26. Node Rivers (Elton John-Live In Melbourne: 11/17/1986)

All right my wonderful subscribers! We are celebrating a fine day today: The 25th anniversary of one of Elton's greatest concerts of all time--Melbourne 1986! On days where I am feeling upset, or need a boost to get through the day, this concert always works for me! We have over THREE HOURS of wonderful music played (and sung) by Elton John, his awesome 18-piece band, and the 88 members of the Melbourne Symphony Orchestra! All in all, it is a perfect show! What could possibly go wrong...?

Well, I'm about to tell you what is wrong: ELTON'S VOICE. It is in the absolute worst shape I have ever heard him in. Elton has had concerts with a bad voice on this tour (Saratoga, Philadelphia, Los Angeles, etc), but none have ever come close to this (Hell-even Sydney sounds better)! Beginning in the summer of 1986, Elton toured North America with his voice not in the best shape: His voice first loses range, then grows more tired, then his tone becomes ill-sounding (laryngitis and pneumonia), and the icing on the cake? VOCAL NODULES!!! We first hear them in effect during the fall of 1986 (the Los Angeles shows give you the best idea). After the North American tour, Elton then goes over to Australia to perform 27 shows (Good God--and with that voice) with the Melbourne Symphony Orchestra. This show is the 8th show in a row, and Elton's voice isn't holding up well AT ALL! He struggles with nearly every song during the set, and is hitting upwards of 10 to 20 notes at once (vocal nodules emit frequencies when struck) during songs. There are exactly 184 instances of Elton's voice giving out/hitting whistle register overtones. What also doesn't help, is that Elton INSISTS on going for some higher notes on songs (like G4s/Ab4s), and it doesn't sound good. Unlike Sydney (which is actually listenable), his voice doesn't improve during the 2nd half of the show (the orchestral bit), which makes some of the ballad songs (like "Slow Rivers), sound absolutely dreadful. On the positive side, the music is brilliant!

ENJOY (or try to)!!!

Note: One Horse Town, Philadelphia Freedom, Rocket Man, Daniel, Heartache All Over The World, Nikita, This Town, Sixty Years On, I Need You To Turn To, The Greatest Discovery, Tonight, Sorry Seems To Be The Hardest Word, The King Must Die, Cold As Christmas (In The Middle Of The Year), Take Me To The Pilot, Tiny Dancer, Have Mercy On The Criminal, Slow Rivers, Madman Across The Water, Don't Let The Sun Go Down On Me, Candle In The Wind, and Burn Down The Mission are the absolute worst versions ever. The remaining songs are also bad (but not the worst)!

Note 2: The sound mixer puts a flange on Elton's voice at times (to mask the bad vocals), it doesn't help matters!

Note 3: Some songs have alternative titles (due to the bad vocals)! Credit is given to formulaonemad, bsizzy17, and tsskiller08 for thinking up some of these names!

Note 4: Hitting multiple notes at once doesn't equal "Excellent!"

Note 5: This recording is 98% complete (the band introduction and "I Guess That's Why They Call It The Blues" are cut). It also has decent sound quality.

Category:

Music

Tags:

• Elton John
• 1986
• Tour De Force
• Melbourne
• Australia
• Melbourne Symphony Orchestra
• Vocal Nodules
• Failure
• Bootleg
• Audience Recording
• GregsynthWizard

[GregsynthWizard]

I agree!

[formulaonemad]

The bit about Cliff Richard is hilarious!