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Opinion: Recurring Dream Ticket
Wednesday, September 15 2004 |
By David Wright
There has been much anticipation of the 4 DVD set Dream Ticket both among fans and on eltonjohn.com.
Rumours abounded since the release was announced. It was to be “wealth of live and archival Elton John footage, stretching right back to the very early days of his career and right up to the present.”
We expected a concert from New York (one of the Radio City shows from July?), an orchestra concert from London (1972 at the Festival Hall?), the solo show from Turkey that was the infamous webcast and a compilation of footage of Elton throughout his career.
Instead we get three concerts from a recent two and a half year period.
Let’s look at each disc in turn.
Disc 1 – Madison Square Garden, One Night Only, October 21st 2000.
This is the biggest disappointment of all. Die-hard and casual fans alike already have this.
Having already been repackaged with the Greatest Hits 1970-2002 cover, this is its third release.
Oh, and this was the show Elton regretted doing. Apparently his management don’t regret it one bit. Its inclusion can only due to sheer laziness, indifference and ignorance of what fans want.
That’s one quarter of this product, one quarter of our money, wasted.
Disc 2 – The Royal Opera House December 1st 2002
This was a special concert and well worthy of inclusion. It’s still surprising that a DVD of the full concert hasn’t been released.
But why only 11 tracks? This is simply what was broadcast on television.
I assume the reason is that nobody could be bothered. They have re-used the edited highlights and they didn’t have the idea or the inclination to use the recording of the whole concert.
Disc 3 - Ephesus, Turkey July 17th 2001
This is the highlight of the set. The solo shows of the past five years have been a joy and to have one on DVD is overdue.
Some of this was released on a video to eltonjohn.com members but that was very disappointing quality. So, assuming a nice widescreen production with Dolby Digital surround sound (I can hope), this is great.
Disc 4 – Elton In Four Decades
It’s only fair to reserve judgement on the final disc. We are promised “new interviews with Elton and with other key people from his career, and with live and archival film clips.”
With only 12 tracks it doesn’t seem likely to make use of the capacity of a DVD. Let’s hope the interviews are enjoyable and interesting.
A further problem is repetition. "Your Song", in case you’d forgotten how it goes, is included four times.
"I Guess That’s Why They Call It The Blues", viewed by some fans as Elton’s most overplayed song, can be heard three more times.
"Rocket Man", "Don’t Let The Sun Go Down On Me", "Sacrifice", "Philadelphia Freedom" and "I’m Still Standing" are all here three times.
Where are the rarities we all hoped for? The footage from that legendary night at The Troubadour – no matter how long or short, no matter how poor the quality, we want to see it. What about all those concerts that have been broadcast on TV over the years – solo in Edinburgh 1976, Christmas at Hammersmith in 1974 or 1982? What about a DVD release of Live in Australia?
There is so much that could have been included. There may be some gems in Disc 4 but they will be snippets rather than the full concerts we crave.
I hope no fan is ever criticised for buying a bootleg again.
What a wasted opportunity.
4 DVD set: "Dream Ticket" Friday, September 10 2004 at 20:30:46
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