Report and photos by Stephan Heimbecher.

Finally, the wait was over. The concert that we had all been looking forward to over the past months then almost arrived suddenly, and I found myself in a sold out Madison Square Garden in New York for the 21st time (as far as Elton shows are concerned) - the 60th time for Elton.

There had been a lot of rumours and predictions about this record breaking show (Elton broke his own record for the most shows at this venue) before. What is he going to play? Will there be musical guests? Will it be worth the trip?

So now we know the answers to all these questions, and to start with the latter, yes, it was well worth the trip as for the fans this finally was a show that brought back some of the more unusual songs to the stage, although I have to say that the way the song list was put together seemed a bit odd at times.

I assume that quite many of the fans that haven't been in New York in person have seen the concert which was broadcast live all over the world by various stations as well as over the internet by MSN. And it was due to that broadcast that the show started on time at 8.00 pm with Bill Clinton, being introduced as the "last great president of the USA", entering the stage to the thunderous applaus of the audience. He praised Elton's musical achievements but even more the fabulous work he had been doing via the Elton John Aids Foundation over the years.

And then at 8.05 pm, the birthday boy himself entered the stage and everybody in Madison Square Garden was up and giving him the typcial Garden welcome. Elton then went right into "Sixty Years On" which on the one hand was the obvious choice of song, on the other hand turned out to be one of his very fews songs that has him not play the piano until the very end of the song.

The regular Elton John concert-goer recognized the cellist (Martin Tillmann from Switzerland) that was added to the band - and what a fabulous addition that turned out to be during the course of the show (although I had wished for Guy to taking it back a little bit in regard of his synthesizer sounds). The other special thing about this show was that Elton had once again chosen the Brooklyn Youth Chorus as a background choir, and these kids added a lot to some of the songs - especially the early material.

The songs that were to followed wowed the devoted Elton John fans in the arena, but there seemed kind of a risky choice for the majority of the audience and especially for the live broadcast. But I was happy that Elton - for once - seemed to not care about that and had dug out quite some treasures: "Madman Across The Water", "Where To Now St. Peter?", "Hercules" and "Ballad Of A Well Known Gun".

Even when he briefly returned to one of the more usual songs, "Take Me To The Pilot", it was unusual in the sense that it came without the usual lengthy piano intro this night. But after that Elton launched into even more great songs, "High Flying Bird" to start with, and didn't forget to explain to the audience that he had a hard time remembering some of these tracks and that the "band had to teach me the songs again."

Following "Holiday Inn", "Burn Down The Mission" and "Better Off Dead" (fantastic with the choir) I was completely wowed and I was almost happy that - at least for one song - Elton would return to the 'routine' with "Levon", which was pimped up by short piano intro, the aforementioned cellist and once again the Brooklyn Youth Chorus.

Elton then reminded everyone of his second show at Madison Square Garden on November 28, 1974, during which he was accompanied on stage by a "petrified John Lennon". And he stated that there is one song that he only ever things in this venue: "Empty Garden".

While the crowd was still all excited about that song, Whoopi Goldberg came on stage and was followed by Robin Williams only seconds later who greeted Elton with "My sweet Lord". He also mentioned that Elton has an "Oscar, several Grammys, a Tony ... and a David" and then introduced what qualifies as a historic Elton moment as Bernie Taupin came on stage (which has been a very rare event in the 40+ years career of Elton).

Bernie wasn't short of words though, and after a short speech he led the crowd into singing "Happy Birthday" to Elton. To the end of that, an "Elton 60" sign was lowered from the ceiling and confetti was flying all over the stage, the piano and all over Elton who when trying to get it off his shoulders joked "this looks like a Head & Shoulders commercial".

With Whoppi, Robin and Bernie off the stage again, the show switched into kind of 'regular' mode with songs such as "Daniel", "Honky Cat" (okay, another treat there), "Rocket Man" (once more in an extended R-O-C-K-E-T version), and "I Guess That's Why They Call It The Blues".

Elton then introduced the Brooklyn Youth Chorus and the members of the band, which he announced as "the nicest people I've ever met". The following "The Bridge" was once again enhanced by the fabulous choir and turned out to be one of the very few newer songs of the evening.

After that, Elton launched into two 'almost-solo' presentations of "Roy Rogers" (only accompanied by John Mahon) and his "all time favourite" song "Mona Lisas And Mad Hatters" (with only Davey and the cello). The rest of the band then came back on stage for "Sorry Seems To Be The Hardest Word".

"Bennie And The Jets" and "All The Young Girls Love Alice" had almost everybody out of his seat again, but then Elton changed the mood with "Tiny Dancer" and "Something About The Way You Look Tonight" which he dedicated to "my other half" (David, of course, was in the audience).

"Philadelpia Freedom" and "Sad Songs (Say So Much)" seemed like another try to have everyone in the Garden up on his feet, but the following "Don't Let The Sun Go Down On Me" kind of undid that again. But with "I'm Still Standing", "The Bitch Is Back", "Crocodile Rock" and "Saturday Night's Alright (For Fighting)" the place was finally rocking before Elton left the stage at 11.05 pm - after exactly three hours.

But of course everybody knew he was about to come back for some encores, which funnily enough started off with "Funeral For A Friend/Love Lies Bleeding" which usually is the show opener. Before the final "Your Song" Elton once again mentioned that "this is the best place to come" and he thanked everyone "for making my birthday a special event". With that the show came to an end at 11.25 pm.

The special commemorative programme that was sold for this event contained a set list with the note that "the final set list will be taken from the selection of songs" listed. At the end of the day, Elton had only left out "I Want Love". And with that the statistics read as follows: Out of 33 songs performed, 27 were from the Seventies, only four from the Eighties and one each from the Ninties and the 2000s - I think that sums up Elton's career pretty well.

Finally, a few words on the big screen behind the stage - which was above the choir. It was used during the entire show, most of the times for some special video material, at some times for live pictures of Elton and the band. I like the material they had chosen for some of the songs, e.g. I think that the video projection during "Empty Garden" really completed the presentation of the song. But many times I found the video to be distracting and couldn't quite make out why the particular images were chosen for the particular song. But maybe that is just me.

Following is the complete set list of the New York show on March 25, 2007:

• Sixty Years On
  
• Madman Across The Water
  
• Where To Now St. Peter?
  
• Hercules
  
• Ballad Of A Well Known Gun
  
• Take Me To The Pilot
  
• High Flying Bird
  
• Holiday Inn
  
• Burn Down The Mission
  
• Better Off Dead
  
• Levon
  
• Empty Garden
  
• Daniel
  
• Honky Cat
  
• Rocket Man
  
• I Guess That's Why They Call It The Blues
  
• The Bridge
  
• Roy Rogers
  
• Mona Lisas And Mad Hatters
  
• Sorry Seems To Be The Hardest Word
  
• Bennie And The Jets
  
• All The Young Girls Love Alice
  
• Tiny Dancer
  
• Something About The Way You Look Tonight
  
• Philadelphia Freedom
  
• Sad Songs (Say So Much)
  
• Don't Let The Sun Go Down On Me
  
• I'm Still Standing
  
• The Bitch Is Back
  
• Crocodile Rock
  
• Saturday Night's Alright (For Fighting)
  
  
• Funeral For A Friend/Love Lies Bleeding
  
• Your Song

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