Saturday Night’s Alright (for Fighting), and it was also the night of the Elton John concert at San Jose’s HP Pavilion arena. When we got to the arena we found that the line to get in was wrapped around the building. Apparently everyone decided to show up 15 minutes before show time.
To get to the end of the line we had to walk past some mentally ill people holding up signs and shouting in to a megaphone about their invisible friend. Or their Hispanic buddy named Jesus, I’m not sure which. I might have thought that they were out on Santa Clara Street because Elton John prefers who-who-dilly over cha-cha, and obviously that makes him an agent of Satan, but I’ve also seen the shouters outside of Sharks games so maybe Elton’s orientation wasn’t an issue as much as there was a crowd waiting to get in. It’s a shame that the mentally ill don’t get the help they need.
I resisted the urge to see if I could send them even further over the edge by shouting something like, “god is make-believe” because an usher at the end of the line pointed out that the line to get in was much shorter at the arena’s north entrance. We walked around to the parking lot and found that the usher hadn’t lied. The lines there were pretty short and we got inside with what we thought was plenty of time.
We stopped at several non-moving lines at various bars set up throughout the arena, and wondered if we’d ever get a drink. We finally found a line that moved at a snail’s pace. This was a vast improvement over what we had seen at other bars, so we got our drinks.
By the time we got to our seat, Sir Elton was already on stage singing his first song. The arena was packed. I don’t think it was quite a sellout because there were several open seats around us, but it was close. The stage set up for the show could only be described as “minimalist.” There was a piano, a keyboard area, two sets of percussion, a guitar, and a bass (the guitar, not the fish). A giant screen hung behind the musicians which displayed low fidelity graphics that went with the songs.
The acoustics in the arena (at least in section 128) on Saturday were awful. Some shows at the arena have acoustic blankets in the upper deck to help cut down on echoes, but the Elton John show didn’t have them; they had bodies to pay for and fill those seats. Sound quality suffered.
Acoustic problems aside, it was a really good show. Sir Elton played and sang songs from the past three decades. About 90 minutes in to the show he played about a half dozen songs from his soon to be released album. I liked the new material, but I can’t really say how much I like them because this was a case where the acoustic issues really hurt. I could tell that they were good songs, but the echoes were distracting. After the new stuff, we went back to the classics. Rocket Man seemed to go on forever, and I loved it. Janet was impressed that he sang Goodbye Yellow Brick Road. Rumor has it he hasn’t done that song live in years.
Sir Elton still has a good voice, but the wear and tear of years of performing are starting to show a little bit. His piano playing is as good as it ever was. Overall, it was a great show, and I would definitely consider seeing him in Las Vegas where the Caesar’s Coliseum is designed for musical performances.
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