Fan report by Phillip Schober and Miroslav Oleshko.

First of all I'd like to say that I didn't fly to Ukraine just for Elton. It was more Queen that got me all the way east to Kiev. The band Queen was about to perform on the same AIDS charity concert as Elton (one day before the final of the Euro 2012 football cup). Taking the chance to see two of my favourite bands live at the same evening I booked a cheap flight. This was the first concert Queen gave in the last years. Apart from minor tv appearances the two remaining Queen members (Brian May and Roger Taylor) were busy with solo work. Queen was practically dead!

But this summer, just for six shows, they came back to life! And their first concert was in Kiev with Elton John performing a few hours ahead of them!

My plane took off on Friday from Germany so I had enough time to explore the city Kiev together with a friend of mine who lives there. As a city, I loved Kiev! I have an unbelievable great impression and met some awesome people with a very interesting culture. Ukraine is definetly worth a second visit for me.

Saturday morning began and I had a walk around the concert area. It had been to the really big fanzone directly in the centre of Kiev. Probably suitable for 300.000 visitors they said.

At noon I took part in the "Lunch around the world" at a pizza place where many Russian and Ukraine fans met up. Victoria (head of the Pinball wizard Ukraine fanclub) organised everything. A big thank-you to her! From her we all got special tickets (given away by the promoter) for the area in front of the stage to have the best view possible. It was a very nice afternoon where I got to meet some lovely fans and had great fantalk about Elton, Zach, David, Davey, Nigel and so on...

From there we moved together with many Queen fans (I have to say that Elton fans were a minority) to the entrance to be the first one to get into the fan zone. This worked pretty well, although I decided to stand somewhere in the back and have a drink on my own. The first rows were way to crowded for me.

Set in an Against-AIDS-theme the concert started with a movie about the infections in the Ukraine (1% of the population is infected with HIV. This is compared to the rest of Europe a very high rate). After that the 2 Cellos performed their songs (with Highway to Hell incl. John Mahon on drums, a big fun!), then Elton took the stage and rocked it as usual!

The sound and athmosphere was unbeliveable. The crowd went wild to Saturday, Bennie and Bitch! Elton held a speech about AIDS and homosexuality in Ukraine. Everybody was deeply touched by his words and he got a big applause for saying Ukraine is like his second home now.

After Elton Queen came on stage and the crowd went mental! Even more as they already did when EJ performed. To be honest, most of the audience was waiting for Queen and thought Elton was just a kind of support act. Many, many Queen fans travelled all around the world just for this concert, that's probably a reason for the great athmosphere.

After the show I got back to the airport and took the first flight in the morning back home to Germany. It was a blast making a weekend holiday in Ukraine and seeing Elton John and Queen live on the same stage (sadly not at the same time).

Miroslav Oleshko, who met Elton on stage, adds:

I’ve been desperately waiting for one more Elton’s concert. After five hours of standing under the burning sun we’ve been rewarded with 2CELLOS and afterwards John Mahon, together they performed "Highway to Hell". Then Elton appeared on the stage, greeted the audience with waving hands and started to sing his magic hits.

I’ve experienced a lot of troubles that unlucky day so decided to compensate it all by gesturing Elton for a joint photo. Unexpectedly he reacted positively. Elton John is an incredibly kind and sincere man, I hardly can remember another such one in showbiz. Standing close to him I could feel all that positive energy he radiated.

In addition, I've transfered to Elton through his friends my previous joint photo with him and I hope to receive it back signed.

I wish Elton, David and their son happiness and love. I’d like to thank all the EJ Band members. Many thanks for the concert, we are waiting for you in Kiev once again.

Following is the complete set list of the Kiev show on June 30, 2012:

• Saturday Night's Alright (For Fighting)
  
• Bennie And The Jets
  
• Levon
  
• Tiny Dancer
  
• Philadelphia Freedom
  
• Candle In The Wind
  
• Goodbye Yellow Brick Road
  
• Rocket Man
  
• Hey Ahab
  
• I Guess That's Why They Call It The Blues
  
• Sacrifice
  
• Sad Songs (Say So Much)
  
• Nikita (solo)
  
• Don't Let The Sun Go Down On Me
  
• I'm Still Standing
  
• The Bitch Is Back
  
• Crocodile Rock
  
  
• Your Song

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