Elton John at the Liverpool Echo Arena _320
He wasn’t wrong on either count.
Before Philadelphia Freedom burst into the auditorium, the five dazzling letters that spelled out the performer’s name were winched out of sight. Replacing them was a 30ft-wide video screen.
And it was on this that many of the “stories” of the songs were played out.
LaChapelle is said to have designed the show with Elton’s personality in mind.
Having a giant TV screen playing wacky videos may have sufficed for some performers. But Elton is far from two-dimensional.
It was then that his song, Believe, saw the stage bedecked with cartoonishly large inflatable roses.
They were just the first blow-up accompaniments that would project Elton’s charisma far into the highest reaches of the crowd.
Later in the set, alongside The Bitch Is Back, a huge pair of stockinged legs appeared, framing the screen that was showing half a dozen pole-dancing girls.
Bitch was followed by I’m Still Standing – which most of the crowd were – and Saturday Night’s Alright for Fighting. During this belting number, a suggestive banana and cherry combination took to the stage, along with another banana for good measure.
Young men beat themselves up and snarled on screen. Around two dozen members of the front row were invited onto the stage to crowd round the now red hot piano.
But there were moments of poignancy, too.
Mid-set, Elton’s Daniel, Candle in the Wind and Someone Saved My Life Tonight, among others, had slowed the pace to a moving, but never sombre, tempo.
Before the finale – Your Song – Elton told the Arena: “It’s always great coming here. This is where some of the greatest music ever came from.”
And last night, where some of it was replayed.
