Elton John Newcastle City Hall A Single Man 1979
This tour saw Elton playing solo, without his band, and accompanied by percussionist Ray Cooper during the second half of the show. I hadn’t been aware of Ray Cooper before this show, but for me, and the rest of the City Hall crowd that night, he was the star of the show. Ray used an array of percussion instruments in such a unique and charming way that he stole the show that night. The tour called at the City Hall for two nights. From Wiki:”Cooper absorbed the influence of rock drummers from the 1960s and 1970s such as Ginger Baker, Carmine Appice, and John Bonham. Incorporation of unusual instruments (for rock drummers of the time) such as cowbells, glockenspiel, and tubular bells, along with several standard kit elements, helped create a highly varied setup. 
Continually modified to this day, Cooper’s percussion set offers an enormous array of percussion instruments for sonic diversity such as the tambourine, congas, crash cymbals, cowbells, roto toms, tubular bells, the gong, snare and timpani.” Setlist: Elton solo: Your Song; Sixty Years On; Daniel; Skyline Pigeon; Take Me to the Pilot; Rocket Man; Don’t Let the Sun Go Down on Me; Goodbye Yellow Brick Road; Roy Rogers; Candle in the Wind; Where to Now St. Peter?; I Heard It Through the Grapevine. Elton with Ray Cooper: Funeral for a Friend / Tonight; Better Off Dead; I Think I’m Going to Kill Myself; Crazy Water; Bennie and the Jets; Sorry Seems to Be the Hardest Word; Part-Time Love; Saturday Night’s Alright for Fighting; Pinball Wizard; Get Back; Song for Guy
26 Jun
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