Friday night was the night a major star took the stage in Duluth when Elton John performed his long awaited concert.  Personally, I love many genres of music and Elton's catalog is full of hits over many years.  I knew I would know the songs, I just hoped Elton John would come here and knock it out of the park.  He had recently been to the Royal Wedding, Madison Square Garden, etc.  Would he give Duluth his "A" game?  I am happy to say that Elton came into Amsoil Arena ready to give everyone a terrific show.  He played nonstop for well over 2 hours and performed the hits everyone with a love of music knows.  My personal highlights were 'Sorry Seems To Be The Hardest Word' (but I've loved that song since I was a little kid), Tiny Dancer, Levon and Rocket Man, which highlighted Elton's sometimes forgotten mastery of the piano.  That is something that I think gets overlooked, that Elton John is first and foremost a very talented musician.   I think if you are a fan of Elton John, you loved this show (unless you were stuck in lame sections of the arena who sat on their butts the entire night as if watching Yanni...really, go see a play!).

Overall, I had a great time watching the first major star at Amsoil Arena.  A little bummed he didn't do 'Someone Saved My Life Tonight', but there's only so much time.  Now, it is time to get some country in there!  We will keep you posted.  Here is an early report from Duluth News Tribune on the Elton John show;

How to out-flare the bedazzled king — or rather, knight.

Elton John fans packed into the most-chattered-about concert in Amsoil Arena’s brief history with feather boas, floor-length sequined coats, novelty sunglasses, platform shoes and glitter for the sold-out show on Friday night.

Sir Elton John himself came on stage about a minute into the synthesizer intro to “Funeral for a Friend/Love Lies Bleeding.” He wore a black coat with tails, a colorful juke box, piano keys and a guitar on the back, a maroon silk shirt, and tuxedo pants with single matching maroon stripes down the outside legs. Glittery notes decorated the front of the coat. His glasses had red-tinted lenses.

According to Duluth Entertainment Convention Center officials, there were about 7,200 tickets sold. There was a large double-sided screen hung on both sides of the stage. A wall lit with individual changing bulbs was glowing like a Lite-Brite.

Victoria Peterson, 24, found oversized tinted sunglasses with decorative frames on eBay, under the heading “Elton John sunglasses.” She was at the concert with her mom — just two years after seeing Elton John pair with Billy Joel for a double-wardrobe-change show where she had nosebleed seats.

“Elton John was on my bucket list,” said Peterson, who came to Duluth from the Twin Cities area. “I really wanted to see him — well, before he died.”

Elton John was light on conversation, heavy on the piano. He would play, every once in awhile turning to raise his eyebrows and grin at the audience. At the end of a song he would jump off his bench and point at individuals standing in the front rows, smile with his famous gap-toothed grin and mouth “Thank you. Thank you. Thank you.”

His first song to really whip the audience into a froth was “Levon,” then “Tiny Dancer.”

The man of few words said: “This song has a really good chorus if you want to help me out,” then kicked into “Goodbye Yellow Brick Road.”

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