Piano Man
Sometime on Tuesday afternoon, I realized that Elton John was playing a concert in Leipzig (which is about an hour away) this Thursday night (July 3rd).
I soon discovered that the concert was sold out, but that there were tickets on Ebay. Of course I couldn't understand Ebay in German, so I called Mike in and asked what he thought.
He said something to the effect of, "That's two days away, no."
But I had my little heart set on seeing Elton John and I started playing "Tiny Dancer" on repeat.
Mike finally realized that I really wanted to go, and so we tried to bid on some tickets. The first seller ignored our requests to pick up the tickets in Dresden, and he mailed them to Markersdorf, making it impossible for us to get them before Thursday.
This made Tessa sad, so we bid on some different tickets that we could pick up outside of the entrance on Thursday night.
Mike kept reminding me that the tickets could be fake or that the guy might not show up with them, but I was excited, none the less.
The afternoon before, as I was listening to "Candle in the Wind", I began to worry. What if it really does go wrong? Or what if the concert is lame, and Mike is bored, and it's all my fault?
Well, I shouldn't have been so silly because Elton John is awesome. Even though apparently, in Germany, he is not as famous as he is in the U.S. Mike told me he is well known for his Princess Diana version of "Candle in the Wind".
"But haven't you heard of "Benny and the Jets", "Crocodile Rock", or "Your Song?"
"My song?
"No, "Your Song"!
Sometimes I am really quite shocked by the differences in our musical tastes.
On the car ride there we started seeing grey clouds and heard on the radio that there was a weather warning for a storm in West Saxony, exactly where we were headed.
When we got to the concert, we found the man almost immediately, got our tickets, and got in. It all went very smoothly.
Our seats were not amazing, but that's what you get for barely paying half price for them. I could still see the huge screen, so I figured it would be okay until people started standing up, and then my height deficiencies would come into play.
Elton came on stage with his band and started with some song I don't know. Then he played, ahem, The B*tch is Back, and another one I didn't know. So far the concert was pretty tame. People were sitting, talking, and smoking (how rude!) as Elton played.
Finally Elton played "Tiny Dancer" and dedicated it to all the ladies. I thought, surely now everyone will get excited? But nobody seemed to even know the song.
I happily sang along to one of my favorite Elton songs, but began to wonder why some of these people even came to see it.
Elton played more songs, like "Levon", "Honkey Cat", "Goodbye Yellow Brick Road", and "Rocket Man". But still, not much enthusiasm. I was very surprised, because Rocket Man is quite a popular song in the U.S., I think.
Finally, Elton started playing "Sacrifice", which is just okay for me. And all of a sudden people started cheering and a crowd rushed the stage.
I couldn't believe it, but apparently everyone knew this song, even though I just vaguely remembered it as some song from the 90's. They also seemed to really like "Don't Let the Sun Go Down on Me".
I asked Mike if we should go rush the stage, too, and he said yes, so we pushed our way up there, and got fairly close.
This is when the concert got really fun. Everyone was dancing (although there wasn't much singing since no one knew the words), and having fun. I was so close to Elton that I could see him and take his picture.
Mike and I danced while Elton played songs like "Crocodile Rock", "Benny and the Jets", and "Candle in the Wind".
Finally came the encore, and I knew that he absolutely had to play "Your Song", or I would be sorely disappointed. And he did. I was actually surprised when he came on and played "Pinball Wizard" as well.
Elton John was a lot of fun. He made me laugh with his facial expressions, and he really put on a good show. And it didn't rain, too much.
While we were there I saw posters for a concert on July 14th with Billy Idol. Now that I've got concert fever, who wants to go with me? Mike doesn't seem that interested!
I only included a few pictures of the concert, because I didn't want to bore those of you who aren't really interested. But if you are, there is an album with more here.