Fan report by Stephan Heimbecher

This was Elton's first show in Munich after a break of more than 6 years and the experienced Elton fan could tell that Elton was in a very good mood by the various deviations from his usual song introduction routine.

The bad news: Security as well as old-aged concert goers - especially the so called VIPs in the first rows - spoiled a lot of the atmospehre and made it difficult for the diehard fans to really enjoy the show.

After a 30-minute set by support act Jamie Lidell (which I really enjoyed) the lights went out for Elton at 8.25 pm. The stagehands - all dressed in white - came on stage and did their 'uncover the red piano and plug in the power' routine, and I couldn't stop being reminded of the sperms in Woody Allen's 1972 comedy "Everything You Always Wanted to Know About Sex" ...

While Elton was lauching into "Bennie And The Jets" I noticed that it wasn't only the piano that was red: Also the bench was completely of that same color and even the towels to absorb Elton's sweat were red. After the first song, Elton welcomed the audience and said "it's cold outside today, but we gonna get hot inside". It was in fact a very chilly evening in Munich that night and our group of some 25 fans from all over the world didn't really enjoy the 15 minute walk from the train station to the venue facing the freezing wind.

I don't want to repeat all of the details of the show itself which have been reported here in previous reviews about "The Red Piano"; the giant screen behind the "ELTON" neon lights is revealed during "Philadelphia Freedom", roses inflate during "Believe" and then it all ends in the grand finale starting with "Pinball Wizzard" when confettis fly and the entire stage is covered in inflatable bananas, cherries, breasts ... you name it.

Instead, I would like to focus on what was different from previous "Red Piano" shows which I have attended myself or read reviews about. Like I already mentioned above, Elton seemed to have replaced his cheat sheet with all the introductions to the songs. He was a lot more spontaneous in Munich and was surprised about the reaction of the German audience after his lengthy explanation about how he had crossed out the last verse to "Daniel". When everybody was laughing about that, an astonished "God, your English is soooo goooood" escaped Elton's lips.

After the wonderful movie accompanying "Rocket Man" he revealed: "You know, that wasn't really me in the movie. Was it a) Michael Schumacher, b) Barack Obama or c) Justin Timberlake?". And also during the band introduction he became creative again when he introduced Davey Johnstone as former member of the Scottish folk band Cobolas Coconuts (not sure I got that completely right).

People were allowed on stage during "Saturday Night's Alright (For Fighting)", but it took a while for most of them to understand that they would really be allowed to gather around Elton's piano. At first, people only rushed the stage and then climbed it one after the other. Elton kind of flew from the stage right after he had hit the last note on that song, and while the stage was cleared from both the people dancing as well as all the inflatable stuff, audio snippets from Elton related broadcasts were played ... and finally Elton came back on stage pointing at himself and mouthing "That's me" everytime his name was mentioned in that recording.

He then said "Thank you, Munich" about a hundred times (okay, I know it was a lot less, but it felt endless) and explained how Germany was the first foreign country that he came to some 40 years ago. And of course he dedicated the final song, "Your Song", to everybody in the audience. With this the show ended at 10.15 pm.

Following is the complete set list of the Munich show on November 22, 2008:

• Bennie and the Jets
  
• Philadelphia Freedom
  
• Believe
  
• Daniel
  
• Rocket Man
  
• I Guess That's Why They Call They Call It The Blues
  
• Someone Saved My My Life Tonight
  
• Goodbye Yellow Brick Road
  
• Sorry Seems To Be The Hardest Word
  
• Tiny Dancer
  
• Don't Let The Sun Go Down On Me
  
• Candle In The Wind
  
• Pinball Wizard
  
• The Bitch Is Back
  
• I'm Still Standing
  
• Saturday Night's Alright For Fighting
  
• Your Song

Back to Headlines