Middle Tennessee State University - Midlander Yearbook (Murfreesboro, TN)

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Watching A Legend By 8 p.m. the floor was beginning to fili. The crowd was slow in arriving, but in the space of 15 minutes, Murphy Center rap- idly filled, though not to capacity. The age range represented was surpris- ingly broad, from eight years or so up to 70. Dress was largely conservative, but not entirely. I had no idea the music of Elton John appealed to such a wide vari- ety of people. Rumors ran through the crowd: This is his last tour. He always opens with ' Funeral for a Friend. ' Ber- nie Taupin is going to come out onstage in a space suit during ' Rocket Man. ' At 8:20 p.m., the lights were still up. Recorded music was playing. Each time a . song ended, the crowd got a little louder. The excitement, the tension, was build- ing. I took a look at the stage: rectangular, with three round risers. One held Elton ' s white grand piano; another, the drum kit. The third held an electronic keyboard. The platforms were unlit, but there were lights on them. M

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Cut Along Dotted Line - - - KW M WL ■«««■■■«■■ This time Special Events lived up to their name. It was jecial. It was an event. eiioN

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The lights went down, and the crowd got up, roaring, clapping, stomping. Up went the spotlight, and, suddenly, he was there: moving confidently to the piano; decked out in formal attire — a tux, black on one side, blue on the other, and a coat with tails. He bowed, tipped his hat light- ly, and dispelled rumor number one by starting the show with Tiny Dancer. Despite Murphy Center ' s abominable acoustics (it was built for baskettjall, right?), the sound was clean and power- ful, with a good, solid rhythm line pro- vided by Dee Murray on bass and the legendary drums of Nigel Olssen. It soon became apparent that Elton don ' t take no lightweights on tour. The rest of the band — lead guitarist Davey Johnston and Fred Mandell on keytloards and rhythm guitar — smoked. Elton ' s music covers a lot of territory. Equally well done were ballads like One More Hour and straight ahead rockers like Saturday Night ' s All Right for Fight- ing, the latter of which was saved for the first encore. It brought the audience loud- ly to its feet, and they stayed there. Songs from the new album, Restless and Sad Songs were very impressive live, as were hits from past albums, in- cluding Candle in the Wind, Goodbye Yellow Brick Road, Levon and Dan- iel. Philadelphia Freedom was played considerably faster than the studio ver- sion and was harder-edged. Beyond doubt, the highlight of the show was the extended live version of Bennie and the Jets, during whteh El- ton was at his most outrageous and en- tertaining. He stepped away from the pi- ano, lifted the bench high atx ve his head, and hurled it to the back of the stage. He danced to the microphone, led the audi- ence in chanting the chorus, and per- formed a lengthy piano sdo (sans bench) which soon revealed itself to be Glenn Miller ' s classic swing tune In the Mood! The band then crashed into a rocked-up closer, finishing up the song in just under 15 minutes. The audier ce was . . . appre- ciative. As a matter of fact, the level of appreciation shook the building. Rnally, having done two encores, the .sweat-sheened band left the stage for the final time, left Murphy Center with a fine show under its belt, and left the audience nearly hysterical. — David Duggins