Review: Elton John’s final concert in Australia
Elton John was in supreme voice and the band rocked as 26,000 fans sang their lungs out in Sydney. But there were also varied whispers ahead of the show that the Rocketman may come back.
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There was something about the way Elton John sang and played Bennie and the Jets, the opening number of his final Australian show on his epic Farewell Yellow Brick Road tour in front of more than 26,000 fans in Sydney, which got you thinking.
The way he poured all of the passion into every note struck by his vocal cords or the piano keys at Bankwest Stadium concert on Saturday, suggested he was committing it to a library of memories assembled during the three-month long victory lap of Australasia.
He has been touring regularly here since 1971 and has professed a devotion to Australia equal to the love shown by his hundreds of thousands of fans down under.
With two shows added onto the very end of the global tour farewell in January 2021 to compensate for his recent shows postponed in New Zealand after contracting pneumonia, do we dare to dream?
There were varied whispers at a VIP function ahead of the show that maybe, just maybe, the Rocketman may be enticed back to our shores.
That news would be celebrated by those fans whose experience was truncated by a torrential storm during on of the Day At The Green gigs in Victoria early in the new year.
As those who have experienced the joyous goodwill of the FYBR shows – and the supreme musicianship of Elton John and his revered band of brothers – would attest, an extra clutch of Australian shows would be a win.
Cynics who dismiss the notion that a farewell tour should mark the last gigs of a pop lifer disregard the addition of shows throughout USA and Europe.
Why should Australia, a country which has loyally supported and shared so many milestones in his career for five decades – the host country of his first marriage back in the 1980s and where his family, David Furnish and their sons Zachary and Elijah, have lived in recent months – not get another run of gigs if the Rocketman is up for it?
Wearing a white and black tuxedo jacket and rose-coloured, sparkly-rimmed glasses which threw off bright bursts of glittering light from the Sydney stage on Saturday night, John exuded the timeless, over-the-top pop star meets piano man troubadour character who has commanded the world’s stages and global charts for 50 years.
We know it is a tightly choreographed show; one that inexplicably begins earlier on some occasions simply because the crowd is in their seats and he is ready. For all his reputed diva qualities, Sir Elton values punctuality.
He remains as acutely and generously engaged in the execution of the show and his engagement with his fans and band, as if it is the only concert he is playing any time soon.
The 179th show on the farewell tour – marking his “semi” retirement from playing live to spend more time with his husband David Furnish and their sons Zachary and Elijah – was indeed memorable.
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He was in supreme voice, the band rocked and all around were smiley, happy people wearing flashing glasses and singing their lungs out.
It is a winning setlist.
You could quibble over some a couple of inclusions but why complain when you get Tiny Dancer, Philadelphia Freedom, Levon, Funeral For A Friend/Love Lies Bleeding, Someone Saved My Life Tonight, Crocodile Rock, Saturday’s Alright For Fighting, Your Song and the set closer Goodbye Yellow Brick Road.
“The kids have had the time of their lives,” John said when he heralded he may return to Australia ahead of the final gigs in NZ.
As we all sang Don’t Go Breaking My Heart as we left the stadium all you could do was cross everything he reneges on the farewell to Australia.