Temporarily Found; That Yellow Brick Road

This will be different from my usual blogging style.

Something I rarely ever talk about, with anyone, let alone on my blog, is about my love affair with music.

Saturday the 21st of December arrived, and as usual for this time of year, Darling harbour, was at its most beautiful, with families soaking up the sun, performers gathering large crowds, and people just excited to be living, and being a part of this wonderful city.

But at Sydney’s ICC, something magical was taking shape.

Behind the locked doors, Sir Elton Hercules John, and his fabulous band rehearsed for what is the NSW start of his Farewell yellow brick road tour.

Just mere hours away, this enormous theatre will be filled with around 17,000 Elton fans, paying what could only be called homage to the man and there will no doubt be some real fanatics joining us tonight, from all walks of life.

As the evening is now upon us, you start to see a glittering of people, some in merchandise from past shows, some with Elton-esk styled glasses, and others that have donned full Elton influenced ensembles.

The crowds continue to grow, and the atmosphere is phenomenal, you can tell, just knowing you will be in the presence of Elton and his band, is bringing a buzz over the expectant crowd.

Once inside, this buzz triples, and as the final bell rings to alert everyone to head directly to their seats, the air feel like it’s been electrically charged, every one of us, now knows within minutes we’ll be seeing the one and only.

What this night is all about!

And, in true Elton style, he enters and begins with Benny and the jets.

If I hadn’t seen it myself, I perhaps wouldn’t have believed it, but for at least the first three minutes, I didn’t see a soul move. It was like time had stood still.

All eyes completely fixated on Elton, captivated by him and that wonderful baritone voice, echoing throughout the theatre.

I will also not shy away from the fact, there were just waves of emotions that followed.

I noticed not only myself, but others with tears just rushing down their cheeks, simply transfixed.

He flowed through his most loved tracks, stopping periodically to really show his love for his fans, for the work he is able to do for his aids charity and his love for Australia.

Still, the theatre is hanging off his every word, bewildered and excited and genuinely thrilled to be apart of what is so much more than a farewell tour. This for many people is an end of an era. And the emotional complexity and the significance isn’t missed on this crowd.

As we begin to draw to a close, after what is just under a three hour show, the amazing, Mr Fantastic comes back for his encore in the most flamboyantly exquisite Elton styled dressing gown, one really needs to see to be believed.

He becomes solemn for a moment before sitting behind the piano and starting to play ‘your song’

The crowd, which is now singing every single word along with him, is melodically swinging in time. The entire theatre, has been swept away with the enormity of what they were just a part of, and the undying love for what is, in my opinion, one of the greatest love songs of all time.

From here we go straight into the last song of the evening, and again, that electrical current is charging through the theatre, so much excitement and sadness as he begins to play ‘Good bye yellow brick road’. Which as the title of the tour itself, most picked it as the finale, but even those who undeniably knew this would be it, were singing along loudly, being engulfed in the sheer magnitude of the evening, of the final song, of the last time we will see Elton John live.

Bittersweet

It’s probably the best way to sum the evening up, as Elton has truly earned the title of one of the greatest performers of all time, to witness this, is nothing short of spectacular. But, to also know, that this is the last opportunity, at least for me, devastation begins to nibble in.

We are then left singing and clapping as Elton disappears in true Elton dramatic flare (and lets be honest, we really do live for it!)

But we are left standing, a little teary, a little apprehensive to leave, just in case Elton so happens to come running back out.

But he doesn’t, and as ‘don’t go breaking my heart’ comes on from the speakers, and the lights come up. We touch down, back to earth, Our rocket-man adventure complete.