Face to Face, Tampa tagged:

Face to Face, Tampa

Posted by in In the Audience

Last night I was an honoured guest at the Elton John & Billy Joel “Face to Face 02″ show in Tampa. This was a make-up gig from earlier in the year, when poor Billy fell ill.

I took my friend, and business partner, John Marsden (the man behind the music of Plan 9, amongst others), and we arrived early (around 5pm), so I had a chance to see the end of sound check, and introduce John to a few people. It is amazing how many people are still there after all these years. I was greeted like a long lost brother by everyone. I can tell you, it was quite emotional for me at times last night. I am sure you can imagine!

After sound check, we had a chance to eat with all the band & crew in catering, back stage. It was an opportunity to catch up on all that’s been happening. While I was sitting there, a number of crew guys and other people involved in the Elton organisation came and said “hi”. Actually I was amazed at the number of Billy’s people also came to say hello.

Before the show itself, we bumped into Billy, walking his little dog in the corridor. I was able to finally thank him in person for writing the recommendation letter for my immigration application (he was the first person to do so, and without any prompting, either!). We chatted for a while. He really is “one of the guys”, and I love that about him.

For the show, we had seats laid out at the mixing desk, behind Clive Franks. This gave John Marsden an opportunity to see (and hear) Clive in action. John is, himself, a top class engineer, as well as superb keyboard player, so I knew he would appreciate Clive’s artistry. While we were there, Brian Ruggles (BJ’s engineer) and Steve Cohen (Ej and BJ’s lighting designer) both came and said a big “hello”.

The lights dimmed…

…and the play-on music started (a combination of Yankee-Doodle and Drum Volunteer)… the two figures appeared on the stage (and on the circular screens above). Rapturous applause, standing ovation. Then they sat down and played a couple of songs – just the two of them. Your Song, followed by Just The Way You Are… already 2 classics had been played. Then Billy left the stage to Elton and his band. It is impossible for me to go into more detail about the show, but I can assure you it was a magnificent performance. The sound (thanks, Clive and Brian) was astounding, the lighting (Thanks, Steve Cohen) was spectacular, and the playing by everyone was wonderful!. My personal favourites from Elton’s set were : ‘Funeral For a Friend/Love Lies Bleeding’, ‘Have Mercy On The Criminal’ and ‘Someone Saved My Life Tonight’. In Billy’s show, I loved ‘Angry Young Man’, ‘River Of Dreams’, and ‘Scenes From An Italian Restaurant’. You can see, I like the big production numbers! And this was a BIG production. And a first for me: the first time I had seen it from the FRONT! The final set, where both bands are out on stage, is amazing. I think the highlights of this part were ‘You May Be Right’ and ‘Bennie And The Jets’

OK, briefly from a drummer’s perspective: what a treat, to see two legends playing on the same stage together! I love Liberty’s energy and showmanship…. he is synonymous with Billy’s music. As for Nigel, he is the man who changed my outlook on drumming: never a superfluous note: economical, and yet every note played counts, and every beat has an effect. I modelled my early career on his style of playing, and honed my own style from there. I am so happy to see him back in the driving seat. For me, it was always an honour to play with Elton, but even more so to be in “Nigel’s seat”. During the 13 years I played with Elton, I hope I managed to make at least SOME of it “mine”, but I always tried to replicate the feel and approach that Nigel originally laid down. I have some idea of what he went through in the years he was excluded from the ‘family’, and I always felt for him when he came to gigs, so it is great to see him back there. Welcome home, Nigel!

We left the auditorium musically sated: visually overloaded. Wow, talk about giving the audience value for money! After over 3 and a half hours of “Face to Face”, I think I had had my entire week’s quota of audio/visual experience!

Charlie Morgan