{"id":81949,"date":"2018-09-09T18:51:34","date_gmt":"2018-09-09T22:51:34","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.thevalleyledger.com\/?p=81949"},"modified":"2018-09-09T19:28:08","modified_gmt":"2018-09-09T23:28:08","slug":"sir-elton-john-gives-allentown-a-wonderful-crazy-night","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.thevalleyledger.com\/?p=81949","title":{"rendered":"SIR ELTON JOHN:  FAREWELL YELLOW BRICK ROAD TOUR"},"content":{"rendered":"<p><a href=\"http:\/\/www.df-foto.com\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\"><b>Story &amp; Photographs by Diane Fleischman<\/b><\/a><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"color: #000000; font-family: Cambria;\">This was it.\u00a0 The beginning of the final Elton John tour, Farewell Yellow Brick Road, which kicked off at the PPL Center Saturday night.\u00a0 Sir Elton John has chosen to say farewell to the world (as far as touring goes), and go out in a most grand way, as he will play over 300 shows across five continents spanning the next three years.<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"color: #000000; font-family: Cambria;\">\u00a0<div id=\"su_carousel_69f8fb077aaab\" class=\"su-carousel su-carousel-centered su-carousel-pages-yes su-carousel-responsive-yes su-lightbox-gallery\" style=\"width:100%\" data-autoplay=\"3000\" data-speed=\"600\" data-mousewheel=\"true\" data-items=\"2\" data-scroll=\"1\"><div class=\"su-carousel-slides\"><div class=\"su-carousel-slide\"><a href=\"https:\/\/www.thevalleyledger.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/09\/DSC_7339r.jpg\" title=\"\" data-rel=\"lightbox-image-0\" data-rl_title=\"\" data-rl_caption=\"\"><img decoding=\"async\" src=\"https:\/\/www.thevalleyledger.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/09\/DSC_7339r-182x200.jpg\" alt=\"DSC_7339r\" \/><\/a><\/div><div class=\"su-carousel-slide\"><a href=\"https:\/\/www.thevalleyledger.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/09\/DSC_7130r.jpg\" title=\"\" data-rel=\"lightbox-image-1\" data-rl_title=\"\" data-rl_caption=\"\"><img decoding=\"async\" src=\"https:\/\/www.thevalleyledger.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/09\/DSC_7130r-182x200.jpg\" alt=\"DSC_7130r\" \/><\/a><\/div><div class=\"su-carousel-slide\"><a href=\"https:\/\/www.thevalleyledger.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/09\/DSC_6863r.jpg\" title=\"\" data-rel=\"lightbox-image-2\" data-rl_title=\"\" data-rl_caption=\"\"><img decoding=\"async\" src=\"https:\/\/www.thevalleyledger.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/09\/DSC_6863r-182x200.jpg\" alt=\"DSC_6863r\" \/><\/a><\/div><div class=\"su-carousel-slide\"><a href=\"https:\/\/www.thevalleyledger.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/09\/DSC_6649r.jpg\" title=\"\" data-rel=\"lightbox-image-3\" data-rl_title=\"\" data-rl_caption=\"\"><img decoding=\"async\" src=\"https:\/\/www.thevalleyledger.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/09\/DSC_6649r-182x200.jpg\" alt=\"DSC_6649r\" \/><\/a><\/div><div class=\"su-carousel-slide\"><a href=\"https:\/\/www.thevalleyledger.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/09\/DSC_6537r.jpg\" title=\"\" data-rel=\"lightbox-image-4\" data-rl_title=\"\" data-rl_caption=\"\"><img decoding=\"async\" src=\"https:\/\/www.thevalleyledger.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/09\/DSC_6537r-182x200.jpg\" alt=\"DSC_6537r\" \/><\/a><\/div><\/div><div class=\"su-carousel-nav\"><div class=\"su-carousel-direction\"><span class=\"su-carousel-prev\"><\/span><span class=\"su-carousel-next\"><\/span><\/div><div class=\"su-carousel-pagination\"><\/div><\/div><\/div><\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"color: #000000; font-family: Cambria;\">It was a bittersweet night, as the Lehigh Valley welcomed Sir John back for his second performance, his previous concert was in September 2016. Between the two, it would be hard to determine which sold out faster.\u00a0 \u00a0But besides the permanence of a final tour, this one is designed for the fans, A full screen running corner to corner of the stage was erected, that illuminated graphics, videos and Sir John larger than life, which ensured there was not a bad seat in the arena.<\/span><span style=\"color: #000000; font-family: Cambria;\">\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"color: #000000; font-family: Cambria;\">The crowd rose instantly and cheered as Sir John took the stage.\u00a0 Sir John pounded the piano with the melodic chords to \u201cBennie and The Jets\u201d.\u00a0 He continued with \u201cAll The Girls Love Alice\u201d, also contained on the 1973 album, \u2018Goodbye Yellow Brick Road.\u2019<\/span><span style=\"color: #000000; font-family: Cambria;\">\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-family: Cambria;\"><span style=\"color: #000000;\">He dug deep and performed \u201cBorder Song\u201d, from his first album in 1970, self-titled. A few years later, Aretha Franklin covered the tune.\u00a0 Some of his earlier hits followed, \u201cTiny Dancer\u201d, \u201cPhiladelphia Freedom\u201d,\u00a0 \u201cIndian Sunset\u201d, a nice extended version of \u201cRocket Man (I Think it\u2019s Going to Be a Long, Long, Time)\u201d, full of space age graphics, and Sir John tickled the ivories on the intro to \u201cTake Me to The Pilot\u201d. <\/span><\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"color: #000000; font-family: Cambria;\">For a career spanning over 50 years, Sir John was at ease as he reflected back on his songs, and where his life was at that time.\u00a0 \u201cThis song has great memories for me\u201d, Sir John explained as he introduced \u201cSomeone Saved My Life Tonight\u201d,\u00a0 \u201cI always loved how the story was told.\u201d\u00a0 The screen was full of graphic drawings similar, if not taken from the elaborate artwork on the \u2018Captain Fantastic and the Brown Dirt Cowboy\u2019 album cover.<\/span><span style=\"color: #000000; font-family: Cambria;\">\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"color: #000000; font-family: Cambria;\">A massive guitar solo by Davey Johnstone was featured in \u201cLevon\u201d, followed by \u201cCandle in the Wind\u201d, where the piano tracked to the stage traveled from one end to the other.\u00a0 The stage drew dark, and the sound of thunder filled the arena as the die-hard fans easily predicted, here comes \u201cFuneral For a Friend\/Love Lies Bleeding.\u201d<\/span><span style=\"color: #000000; font-family: Cambria;\">\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"color: #000000; font-family: Cambria;\">\u201cTumbleweed Connection is my favorite album\u201d, Sir John confessed.\u00a0 Graphic flames raged on his piano as he performed \u201cBurn Down the Mission\u201d.\u00a0 More hits followed,\u00a0 \u201cBelieve\u201d, \u201cDaniel\u201d, and \u201cSad Songs\u201d was revamped a bit, which added a peppy beat. Next, was \u201cDon\u2019t Let The Sun Go Down On Me\u201d, \u201cThe Bitch is Back\u201d, \u201cI\u2019m Still Standing\u201d, \u201cCrocodile Rock\u201d, and the set closed with \u201cSaturday Night\u2019s Alright For Fighting.\u201d<\/span><span style=\"color: #000000; font-family: Cambria;\">\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"color: #000000; font-family: Cambria;\">Sir John returned for a two-song encore,\u00a0 \u201cYour Song\u201d, and closed the show with \u201cGoodbye Yellow Brick Road\u201d.\u00a0 As we said goodbye to Sir John, it was more than a casual closing of thanks for the memories.\u00a0 Many would agree, thank you Sir Elton John, for sharing your journey of life through song, as you created the soundtrack to our lives, is close to the spot we hold in our hearts for this incredibly talented artist.<\/span><\/p>\n<p>&nbsp;<\/p>\n<p>&nbsp;<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Story &amp; Photographs by Diane Fleischman This was it.\u00a0 The beginning of the final Elton John tour, Farewell Yellow Brick Road, which kicked off at the PPL Center Saturday night.\u00a0 &hellip; <a href=\"https:\/\/www.thevalleyledger.com\/?p=81949\" class=\"more-link\">Continue reading <span class=\"screen-reader-text\">SIR ELTON JOHN:  FAREWELL YELLOW BRICK ROAD TOUR<\/span> <span class=\"meta-nav\">&rarr;<\/span><\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":81955,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":"","jetpack_publicize_message":"","jetpack_publicize_feature_enabled":true,"jetpack_social_post_already_shared":true,"jetpack_social_options":{"image_generator_settings":{"template":"highway","enabled":false},"version":2}},"categories":[2290,1024,69,5],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-81949","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-diane-fleischman","category-entertainment","category-in-the-valley","category-photography"],"jetpack_publicize_connections":[],"acf":[],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"https:\/\/www.thevalleyledger.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/09\/elton-john.jpg","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.thevalleyledger.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/81949"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.thevalleyledger.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.thevalleyledger.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.thevalleyledger.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.thevalleyledger.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=81949"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.thevalleyledger.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/81949\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.thevalleyledger.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/media\/81955"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.thevalleyledger.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=81949"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.thevalleyledger.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=81949"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.thevalleyledger.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=81949"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}