There are no goosebumps like the goosebumps you get when hearing ‘Tiny Dancer’ live in Tel Aviv just a few hours after listening to it in the shower
It does not get more rock ‘n’ roll than Elton John. He sailed the seas of the 70s with a ship on a wig, propelled himself with gusto across the pop-powered 80s, Disneyed his way through the 90s and married with childrened into the new millennium. But the music — Oh, the music! — never wavered or dated. And he proved that a million times over on a balmy Thursday night in Tel Aviv.
On stage he was very glittery, very Elton, in his shiny blue jacket with his initials embroidered on the back in red. And sunglasses, natch. But do not be distracted by the bling. The performance was everything you would expect from someone who has been doing this, to worldwide acclaim, through all those decades. Excellent sound, high-end graphics in the background, and that distinctive voice, still strong at age 69, booming out to hold 40,000 people in its thrall.
I know I’m gushing. But there are no goosebumps like the goosebumps you get when hearing “Tiny Dancer” live just a few hours after listening to it in the shower. Like most of his performance in Yarkon Park, it was as close to flawless as you are ever going to get.
There was no chatter, no riffing with the audience. Just a brief acknowledgement of the 47 years he has been in the business, and a thank you to his “so loyal and so loving” fans. “I love you and I’m grateful for everything you do,” he said, to warm applause.
He did not break into Hebrew, as some stars are wont to do, but his comment that, “This is the first night of our tour and we couldn’t have asked for a better audience or a nicer place to play,” was definitely more music to the ears of an audience ever mindful of the pressure exerted on those who decide to include Israel in their tours. It was credible, too; this is the fourth time he’s played here.
John gives the impression that he chooses the songs he likes to perform, and trusts the audience will like them too; the set list was more retrospective than album promotion. Granted, there were more than a few songs off his new — and 32nd — studio album “Wonderful Crazy Night” (also the name of the tour), including the powerful “Good Heart,” which proves Sir Elton still has the chops to deliver a soulful, deep-pitched ballad. But in a concert that lasts more than two-and-a-half hours, there is plenty of time for everything. Crowd-pleaser is an understatement, with fans belting out the faster hits and swaying along to the slower numbers, matching John lyric for lyric.
One notable moment was the truly bluesy extended finish to “I Guess That’s Why They Call It the Blues,” which was not the only time that a strong blues vibe shone through songs that in the studio sound utterly different. The same was true of the strident “Have Mercy on the Criminal” and even the generally poppy “I’m Still Standing.”
The man gave us two piano solos, the first a delightful, musical half-montage that teased the crowd with echoes of past hits. This segued into a mournful, soaring “Rocket Man,” in which he perhaps wisely avoided the high notes, as he did with “Sorry Seems To Be The Hardest Word.” In both songs it worked though, the slightly rougher delivery adding more emotion to the moment. The second, later solo truly was just one man and his piano, a maestro at work.
John completed the first half of the show with a haunting “Goodbye Yellow Brick Road,” and the second with a rousing “Saturday Night’s Alright (For Fighting),” the latter concluding with what can only be called a musical mic drop. The sound stopped suddenly as the last note was sung, the lights went down, and there was silence. Only the appearance of a single spotlight assured the audience that there was more to come. The encores — a rousing, boisterous rendition of “Crocodile Rock,” and a somewhat subdued “Circle of Life” — wrapped up a masterful show, impeccably paced between the rockers and the achingly familiar torch songs.
The crowd (just as at the Rolling Stones barnstormer in Tel Aviv two years ago) was a demographic hotchpotch of veteran devotees and those who presumably have grown up listening to their parents’ musical choices. In we all trooped together, chattering with anticipation, to the park’s concert area (which conveniently forms a natural amphitheater). And out we all trooped together, singing snatches of what had just enveloped us.
It is surely the mark of a great concert when your audience is harmonizing together as they stand in line for the restrooms afterward.
