Elton John Newcastle City Hall 31st August 1972
I first saw Elton John in concert at Newcastle City Hall on 31st August 1972. Support came from Linda Lewis. Elton had already had big success that year with Rocket Man which reached No 2 in the charts. Crocodile Rock was soon to be released and would be another major hit for him. Elton was just great that night with his usual mixture of piano-based ballads, and full-on band rockers. Favourites of mine at the time were Rocket Man, Your Song, and Border Song. I first remember hearing Elton when Lady Samantha was played a lot on the radio in 1969. That song remains a favourite of mine to this day and really deserved to be a hit at the time. I’ve followed Elton John ever since those days, not making absolutely ever tour, but he is someone I have always returned to. I’ve seen him 14 times over the years and will reflect on those concerts over the next week or so. Support Linda Lewis is worth a mention too. She supported a lot of acts in the early 70s, and played at the Reading festival. She was building up a following, and hit the charts the following year with “Rock-a-Doodle-Doo”.
23 Jun
Vintagerock's Weblog. 
Posted by Walter Robinson on April 3, 2021 at 3:24 pm
I loved Elton’s early albums, particularly Tumbleweed Connection, but have to say I tuned out when it went glam, daft costumes and all that, I saw him at the City Hall in the December previous, 1971, he was promoting Madman across the Water, which is also a superb record, before he became a big star with Rocket Man, but there was still a decent crowd for him, but definitely not a sell out; terrific show though, he did a great cover of the Stones’ Honky Tonk Woman. I remember hearing Crocodile Rock the following year and hating it so much I was wary of him for years, ha. Not saying he didn’t do some great stuff after, but I do think his music early on was pretty special compared to what followed, stuff like Border Song, Come down in Time etc. I did see him again at the Arena in 2002 because I really liked his ‘comeback’ West Coast album, and I have to say he was fantastic. Mind you, he did do Crocodile Rock, yikes…
Posted by vintagerock on April 3, 2021 at 6:13 pm
Hi Walter, yes I agree that Elton John was better in those early days, but I still think he was consistently good throughout, although I never liked the silly costumes either. Happy days Peter