Fan report and photo by Tanya Friend.

After seeing Elton just the night before, we got up early in the morning to pack for Gothenburg. We traveled there by train for five hours and then were looking for a hotel for about an hour, although it really was within a twenty minute walk from the railway station.

At Scandinavium Arena we met up with some fans and exchanged Elton merchandise. Then the show started. It was a lot like the night before, but a totally different experience as we had much better seats.

Although it was row eight and not one, we had a perfect view on the whole band, particularly Elton. He had another black Yohji Yamamoto suit with something like a dragon on the back. Elton wore quite a bit darker glasses this time and had the same silver cross around his neck.

The set list was the same as the previous night in Stockholm with one exception: Elton omitted “Answer in the Sky.” Instead, the versions of “Bennie and the Jets,” “Take Me to the Pilot” and “Rocket Man” were much longer.

“Take Me to the Pilot” was particularly interesting as Elton included the chords from “Believe” in his improvisation. In the end of the song the new keyboardist Lindsay came in too early and left an “empty” space in the time slot when he was supposed to play, but by the closing chord they all came together and finished properly.

During “Turn the Lights Out When You Leave” I noticed that they were playing the video of the song on the screen. So it was rather cute seeing Elton in a cowboy hat playing the piano solo in the video and then Elton on stage going “Yeehaw!” at the end of the song.

Again we had a marvelous time at the stage during the last seven songs. We were the first ones to get to the stage (and we were in the 8th row). Only after a couple of songs of observing the crazy fanatics at the stage did the audience respond and some people started approaching the stage, too.

And then, when people warmed up and sang “Yeah! Yeah! Yeah!” on “I’m Still Standing” and jumped and danced, Elton started interacting with the audience more and more. During “The Bitch is Back” he jumped on the piano and pointed at the roses laying on the stage, encouraging somebody to throw them to him. Someone threw a rose to Elton, he caught it and still laying on the piano (during Davey’s guitar solo) he put the rose in his mouth (clutched it with his teeth) and started posing more! Then he dropped it from his mouth, got a little late to the piano for “I’m a bitch, I’m a bitch,” then he stood on his piano stool posing more and threw the rose into the crowd (good catching Dmitri!).

Throughout the whole ending Elton was rocking and encouraging the audience to sing and shout and dance. During “Saturday Night’s” he sang “shout out HE’s with me!” instead of “SHE’s with me.” We laughed this time during “Crocodile Rock” as Elton sang, “I remember when rock was young, me and Maynard had so much fun …” He was directing us in our “La-la-la-la-las” and finally dedicated “Your Song” to each and every one in the audience.

I have honestly never ever seen Elton enjoy the performance this much! And I’ve never seen the Swedish audience respond this well. It was a magical night. Probably the best Elton John show we’ve been to. There was no mentioning of this tour being the last European tour, which he had done in Finland. Hopefully, Elton will keep performing, ‘cause he makes so many of us so happy.

Following is the complete setlist of the Gothenburg show on December 3, 2005:

• Funeral For A Friend
  
• Love Lies Bleeding
  
• Bennie And The Jets
  
• Daniel
  
• Turn The Lights Out When You Leave
  
• Take Me To The Pilot
  
• Rocket Man
  
• I Guess That’s Why They Call It The Blues
  
• The One
  
• Mona Lisas And Mad Hatters
  
• Sacrifice
  
• Sorry Seems To Be tThe Hardest Word
  
• Tiny Dancer
  
• Philadelphia Freedom
  
• Sad Songs (Say So Much)
  
• They Call Her The Cat
  
• Don’t Let The Sun Go Down On Me
  
• I’m Still Standing
  
• The Bitch Is Back
  
• Saturday Night’s Alright (For Fighting)
  
• Crocodile Rock
  
• Your Song

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