Fan reports by Mattias Bruhn and Tanya Friend. Photos by Tanya Friend.

This was going to be my first Elton John concert ever. I had been waiting for this a long time, and finally, the day had come. I was so exited about this.

The show was announced to start at 7:30 p.m. and I think it almost did. I thought Elton would play the same set list as from the Finnish concerts only days before this show, but he did not. The lights, in the great almost sold-out arena, turned down and the excitement was on the top.

Unexpected, they started to play the intro of "Funeral For A Friend". As the intro went on we could see Elton enter the stage in the darkness. Then Elton started to play his piano and he got an enthusiastic applause from the 12,000 (estimated) people crowd. I had expected the audience to stand up during some songs but they didn’t. It was only at the end of the show that everyone was standing.

Next song was "Bennie And The Jets" with a great piano solo in the middle of the song. Everyone could see the screens while Elton was playing those boogie keys. It was fantastic!

It was so great to see such a mix of ages in the audience, and that there were so many people in my age (I am 17).

After "Bennie", Elton thanked the audience and introduced Daniel as a “song from the Don’t Shoot Me album”. Then we got great numbers like a rocking version of "Take Me To The Pilot", a boogie "Rocket Man", and a beautiful version of "Sorry Seems To Be The Hardest Word" – this was the first song Elton got a big applause already in the piano-intro. We got a surprising solo version of "The One" and a beautiful "Mona Lisas And Mad Hatters".

The highlight for many people in the audience seemed to be "Sacrifice".

The show ended with some rocking numbers. Many people came to the front of the stage, even from the back sections. I was one of them. I sat in row 50, so I took the chance and ran to the stage. It was unbelievable to stand so near Elton and the band. During the last songs everyone in the arena was standing and singing with him. Elton left the stage, and before the encore he signed some autographs from the stage. I was one of those lucky people! I got my "Peachtree Road" tour program signed.

At last, I’d like say how much Elton appreciates his fans. He truly loves what he is doing, and he truly loves his fans. There are not many artists like Elton who sign autographs to his fans on concerts like this. I know Elton appreciates his fans as much as we appreciate him. Elton did not mention anything about retiring as in Helsinki. It doesn’t matter how many times Elton says something about that – I think he will never retire from the stage.

I think that every person who seen Elton live will be a forever fan as I have become…

Fan report by Tanya Friend.

The concert in Stockholm on December 2, 2005 was actually the first concert in several years that didn’t involve any travelling for me and my husband Ronnie. With Elton giving solo shows in obscure locations in 2003 and 2004 we visited such towns in Sweden that we probably never would have gone to otherwise.

This time, however, the day started as any other work day. After school and work we ate out and went straight to the Globe, where we met up with some Russian fans (Jane, Natasha and Maria). Of course we had bought flowers for Elton beforehand.

We and our friend Carola were all sitting in the first row, to the right of the piano. Despite the fact that the acquisition of the front row tickets did require some waiting and freezing outside the box office, those tickets were definitely not the best in the house. When Elton sat down at his piano, all we could see were his legs underneath the piano and the top of his head (his hair, in other words).

Earlier that night we were approached by the security who had instructed us on not getting up and taking photographs with a flash. They also told us that we were not to approach the stage at any part of the show. Of course, we tried to make the best of the situation.

Elton still got up and bowed every once in a while, but when he was hidden behind the piano we enjoyed watching the band play.

Visually the concert was simply incredible. Besides the two small screens on either side of the stage, there was a large screen in the center of the stage that lit up with colorful patterns.

The show started with “Funeral for a Friend/Love Lies Bleeding” to everybody’s great joy, as it’s the best number to open the show with, in my opinion. Elton came on stage in a black Yohji Yamamoto suit with a naked mermaid embroidered on the back. Elton wore black pants with pink stripes on either side of the legs and a white shirt with a pink scarf. Across his neck hung a silver cross. On the side of his purple glasses one could see “EJ” incrusted with small shiny gems.

Elton made minimal effort to interact with the Stockholm audience. He said, however, that it was “nice to be back.” He seemed to be in a very good mood and performed flawlessly.

It was great to hear “Bennie and the Jets” with the big E-L-T-O-N letters popping up on the stage screen. “Turn the Lights out when You Leave” was followed by “Yeehaw!”

“Take Me to the Pilot” had an incredible improvisation (actually, I noticed that Nigel was the only in the band who stayed on the stage and watched Elton rock his socks off, until the band part of the song came along). “Rocket Man” was a true highlight. It was an amazing sound. I particularly enjoyed Elton’s “duet” with Davey (piano vs. guitar), the spelling out of the R-O-C-K-E-T M-A-N and the final “I’m a rocket, rocket, rocket, rocket, rocket MAN!”

For some unknown reason (probably just for fun) Elton sang “I miss the Earth so much, I miss my WIVES”. After “Rocket Man” Elton got up and walked around the stage, bowing to the audience. He was right in front of us, sitting there to the right of the piano, and I decided that I had to take the chance and violate the regulation of not getting up. I ran up to the stage and handed Elton my flowers. He smiled, accepted the flowers and shook my hand. It was certainly a very emotional highlight of the show for me.

The solo version of “The One” was the song that we were all very lucky to hear as it hadn’t been played earlier in Finland. “Sacrifice” was probably the song best received by the Swedish audience. “Sorry Seems to be the Hardest Word” sounded more sincere than ever with John Mahon’s terrific “so sad.”

I particularly would like to point out what fun we all had observing him play the percussion and sing the backing vocals. John has a wonderful voice range.

When “Philadelphia Freedom” started, the Voice of Atlanta Choir came on stage and rocked the house down. After “Sad Songs” Elton introduced the band members by inventing the names of their home towns, so that John Mahon came from the town of Clam, Ohio; Lindsay Vannoy came from Beaver Creek, Colorado; Bob Birch came from Eckles Cake in Detroit; and Davey came from Longprick, Dumbtreeshire.

Elton introduced Nigel by saying that he was a part of the original Elton John band and that he “obviously has some Swedish in him.” I think Elton had a lot of fun with these invented names just because the audience took them seriously and clapped after each introduction. A curious thing is that Nigel was holding an oxygen mask to his face during the introduction of the choir members.

During “Answer in the Sky” one of the Elton John crew men approached the security at the stage who immediately started putting their chairs away.

For us experienced Elton fans it was a sign that we could run to the stage after the song. When Elton introduced “They Call Her the Cat,” he said that it was about a sex change and that all of his band are thinking about changing sex so that they can appear as bridesmaids on the 21st of December.

As soon as Elton hit the first chords we rushed to the stage and stayed their for good. We situated ourselves right in front of Elton and were “hopping and bopping” not only to “Crocodile Rock” but also to “I’m Still Standing,” “The Bitch is Back” (while Elton was posing on the piano, laying down and jumping in the air with his legs up) and “Saturday Night’s.”

During “Crocodile Rock” Elton sang “I remember when rock was young, Swedish smorgasbord was so much fun!” It was a marvelous experience to have been so close to Elton, to watch him play and sing along with him. The most important thing is that he seemed very content and just kept smiling at the audience. He even signed some autographs (took my pen, signed all the autographs with it and then gave it back to me!).

Elton seemed to be a bit upset at people taking pictures with a flash as I could see him mime “no more pictures.” Otherwise, he seemed extremely happy and so were we, the fans.

For the final “Your Song” Elton changed into a black sweat suit with “Wingbeat” written on the back. “Your Song” was echoing in the Globe as the whole audience seemed to know the words to it. And the twinkling stars on the dark screen behind Elton made it feel so peaceful and calm. A fantastic show! Thank you, Elton!

Following is the complete setlist of the Stockhom show on December 2, 2005.

• Funeral For Friend
  
• Love Lies Bleeding
  
• Bennie And The Jets
  
• Daniel
  
• Turn The Lights When You Leave
  
• Take Me To The Pilot
  
• Rocket Man
  
• I Guess That's Why They Call It The Blues
  
• The One
  
• Monas Lisas And Mad Hatters
  
• Sacrifice
  
• Sorry Seems To Be The Hardest Word
  
• Tiny Dancer
  
• Philadelphia Freedom
  
• Sad Songs (Say So Much)
  
• Answer In The Sky
  
• 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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