The last time Elton John came near Salt Lake City in a public performance was nine years ago at the Marriott Center at Brig-ham Young University. Jed Wunderli was there.
"I've seen Elton four times," said Wunderli, 30, who commuted from Ogden to see the show Monday night. "I saw him at Madison Square Garden, the Salt Palace and at BYU. He improves every time I see him."Wunderli wasn't alone with that thought. For Chuck Johnson, 37, also from Ogden, the Delta Center show was the first time he'd seen the performer.
"It was well worth the money," said Johnson, who paid more than $40 for a ticket. "He has such great songs. I hear this might be his last tour. I hope not."
Only Elton John knows the answer to that one. But for the sold-out audience last night, John and his band played tight and well despite sound-system problems. Roadies had to replace his monitors three times.
With no opening act, the show began about 7:50 p.m. The band, consisting of keyboardist Guy Babylon, drummer Charlie Morgan, bassist Bob Birch, guitarist John Jorgenson, Elton veteran guitarist Davey Johnstone and percussionist Ray Cooper, began their music behind a wall of black and white triangular scrims that rose on cue.
As the audience screamed its welcome, John, keeping with the scrims' motif (he was dressed in a sharp black-and-white, diamond-patterned suit), walked to his black grand piano and belted out the staccato hit, "I'm Still Standing."
What followed was more than two hours of hits spanning the man's 25-year musical career.
The swing-along rock of "I Guess That's Why They Call It the Blues" led into other favorites such as the plinkity-plink of "Honky Cat" and the ever-mellow "Sacrifice."
"When we decided to take the show on the road," John told the audience, "we thought we'd play songs we haven't played for a long, long time."
With that he turned to his band, which twanged out the country-flavored tune "Dixie Lily" from the 1974 album "Caribou." Other older songs included "Countdown in Time," "Someone Saved My Life Tonight," "Don't Let the Sun Go Down on Me" and the symphonic "Funeral for a Friend/
Love Lies Bleeding."
John took every opportunity to extend the songs to dynamic jams as Johnstone and Jorgenson took turns picking out soaring leads and highlighting fills. Cooper was the lean percussion machine as he pounded congos, tambourines, timpanies, drums and cymbals. The audience also joined John in singing "Happy Birthday" to Cooper during a break.
The choreographed light show, consisting of roving colored spots and animated angle backdrops, gave visual dimensions to the music without becoming overbearing. During the epic cosmic show-capper, "Rocket Man," the backdrop filled with dozens of tiny lights, creating a miniature galaxy.
New songs included "House" and the autobiographical "Made in England," both taken from John's new album of the same name. He also reverently performed the Award winning "Lion King" hit "Can You Feel the Love Tonight."
Midway through "Benny and the Jets," John played to the audience by climbing under the piano and, as his hands reversed themselves on the keyboard, fingered out a boogie tune before jumping back into the song. As he finished and laid himself atop the instrument, the crowd filled the arena with screams and cheers.
The encores included "Your Song," which he dedicated to the audience, and "Saturday Night's Alright For Fighting" and "The Last Song."
"He's mellowed out a bit," said Wunderli at the end of the show. "But he's still a great performer. This was definitely the best he's ever been."