Wayne Martin attended the taping of ’Spectacle: Elvis Costello with Sir Elton John and Diana Krall’ at The Apollo Theatre on September 10, 2008. Here is his fan report (photo by Paula Friedman).

The taping began promptly at 3:00PM and finished at 5:10PM. Elvis Costello was introduced to the audience that was comprised of members of eltonjohn.com as well as Elvis’ fan club and Diana Krall’s. It was an intimate crowd filling only the seats on the main floor.

Elvis introduced two Diana Krall band members, Christian McBride on bass and Kareem Wiggins on drums. The three proceeded to play ‘Almost Blue.’ Elvis called out a production assistant upon completion to say that he heard a technical problem during the performance. When they checked the tape Elvis was proven correct and they redid the song. Elvis then directed the tech crew to remove certain cables on stage before proceeding. It was very interesting to see how completely involved Elvis is in every detail of the production and catching things throughout that the production crew would themselves miss.

Elvis exited the stage, with the band members following, for five minutes. Upon returning he explained that his wife Diana Krall was the special guest for this episode of ‘Spectacle’ which will begin airing on Sundance Film Channel in the U.S. in December 2008. He then explained that today’s show had a very special guest that would handle the interview and introduced Sir Elton John. Elton walked onto stage to thunderous applause and an extended standing ovation as Elvis left the stage. Elton looked fantastic. He appeared fit and well rested and in very good mood, dressed in a simple black suit with a deep purple tee-shirt and matching glasses. He explained that this was the first time that he had ever interviewed anyone for a television program and said something to the affect that he admired this lady so much that he hoped he would do the interview justice and then introduced Diana Krall to the stage.

Diana was stunning in a simple short black dress and pumps. You would never know that this is a woman in her 40’s and mother of twins! Diana sat at her grand piano with Elton seated on a stool behind from which he conducted the interview which covered Diana’s influences, (Nat King Cole, Oscar Peterson and Elton himself, among others) training and career goals. She sang two versions of the song ‘But Not for Me,’ the first version as it was written and generally performed followed by a version in her own style showing how she reinterprets well known compositions to make them her own and suggest new meanings.

She would later call her band members back and they all played ‘Exactly Like You.’ This was followed by stories of how, when and under what circumstances Elton and Diana first met followed by them dueting on a beautiful jazz influenced ‘Sorry Seems To Be the hardest Word.’ Later Elton surprised Diana by requesting that she and her band perform ‘Night Train.’ It was unrehearsed and they obliged.

Diana later sang another unrehearsed song, Joni Mitchell’s ‘A Case For You’ (Joni being another of her influences) and was a highlight of the afternoon. Like Elvis earlier in the day, Diana heard a technical glitch during her performance and asked if she could re-sing the song. It was so well received that following the second take Elton suggested that they skip a rehearsed Peggy lee song. Instead he reintroduced Elvis Costello and the three sang a very amusing version of ‘Making Whoopee.’ Diana was so into the song that she lost her place towards the end and they had to redo it. No sooner had they started the second take when Elvis blew a lyric and they had to restart it a third time. The third time was a charm, note perfect and ever the pro’s, all three included the same adlibs from their first try, sounding just as fresh and funny as the first time.

They all three thanked the audience for coming and the audience gave another of several standing ovations. I’m a long time fan of all three of these artists and it was a joy to watch two incredible artists who both obviously love and respect one another discuss their craft for an afternoon.

There was much more, so please watch for John Higgins' report coming up on eltonjohn.com.

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