Most concerts are fairly close to the albums – the singer may not be able to hit the high notes anymore or the guitarist may ad lib a bar or two at the end of the solo.While Elton John seems to be a perennial visitor to Florida playing a somewhat similar setlist, he clearly knows the piano is what people are drawn too and takes every chance to show off. From spicing up songs with much more complex piano arrangements to a 5-minute long ad-lib piano piece in the middle of Levon. Songs like “Saturday Night” which lack piano on the album were given piano interludes.
He didn’t have to just lean on his piano playing ability – his vocals have held up over the years and he sounds as good as ever.
The focal point of the show was the album “Goodbye Yellow Brick Road” which turned 40th last year. For over the last year and the half he has been touring with that in mine leaning heavily on that album (7 songs) including the opening run of “Funeral For A Friend/Love Lies Bleeding”, “Bennie and the Jets”, “Candle in the Wind” and “All the Girls Love Alice.”
The encore kicked off with a Lion King medley of Circle of Life/Can You Feel The Love Tonight/Circle of Life with him solo at the piano. He intro’d the songs by explaining he hasn’t played them on recent tours but now with kids he is reminded about their importance. [slp_get_setlist artist=’Elton John’ date=’03-07-2015′ venue=’Amway Center’]
