back"; they can be character studies, like "Tiny Dancer," or semi-biographical, like "Someone saved my life tonight."
But his hits have become hits because some of his music is housed immediately, tenaciously, in memory. When he invited the audience to sing "La la la la la la" in "Crocodile Rock", there was no hesitation across the arena. The concert began with John sitting at the piano, striking a deal and knowingly waiting for it to be recorded – not long at all. This agreement was immediately recognizable as the beginning of "Bennie and the Jets": a song about a pop star for "kids", who is also famous for his image – "electric boots, a mohair costume" – that his music. She could be an idol or a lining for the guy who sings about her. Both depressed and bald, John first exchanged on talent and then on feasting on excess oddly costumed as soon as he ordered large scenes.
John makes a typically flamboyant visual farewell. On Thursday, during short breaks, he went from a black suit with golden sequins and golden sequins to a bloomy brocade jacket with pink pants in a richly embroidered blue dress with the matching glasses. He also played on what appeared to be a standalone grand piano, able to cross the stage while playing, under a video screen framed by a frieze of career highlights. Some of the video clips, such as the Los Angeles street scenes played on top of "Tiny Dancer," were annoying, while in "Rocket Man," the images of Earth from space were quite just.
At what was presented as a farewell concert, it turned out that many farewells that Taupin and John were already writing several decades ago. One of the only non-hits that John chose to feature was "Indian Sunset", a song about the genocide of the Amerindians, the last goodbye. The other non-hit was "All the Girls Love Alice," a rock requiem for a promiscuous lesbian teenager. "Love Lies Bleeding", with its instrumental introduction "Funeral for a Friend", is the farewell of a musician to a lover who has left him, and "Daniel", as the l? revealed a video, is a goodbye to a soldier lost in action. "Candle in the Wind" said farewell to Marilyn Monroe, a celebrity victim.
The concert finale – spoiler alert – was "Goodbye Yellow Brick Road", a 1973 song about turning away from celebrity and returning to the farm: something that John obviously did not do. He won the celebrity, kept him, exulted in her. "I'm going to miss you a lot," he told the audience at the arena, talking about his retirement. But not soon. He returns several times to Madison Square Garden: November 8th and 9th and March 5th and 6th; there is a date of Nassau Coliseum on November 16, 2019. For now, the road continues.
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